ires 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. It has developed a number of guiding principles to be followed for an investigation to comply with the Convention's requirements (for a summary of these principles see Bazorkina, cited above, §§ 117 - 119).
84. In the present case, the kidnapping of Aslan and Aslanbek Tasatayev was investigated. The Court must assess whether that investigation met the requirements of Article 2 of the Convention.
85. The Court notes at the outset that none of the documents from the investigation were disclosed by the Government. It therefore has to assess its effectiveness on the basis of the few documents submitted by the applicants and the information about its progress presented by the Government.
86. The Court notes that the authorities were immediately made aware of the abduction by the applicants' submissions. The investigation in criminal case No. 25088 was instituted on 8 July 2001, which is one month and six days after Aslan and Aslanbek Tasatayev's abduction. Such a postponement per se was liable to affect the investigation of the kidnapping in life-threatening circumstances, where crucial action has to be taken in the first days after the event. It appears that after that a number of essential steps were delayed or not taken at all. For instance, as can be seen from the decision of the domestic court of 14 May 2005, by that date the investigators had not identified or questioned any of the local residents who had stood watch at the guard posts on the night of the abduction and had been threatened by the abductors; they had not established the identity of the owner of the UAZ vehicle which had been moving around Urus-Martan that night; they had not identified and questioned the witnesses who had seen the abductors' vehicle driving into the yard of the military commander's office after the abduction and they had not questioned any of the servicemen who had been on duty in the military commander's office and the ROVD about their possible involvement in the abduction or subsequent detention of the applicants' sons (see paragraph 55 above). It is obvious that these investigative measures, if they were to produce any meaningful results, should have been taken immediately after the crime was reported to the authorities, and as soon as the investigation commenced. Such delays, for which there has been no explanation in the instant case, not only demonstrate the authorities' failure to act of their own motion but also constitute a breach of the obligation to exercise exemplary diligence and promptness in dealing with such a serious matter (see {Oneryildiz} v. Turkey [GC], No. 48939/99, § 94, ECHR 2004-XII).
87. The Court also notes that even though the second applicant was granted victim status in the investigation concerning the abduction of her relatives, she was only informed of the suspension and resumption of the proceedings, and not of any other significant developments. Accordingly, the investigators failed to ensure that the investigation received the required level of public scrutiny, or to safeguard the interests of the next of kin in the proceedings.
88. Finally, the Court notes that the investigation was suspended and resumed on numerous occasions and that there were lengthy periods of inactivity of the district prosecutor's office when no proceedings were pending. The town court criticised deficiencies in the proceedings and ordered remedial measures (see paragraph 55 above). It appears that its instructions were not complied with.
89. Having regard to the limb of the Government's preliminary objection that was joined to the merits of the complaint, inasmuch as it concerns the fact that the domestic investigation is still pending, the Court notes that the investigation,
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