carried through. There is thus no duty on the Victim to institute such proceedings. Nevertheless, in this case the Complainants had in fact made various attempts to follow legal procedures, but the process did not result in effective remedies. Additionally, while nothing prevents the Victims from instituting civil proceedings, these can never replace or be considered a substitute for a criminal process. 48 186. The steps taken by the State should be assessed against the need for prompt, impartial, thorough and transparent investigations into the killings. While the investigations undertaken by the GPA are a positive step, it falls short of that which is needed to prevent and punish extra-judicial killings. The first shortcoming is the finding at the end of the inquiry that because the specific culprits could not be identified, the charges would be dropped. The Commission’s Guidelines for the Policing of Assemblies by Law Enforcement Officials in Africa provide that “[l]aw enforcement agencies must establish a clear, transparent and single command structure for the policing of assemblies” and that “operational commanders must be held responsible if they knew, or should have known, that law enforcement officials under their command resorted to the unlawful use of force or firearms, and if they did not take all measures to prevent, suppress or report such unlawful activity”.48 187. The Commission acknowledges that it may not be possible to identify the specific police officers who committed the violations. Further it is inappropriate to expect the protesters to identify the specific perpetrators of acts that happened under such chaotic circumstances. However, failure to identify the specific persons responsible does not mean that the investigation should be closed. The Commission finds it hard to envisage a situation where an operation of this magnitude would be undertaken without operational commanders directing the proceedings and the Complainants make mention of orders being given by a specific officer. Where it is not possible to identify the perpetrators in a command structure, such as the police, the commander who issued the orders should be held accountable. Failure to do so allows total impunity to ensue, and violations to go unpunished. 188. The second shortcoming in the process followed by the GPA is the recommendation that the police should continue to investigate the matter Para 5.1 and 5.2. 50