July 2007 could have provided the applicant with redress for the alleged violation of his rights. In this connection, the Court reiterates that on 18 January 2007 criminal proceedings were instituted against the police officers who had allegedly taken part in the events of March 2003. The applicant lodged a procedural request seeking, inter alia, a transfer of the case to the office of a higher-ranking prosecutor for further investigation. The complaint was dismissed by a decision of a deputy Town Prosecutor of Prokopyevsk on 27 July 2007.
57. The Court observes that the deputy prosecutor's decision of 27 July 2007 did not bar or preclude in any way the further investigation into the applicant's ill-treatment complaints. It was a mere interlocutory decision pertaining to certain procedural aspects within the criminal investigation into the impugned events of March 2003. The Court reiterates that the decisive question in assessing the effectiveness of a remedy concerning a complaint of inhuman and degrading treatment is whether the applicant could have raised that complaint before a prosecutor in order to obtain direct and timely redress, and not merely an indirect protection of the rights guaranteed in Article 3 of the Convention. The remedy can be either preventive or compensatory in nature (see, among other authorities, Koval v. Ukraine, No. 65550/01, § 94, 19 October 2006). The Court notes that the Government did not explain how a judicial appeal against an interlocutory prosecutor's decision could have offered such preventive or compensatory redress, or both, for allegations of treatment which had been contrary to Article 3 of the Convention (see, for similar reasoning, Ostrovar v. Moldova (dec.), No. 35207/03, 22 March 2005). Accordingly, the Court does not consider that the Government have discharged the burden upon them of proving that a complaint against the decision of 27 July 2007 was capable of providing redress in respect of the applicant's Convention complaint.
58. If, however, this part of the Government's objection is interpreted as implying that the applicant's complaints under Article 3 are premature, as the criminal proceedings were re-opened and are now still pending, the Court first reiterates that if an individual raises an arguable claim that he has been seriously ill-treated by the police, a criminal complaint may be regarded as an adequate remedy within the meaning of Article 35 § 1 of the Convention (see Assenov and Others v. Bulgaria, No. 24760/94, 27 June 1996, Decisions and Reports 86-B, p. 71). Indeed, as a general rule, the State should be given an opportunity to investigate the case and give answer to the allegations of ill-treatment. At the same time an applicant does not need to exercise remedies which, although theoretically of a nature to constitute remedies, do not in reality offer any chance of redressing the alleged breach (see Yoyler v. Turkey, No. 26973/95, 13 January 1997, and Akdivar and Others v. Turkey, 30 August 1996, § 68, Reports 1996-IV). If the remedy chosen is adequate in theory, but in the course of time proves to be ineffective, the applicant is no longer obliged to pursue it (see Tepe v. Turkey, 27244/95, Commission decision of 25 November 1996, DR 87-A, p. 90, as confirmed in Mikheyev v. Russia, No. 77617/01, § 86, 26 January 2006).
59. The Court notes that in the present case the criminal proceedings were instituted against the police officers almost four years after the alleged instance of ill-treatment in the police station in March 2003. The investigation is still pending. The applicant and the Government disagree as to the effectiveness of this investigation. The Court therefore considers that this limb of the Government's objection as to non-exhaustion of domestic remedies raises issues which are linked to the merits of the applicant's complaints under Articles 3 of the Convention. The Court therefo
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