f the facts
88. The Court observes that it has developed a number of general principles relating to the establishment of facts in dispute, in particular when faced with allegations of disappearance 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).
89. The applicant alleged that on the night of 23 November 2002 her son, Adam Khurayev, had been abducted by Russian servicemen and had then disappeared. She did not witness her son's abduction but enclosed statements by witnesses collected after his apprehension. She also invited the Court to draw inferences as to the well-foundedness of her allegations from the Government's failure to provide the documents requested from them.
90. The Government conceded that Adam Khurayev had been abducted by unknown armed men on the night of 23 November 2002. However, they denied that the abductors had been State servicemen, referring to the absence of evidence to that effect from the ongoing investigation.
91. The Court notes that despite its request for a copy of the investigation file into the abduction of Adam Khurayev, the Government refused to produce most of the documents from the case file, providing only copies of several interview records (see paragraph 69 above). They relied on Article 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The Court observes that in previous cases it has already found this explanation insufficient to justify the withholding of key information requested by the Court (see Imakayeva v. Russia, No. 7615/02, § 123, ECHR 2006-XIII (extracts)).
92. In view of this and bearing in mind the principles cited above, the Court finds that it can draw inferences from the Government's conduct in this respect.
93. It is undisputed by the parties that at the material time Urus-Martan was under curfew and that the authorities maintained manned checkpoints at the entry and exit points to the town (see also the Town Court's findings described in paragraph 71 above). It further emerges from the copies of witness testimonies furnished by the Government that on the night of 23 November 2002 a group of armed men in camouflage uniforms, equipped with portable radios and driving several vehicles, proceeded to check identity documents in several households in Urus-Martan (see paragraphs 57 - 60 above).
94. The Government did not dispute the veracity of the statement by M.M.'s neighbour A.M., who claimed to have seen an APC and two UAZ vehicles in the vicinity of M.M.'s house on the night of the abduction. Furthermore, from M.M.'s statements it follows that, although she had not seen the intruders' vehicles, she had heard the noise of military vehicles immediately after the intrusion. Lastly and more importantly, it transpires from the decision of 30 March 2006 that the Town Court, which had had access to case file No. 34022, did not doubt the presence of military vehicles and, in particular, an APC, at the crime scene (see paragraph 71 above).
95. In the Court's view, the fact that a group of armed men in uniform in several military vehicles and equipped with portable radios was able to pass freely through checkpoints during curfew hours and proceeded to check identity documents in several households in a manner similar to that of State agents strongly supports the applicant's allegation that those were State servicemen and that they were conducting a special operation in Urus-Martan on the night of Adam Khurayev's abduction.
96. Contrary to the Government's assertion, the Court has not found any major inconsistencies in the applicant's and M.M.'s accounts of events in the c
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