l authorities first attempted to argue that the applicant had not been arrested (see paragraphs 12 and 17 above). However, after their retraction the criminal inquiry and the courts in civil proceedings found, with reference to depositions by public officials, that the applicant's presence in the police station and the temporary detention centre from 6 to 8 November 2001 had been covered by Article 122 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, concerning persons suspected of having committed a criminal offence.
64. It is not in dispute that the applicant was deprived of his liberty at about 6 p.m. on 6 November 2001 (see paragraph 8 above). However, as regards the time of release, the Government submitted that the applicant had been released at around 1 p.m. on that day. The applicant insisted that he had been released at 5 p.m.
65. The Court reiterates that Convention proceedings, such as those arising from the present application, do not in all cases lend themselves to a rigorous application of the principle affirmanti incumbit probatio (he who alleges something must prove that allegation), as in certain instances the respondent Government alone have access to information capable of corroborating or refuting allegations. A failure on a Government's part to submit such information without a satisfactory explanation may give rise to the drawing of inferences as to the well-foundedness of the applicant's allegations (see Ahmet {Ozkan} and Others v. Turkey, No. 21689/93, § 426, 6 April 2004).
66. As regards the record of the applicant's arrest, the applicant alleged that it had never existed. The national court established that the record and the register of arrested persons kept by the detention centre had been destroyed before the expiry of the retention period (see paragraph 20 above). The Government stated, with reference to investigator S.'s deposition, that he had misplaced or lost the record. The Government also contended that the registers of arrested persons kept by the police station and the detention centre had been destroyed in November 2002 after the expiry of the retention period.
67. In view of the above considerations, and in the absence of appropriate documentary evidence, which is imputable to the national authorities, the Court accepts that the applicant was released at around 5 p.m. on 8 November 2001.
(b) Assessment of the period of detention
68. The Court reiterates that Article 5 § 1 of the Convention requires in the first place that detention be "lawful", which includes the condition of compliance with a procedure prescribed by law. The Convention here essentially refers back to national law and states the obligation to conform to the substantive and procedural rules thereof, but it requires in addition that any deprivation of liberty should be consistent with the purpose of Article 5, namely to protect individuals from arbitrariness (see, as a recent authority, Medvedyev and Others v. France [GC], No. 3394/03, § 79, ECHR 2010-...).
69. It is in the first place for the national authorities, and notably the courts, to interpret domestic law, and in particular, rules of a procedural nature, and the Court will not substitute its own interpretation for theirs in the absence of arbitrariness. However, since under Article 5 § 1 of the Convention failure to comply with domestic law entails a breach of the Convention, it follows that the Court can and should exercise a certain power to review whether this law has been complied with (see Toshev v. Bulgaria, No. 56308/00, § 58, 10 August 2006, and Shteyn (Stein) v. Russia, No. 23691/06, §§ 89 and 94, 18 June 2009).
70. Defects in a detention order do not necessarily render the underlying detention as such "unlawful" for the purposes of Article 5 § 1; the Court has to examine whether the flaw in the order against an applicant amounted to a "gross and obvious irregularit
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