spoken Russian and that during the abduction he had been in his room.
47. On 17 November 2005 the applicants wrote to the Chechnya prosecutor's office demanding that an effective investigation of the abduction be conducted to establish the whereabouts of their disappeared sons. According to the reply of the Chechnya prosecutor's office, the investigation in the criminal case was under way and operational-search measures were being taken to establish the identities of the perpetrators.
48. According to the Government, the investigation failed to establish the whereabouts of Aslan and Aslanbek Tasatayev. However, it found no evidence to support the involvement of federal forces in the crime. The law enforcement authorities of Chechnya had never arrested or detained Aslan and Aslanbek Tasatayev on criminal or administrative charges and had not carried out a criminal investigation in their respect. No special operations had been carried out in respect of the applicants' relatives. Their corpses had not been found.
49. The Government further stated that the applicants had been duly informed of all decisions taken during the investigation.
50. Despite specific requests by the Court the Government did not disclose any documents of criminal case No. 25088. They stated that the investigation was in progress and that disclosure of the documents would be in violation of Article 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, since the file contained data concerning participants in the criminal proceedings.
C. Proceedings against law-enforcement officials
51. In March 2003 the applicants lodged a complaint with the Urus-Martan town court (the town court) that the investigation in the criminal case was ineffective. On 11 March 2003 the town court set aside their complaint without examination due to the applicants' failure to comply with compulsory procedural requirements
52. On 3 April 2003 the applicants lodged another complaint with the town court. They complained that the investigation in the criminal case was ineffective and sought a ruling obliging the prosecutor's office to conduct an effective investigation into the abduction of their sons. It is unclear whether this complaint was examined by the court.
53. On an unspecified date in 2004 the applicants lodged another complaint with the town court. They complained that the investigation in the criminal case was ineffective and sought a ruling obliging the authorities to resume the investigation in the criminal case and to conduct it in an effective and thorough manner. On 29 March 2004 the town court rejected their complaint. On an unspecified date in 2004 the applicants lodged a request with the town court asking for reinstatement of the time-limits for the appeal against the decision of 29 March 2004. On 20 October 2004 the court rejected their request and refused to examine the appeal.
54. On an unspecified date in 2005 the applicants lodged another complaint with the town court. They again complained that the investigation in the criminal case was ineffective and sought a ruling obliging the authorities to conduct an effective investigation and provide them with access to the investigation file.
55. On 14 May 2005 the town court allowed this complaint in part. The text of the decision included the following:
"...the court established:
At about 3 a.m. on 31 May 2001 a group of masked servicemen of the Urus-Martan power structures had broken into the house at 5 Shernika Street in Urus-Martan and conducted an unlawful search... among themselves the servicemen had spoken Russian. As a result, the military servicemen had arrested and taken away the applicants' sons Aslan Tasatayev, who was born in 1975, and Aslanbek Tasatayev, who was born in 1979...
On 8 September 2001 the investigation in the criminal case had be
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