he Government submitted that unidentified armed men had kidnapped Murad Gelayev. They further contended that the investigation into the incident was pending, that there was no evidence that the men had been State agents and that there were therefore no grounds for holding the State liable for the alleged violations of the applicants' rights. They further argued that there was no convincing evidence that the applicants' relative was dead.
B. The Court's assessment of the facts
96. The Court observes that in its extensive case-law it has developed a number of general principles relating to the establishment of the facts in dispute, in particular when faced with allegations of disappearance under Article 2 of the Convention (for a summary of these principles, see Bazorkina v. Russia, No. 69481/01, §§ 103 - 109, 27 July 2006). The Court also notes that the conduct of the parties when evidence is being obtained has to be taken into account (see Ireland v. the United Kingdom, 18 January 1978, § 161, Series A No. 25).
97. The Court notes that despite its requests for a copy of the investigation file concerning the abduction of Murad Gelayev, the Government produced only a selection of documents from the case file, but not its entire contents. In view of this failure and bearing in mind the principles referred to above, the Court finds that it can draw inferences from the Government's conduct in respect of the well-foundedness of the applicants' allegations. The Court will thus proceed to examine crucial elements in the present case that should be taken into account when deciding whether the applicants' relative can be presumed dead and whether his death can be attributed to the authorities.
98. The applicants alleged that the persons who had taken Murad Gelayev away on 27 February 2000, and had then killed him, had been State agents. The Government did not dispute any of the factual elements underlying the application and stated that the abductors had not been State agents. However, they did not provide any other version of the events in question. The Court would stress in this regard that the assessment of the evidence and the establishment of the facts is a matter for the Court, and it is incumbent on it to decide on the evidential value of the documents submitted to it (see {Celikbilek} v. Turkey, No. 27693/95, § 71, 31 May 2005).
99. The Court notes that the applicants' allegation is supported by the witness statements collected by the applicants and by the investigation. It finds that the fact that a large group of armed men in uniform and equipped with military vehicles was able to move freely in broad daylight and proceeded to check identity documents and apprehended a number of persons at their homes strongly supports the applicants' allegation that these were State servicemen conducting a security operation. In their application to the authorities the applicants consistently maintained that Murad Gelayev had been detained by unknown servicemen and requested the investigation to look into that possibility. The domestic investigation also accepted factual assumptions as presented by the applicants and took steps to check whether law-enforcement agencies were involved in the kidnapping (see paragraphs 44, 50, 59, 60 and 77 above), but it does not appear that any serious or timely steps had been taken in that direction.
100. The Court observes that where applicants make out a prima facie case and the Court is prevented from reaching factual conclusions owing to a lack of relevant documents, it is for the Government to argue conclusively why the documents in question cannot serve to corroborate the allegations made by the applicants, or to provide a satisfactory and convincing explanation of how the events in question occurred. The burden of proof is thus shifted to the Government and if they fail in their arg
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