ntended that the investigators had examined her complaints about the alleged ill-treatment and found them unsubstantiated. In this connection the Court would point out that the documents furnished by the Government demonstrated that the second applicant had indeed applied for medical help on 27 February 2000 and that a number of witnesses had consistently stated to the investigators that she had been illtreated by the abductors. However, from the documents submitted it is clear that the forensic examination of the second applicant was carried out more than six years after the alleged ill-treatment, in spite of the fact that the authorities had been informed about it at a much earlier stage of the proceedings. In such circumstances, the Court considers that the second applicant's allegation is supported by appropriate evidence and finds that she was subjected to ill-treatment by the abductors on 27 February 2000. The Court further considers that this treatment reached the threshold of "torture" since not only must it have caused her physical pain, it must also have made her feel humiliated and caused fear and anguish as to what might happen to her and her son.
139. Having regard to the Government's failure to plausibly refute these allegations, the Court finds that there has therefore been a violation of Article 3 of the Convention in respect of the second applicant.
(ii) Effective investigation
140. The Court notes that the applicants and their neighbours complained to the investigators that the second applicant had been ill-treated during the abduction of her son (see paragraphs 32 and 62 above). However, it does not appear that these allegations were properly examined by the investigating authorities.
141. For the reasons stated above in paragraphs 110 and 113 in relation to the procedural obligation under Article 2 of the Convention, the Court concludes that the Government have failed to conduct an effective investigation into the ill-treatment of the second applicant.
142. Accordingly, there has been a violation of Article 3 also in this respect.
C. The complaint concerning the applicants'
mental suffering
1. The parties' submissions
143. The applicants alleged that as a result of their relative's disappearance and the State's failure to investigate it properly, they had endured mental suffering in breach of Article 3 of the Convention.
144. The Government disagreed with these allegations and submitted that the investigation had not established that the applicants had been subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment prohibited by Article 3 of the Convention.
2. The Court's assessment
(a) Admissibility
145. The Court notes that the complaint under Article 3 of the Convention is not manifestly ill-founded within the meaning of Article 35 § 3 of the Convention. It further notes that it is not inadmissible on any other grounds. It must therefore be declared admissible.
(b) Merits
146. The Court observes that the question whether a member of the family of a "disappeared person" is a victim of treatment contrary to Article 3 will depend on the existence of special factors which give the suffering of the applicants a dimension and character distinct from the emotional distress which may be regarded as inevitably caused to relatives of a victim of a serious human rights violation. Relevant elements will include the proximity of the family tie, the particular circumstances of the relationship, the extent to which the family member witnessed the events in question, the involvement of the family member in the attempts to obtain information about the disappeared person and the way in which the authorities responded to those enquiries. The Court would further emphasise that the essence of such a viol
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