Introduction

Effective response to crimes of ill-treatment committed by law enforcement officers and imposing criminal liability on perpetrators has been a major challenge for the justice system for years. The state impunity with regards to such cases has found its basis in the legal system, making it critical necessity to prevent ill-treatment at the legislative level, including the establishment of an institutionally independent investigation mechanism.

The problems with regard to investigating abuse of power by police officers or other crimes against persons under their control, should be considered in the legislative and practical context, along with institutional independence.

This document will analyze the factors inducing ill-treatment by the law enforcement officials on the basis of a discussion of the uniform problems in relation to the criminal proceedings conducted by the organization. There have been 6 criminal cases in the practice of the EMC on alleged cases of abuse against subjects under the control of police officers from 2017 to date, in which law enforcement officials allegedly mistreated 16 citizens. Analysis of these cases reveals gaps of an identical nature in legislation and practice. Prevention of ill-treatment is significantly complicated by the lack of responsibility to document the police-citizen relations, the lack of documenting communication through technical means, the ineffectiveness of special training and retraining in the prevention of abuse of power, and other circumstances.

After analyzing factors behind the state’s ineffective response to the problem of ill-treatment, in light of the legislation in place, taking into consideration international standards and the best practice of different countries, legislative amendments will be proposed, with a view to overcome the existing problems faced by the state in addressing or preventing the cases of ill-treatment.

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