y she thought that the APCs and the UAZ vehicles had been driven by servicemen. Finally, she had not recalled that the abductors had spoken Russian, whereas the applicants had insisted on that point.
169. The Government further contended that various weapons, camouflage uniforms without insignia and even military vehicles had been stolen or unlawfully obtained by members of illegal paramilitary structures in the Northern Caucasus in the 1990s and should therefore not be taken as proof that these were State servicemen.
170. The Government concluded that the applicants' allegations that the abductors had belonged to State agencies could not be confirmed. The applicants had not recalled any details of the clothes, weapons or markings on the abductors' uniforms. With reference to Zaur Ibragimov's and Sayd-Ali Musayev's service at the OMON prior to 18 September 2000, the Government asserted that they could have been aware of the abduction if it had indeed been organised by State agencies. The Government lastly argued that the applicants' relatives could have been abducted by illegal armed groups. Alternatively, they could have staged the kidnapping themselves.
2. In respect of the disappearance of Usman Mavluyev
171. The tenth applicant insisted that the State was responsible for the disappearance and death of her husband, Usman Mavluyev. She pointed out that all the witness testimonies clearly stated that he had been detained by servicemen who had manned the checkpoint in Chernorechye on 8 January 2000 and placed inside an APC. The servicemen had been wearing camouflage uniforms and insignia of the Russian military forces and had been armed with automatic weapons. Since her husband had been missing for a very lengthy period, he could be presumed dead. That presumption was further supported by the circumstances in which he had been arrested, which should be recognised as life-threatening.
172. The Government disputed the State's responsibility for Usman Mavluyev's abduction and the fact that he was dead, since none of this had been established in the domestic proceedings. The reference by the investigators in some documents to the fact that Usman Mavluyev had been detained by servicemen was attributed by the Government to the officials' negligence, since it had only been established that he had been abducted by unidentified armed persons. The Government drew the Court's attention to the discrepancies in the submissions made by the witness A.A. (Z.A.) and argued that the Court should not rely on her testimony dated 5 September 2006 which was attached to the tenth applicant's application form.
B. The Court's evaluation of the facts
1. In respect of the disappearance of Khasan Batayev,
Zaur Ibragimov, Magomed Temurkayev, Rizvan Ismailov,
Sayd-Ali Musayev and Kharon Musayev
173. The Court observes that in its extensive jurisprudence it has developed a number of general principles relating to the establishment of facts in dispute, in particular when faced with allegations of disappearances under Article 2 of the Convention (for a summary of these, 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).
174. The Court notes that despite its requests for a copy of the file on the investigation into the abduction of Khasan Batayev, Zaur Ibragimov, Magomed Temurkayev, Rizvan Ismailov, Sayd-Ali Musayev and Kharon Musayev, the Government produced hardly any documents from the case file. The Government referred to Article 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The Court observes that in previous cases it has found this explanat
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