ad not yet been completed. They also noted that the applicant had applied to the Court before the domestic authorities had had a chance to review her complaints.
48. The applicant contested that objection. She stated that the criminal investigation had proved to be ineffective from an early stage and that her complaints to that effect, including the application to the district court, had been futile. The directions issued by the domestic courts had not been complied with.
49. The Court considers that the Government's objection raises issues concerning the effectiveness 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 Sultan Khatuyev had been detained on 2 August 2004 by State agents and delivered to the office of the Ingushetia department of the FSB in Magas. He was last seen alive in the hands of the State agents and the Government had failed to discharge its burden of proof by submitting any explanation as to what had happened to him afterwards. The applicant also asked the Court to draw inferences from the Government's failure to present any documents from the investigation file, either to them or to the Court. 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.
51. The Government submitted that Sultan Khatuyev had not been detained, but only briefly apprehended in the car and then released as soon as it had been established that the FSB had been looking for another man with the same family name. They further contended that the investigation of the incident was in progress, and that there was no evidence that the applicant's husband was dead. The Government also raised a number of objections to the applicant's presentation of the facts. They alleged that her recollections of the conversations she had had with officials after the detention of her husband had been inconsistent. They also alleged that the testimonies given by A.G. and U.I. in the course of the investigation contradicted the applicant's presentation of their statements. The Government did not submit the witness statements in question to the Court.
B. The Court's evaluation of the facts
52. The Court observes that in its extensive jurisprudence it has developed a number of general principles relating to the establishment of the 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).
53. The Court notes that despite its requests for a copy of the investigation file into the abduction of Sultan Khatuyev, the Government produced no 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 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)).
54. In view of this and bearing in mind the principles referred to above, the Court finds that it can draw inferences from the Government's conduct in re
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