CAT/C/42/D/261/2005
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2.11 On 12 September 2002, the Fourth Municipal Court of Belgrade informed the HLC8 that
the investigation had been concluded and that, according to the provisions of Article 259,
paragraph 3, of the CPC, the victims’ representative could lodge an indictment in the case 9
within 15 days or otherwise it would be deemed that they have waived the prosecution.
2.12 On 2 October 2002, the complainant’s and the other victims’ representative filed a new
request to supplement the investigation with the Fourth Municipal Court of Belgrade, in
accordance with the procedure established by article 259, paragraph 1, of the CPC. The motion
stated that, in breach of article 255 of the CPC, the investigating judge did not provide the parties
with the names of the plainclothes policemen and therefore, they were unable to formally take
over the prosecution of the case. It was proposed, inter alia, that the court conduct a new hearing
of Master Sergeant J. and that it resend a request to the Department of Internal Affairs of New
Belgrade to provide information on the identity of the plainclothes policeman involved in the
incident.
2.13 On 6 November 2002, in response to this request, the Fourth Municipal Court of Belgrade
sent an inquiry to the Department of Internal Affairs of New Belgrade regarding the names of the
Department’s officers who provided assistance to the Municipality of New Belgrade and to the
Bezanija Police Department but indicated by mistake an erroneous date for the incident, that is, 8
June 2002. As a result, the Department of Internal Affairs replied on 20 November 2002 that it
had not provided any assistance to the abovementioned bodies on the said date. On 22 November
2002, a second similar request was sent to the Department of Internal Affairs by the Fourth
Municipal Court of Belgrade. This time, the letter did not mention the date of the incident but
required the names of the plainclothes policemen who had assisted the policemen from the
Bezanija Police Department during the destruction of the “Antena” settlement. On 4 December
2002, Master Sergeant J. replied that he did not know the names of the plainclothes policemen
who intervened during the destruction of the “Antena” settlement but he did not deny that such
intervention occurred. Also, on 13 November 2002, Master Sergeant J. was re-interviewed by the
Court. He repeated his previous statement adding that “[...] if necessary, I could try to find out
precisely which police officers were present and inform the court about it”.
2.14 On 26 December 2002, the Fourth Municipal Court of Belgrade informed the victims’
representative that the investigation has been concluded and recalled that, according to the
provisions of Article 259, paragraph 3, of the CPC, the victims’ representative could lodge an
indictment in the case within 15 days. Otherwise it would be deemed that they had waived the
prosecution.
2.15 On 10 January 2003, the victims’ representative notified the Court that the involvement of
the plainclothes policemen in the physical abuse of Roma on 8 June 2000 was clearly supported
by the victims’ statements, as well as by the witnesses P. and Master Sergeant J. and requested
the Court to continue its investigation until the perpetrators had been identified. On 6 February
2003, the Department of Internal Affairs of New Belgrade, in response to a third request from
the Court dated 30 January 2003, sent a letter providing the names of two officers G. and A.,
who had provided assistance during the incident of 8 June 2000.
8
9
The Court’s letter was received on 18 September 2002.
See paragraph 2.5 above.