CAT/C/35/D/174/2000
Page 2
ANNEX
DECISION OF THE COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE UNDER ARTICLE 22
OF THE CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN
OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT
Thirty- fifth session
Concerning
Communication No. 174/2000
Submitted by:
Mr. Slobodan Nikolic; Mrs. Ljiljana Nikolic
(represented by the Humanitarian Law Center)
Alleged victims:
The complainant’s son, N. N. (deceased); the
complainants
State party:
Serbia and Montenegro
Date of complaint:
18 March 1999 (initial submission)
The Committee against Torture, established under Article 17 of the
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment,
Meeting on 24 November 2005,
Adopts the following:
Decision under article 22, paragraph 7, of the Convention:
1.1
The complainants are Mr. Slobodan Nikolic and his wife, Mrs. Ljiljana
Nikolic, nationals of Serbia and Montenegro, born on 20 December 1947 and on 5
August 1951. They claim that the State party’s alleged failure to proceed to a prompt
and impartial investigation of the circumstances of their son’s death constitutes a
violation by Serbia and Montenegro of articles 12, 13 and 14 of the Convention. The
complainants are represented by counsel.
The facts as submitted by the complainants:
2.1
On 19 April 1994, the complainants’ son, N. N., born on 19 April 1972, died
in Belgrade. The postmortem examination of his corpse was carried out on 25 April
1994 by a medical team of the Institute for Forensic Medicine of the Faculty of
Medicine in Belgrade. The autopsy report states that the death was caused by damage
to vital brain centers caused by the fracture of cranial bones and hemorrhage from the