The Serbian Ministry of Interior also stated that three more suspects had been arrested at the end of October as accomplices in the assassination of Buha and for planning to assassinate Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic and several other political and business leaders and police officers. Unofficial media reports suggest that up to 30 persons were arrested. The government claims that the suspects belong to a large criminal group that aimed to cause chaos in the country by carrying out a series of political assassinations.

One of the suspects, Dragan Ilic (46), was beaten on October 29 by unknown perpetrators after the investigation judge of the Belgrade Fifth Municipal Court ordered his release and before the police re-arrested him in a Belgrade hospital. According to various sources, the police were enraged by the investigating judge’s decision to release Ilic. Human Rights Watch expressed concern that the police may have been involved in the attack on Ilic after his release.

Human Rights Watch has no information relating to the alleged crimes, but expressed concern about the detainees’ treatment regardless of their crimes. “Even if the allegations are true, they don’t justify torture or ill-treatment,” said Elizabeth Andersen, head of the Europe and Central Asia Division in Human Rights Watch.

Painter Dragan Malesevic Tapi, arrested on October 29 in connection with the Buha murder, died in a police station on the same day. The police reported he suffered a stroke. The preliminary results of the official autopsy suggest that Malesevic died because of a sudden deterioration of a long-term heart and blood vessels disease. Human Rights Watch called for an independent investigation into the circumstances of Malesevic’s death.

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), as well as the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, contain an absolute ban on the use of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Yugoslavia ratified the ICCPR on June 2, 1971; it ratified the Convention against Torture on June 20, 1991. The prohibition against torture is well recognized under customary international law. According to Article 16 of the federal constitution, Yugoslavia “shall fulfill in good faith the obligations contained in international treaties to which it is a Contracting Party.”

Article 25 of the Yugoslav constitution outlaws torture of a detainee, as well as any forcible extraction of confessions or statements. The use of force against a detainee is also a criminal offense. The Criminal Code of Yugoslavia prohibits the extortion of statements (article 190) and maltreatment in the discharge of office (article 191).

“The Serbian judiciary already tends to turn a blind eye to reports of police torture and ill-treatment,” Elizabeth Andersen said. “There is a risk that in the fight against organized crime, scrutiny of police actions will erode even further.”

Serbian human rights groups and media registered a dozen serious cases of police torture between December 2001 and August 2002. The abuses often occurred in police stations, when officials attempted to compel detainees to admit to theft or other crime. As a consequence of the abuse, in one case the victim required brain surgery (Nenad Tasic, tortured in August in Vranje); other victims suffered a ruptured eardrum (Nemanja Jovic from Belgrade), bruised ribs (Marko Brkic from Novi Sad), and other physical injuries.

Of eight known court decisions since October 2000 dealing with torture and ill-treatment by the police, all but one of a dozen convicted law enforcement officers received sentences of less than eight months in prison, even where the torture resulted in serious bodily injuries. The exception was an August 2002 court decision in which one accused policeman was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment.