ether an appropriate legal framework on the use of force and firearms by military personnel was in place and, if so, whether it contained clear safeguards to prevent arbitrary deprivation of life and to satisfy the requirement of protection "by law" of the right to life secured by Article 2 of the Convention.
84. The Court further observes that, despite its specific request, the Government refused, with reference to the ongoing criminal investigation, to provide a copy of the investigation file opened in connection with the killing of the applicant's relatives.
85. As regards the actions of the servicemen involved in the incident of 16 - 19 May 2000, the Court observes that the Government gave no explanations as to whether the federal servicemen had been, or could have been regarded as being, at risk from the applicant's relatives owing to the latter's conduct. Further, the Government provided no explanation either for the applicant's contention that Petimat Aydamirova and Ibragim Suleymanov had survived the shooting but had been killed after the attack or for her contention that the servicemen had tried to get rid of the corpses by blowing them up. In addition, it is unclear whether the military servicemen reported the incident to their command and if so, what measures were taken by the latter. Lastly, if according to the Government's submission the investigation had established who had opened the fire on the applicant's relatives (see paragraph 43 above), it is unclear why the authorities did not finish the investigation and why the proceedings have been pending for almost ten years. In such circumstances, the Court cannot conclude that the use of lethal force against the applicant's relatives was based on an honest belief which was perceived, for good reasons, to be valid at the time (see, by contrast, McCann and Others, cited above, § 200).
86. The Court finds that in the absence of information on the crucial elements mentioned in the above paragraph, the use of lethal force has not been accounted for in the circumstances of the present case. It is therefore not persuaded that the killing of Ramzan Suleymanov, Petimat Aydamirova, Ibragim Suleymanov and Aslanbek Aydamirov constituted a use of force which was no more than absolutely necessary in pursuit of the aims provided for in paragraph 2 of Article 2 of the Convention.
87. There has accordingly been a violation of Article 2 of the Convention in this respect.
B. Alleged inadequacy of the investigation
1. Submissions by the parties
88. The applicant also insisted that the investigation into the death of her relatives had clearly been inadequate and had fallen short of the Convention standards. It had been pending for almost ten years, having been repeatedly suspended and resumed, and had produced no tangible results. She also alleged that the authorities had failed to provide her with information concerning the basic steps taken by the investigators.
89. The Government claimed that the investigation had met the Convention requirement of effectiveness, given that the authorities had taken a number of investigative steps. The applicant had been granted victim status in the criminal case and had been informed about the investigators' decisions.
2. The Court's assessment
90. The Court reiterates that the obligation to protect the right to life under Article 2 of the Convention, read in conjunction with the State's general duty under Article 1 of the Convention to "secure to everyone within [its] jurisdiction the rights and freedoms defined in [the] Convention", requires by implication that there should be some form of effective official investigation when individuals have been killed as a result of the use of force, in particular by agents of the State. The investigation mus
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