s of the investigation which are closely linked to the merits of the applicant's complaints. Thus, it decides to join this objection to the merits of the case and considers that the issue falls to be examined below.
II. The Court's assessment of the evidence
and the establishment of the facts
A. The parties' arguments
50. The applicant maintained that it was beyond reasonable doubt that the men who had taken away Vakhit Dzhabrailov had been State agents. In support of her complaint she referred to the following facts. At the material time Shali had been under total control of federal troops and the area was under strict curfew. There had been Russian military checkpoints on the roads leading to and from Shali. The armed men who had abducted Vakhit Dzhabrailov had Slavic features and spoke Russian without an accent, which proved that they were not of Chechen origin. The men had arrived at the applicant's house at night, which indicated that they had been able to circulate freely past curfew. The men acted in a manner similar to that of special forces carrying out identity checks. They were wearing specific camouflage uniform, were armed and had portable radios. Since her son 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.
51. The Government submitted that unidentified armed men had kidnapped Vakhit Dzhabrailov. They further contended that the investigation of 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 applicant's rights. They further argued that there was no convincing evidence that the applicant's son was dead. The Government raised a number of objections to the applicant's presentation of facts. The fact that the perpetrators of the abduction spoke unaccented Russian and were wearing camouflage uniforms did not mean that these men could not have been members of illegal armed groups. The Government further alleged that the applicant's description of the circumstances surrounding the abduction was inconsistent. In particular, the applicant had submitted to the domestic investigators that the abductors had arrived at her house around 10 a.m. whereas in her complaint to the Court she had alleged that they had arrived at about 5.30 a.m.; that she had failed to inform the investigators about the officer from the ROVD who had confirmed that the abductors' vehicles had stopped at the ROVD after the abduction and that the applicant's neighbour Ms A.Ak. had informed the domestic investigators about the man with Caucasian appearance, but had failed to submit this information to the Court. The Government referred to the witness statements made to the domestic investigation, but did not submit them to the Court.
B. The Court's evaluation
52. The Court observes that in its extensive jurisprudence it has developed a number of general principles relating to the establishment of the truth of matters 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, § 161, Series A No. 25).
53. The Court notes that despite its requests for a copy of the investigation file into the abduction of Vakhit Dzhabrailov, the Government produced none of the documents from the case file. The Government referred to Article 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The Court observes that in
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