d the two brothers had been released. The Government further stated that the brothers might have absconded from the authorities. They further contended that the investigation into the incident was ongoing and that there was no evidence that State representatives might be responsible for the disappearance of the Mudayev brothers. The Government further argued that there was no convincing evidence that the applicants' relatives were dead as their corpses had not been found. Referring to the witness statements obtained by the investigation, the Government pointed out that Mr E.A. and Mr S.Z. had stated that during their detention in the Nadterechniy district department of the FSB in February 2003 and after 26 April 2003 accordingly, they had not seen the Mudayev brothers either on the premises of the FSB office or during the transportation of the office's detainees in May 2003 after the partial destruction of the building as a result of the terrorist attack. The Government did not submit these witness statements to the Court.
B. The Court's evaluation of the facts
83. The Court observes that in its extensive jurisprudence it has developed a number of general principles relating to the establishment of 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, § 161, Series A No. 25).
84. The Court notes that despite its requests for a copy of the investigation file into the abduction of Aslan and Mokhmad Mudayev, the Government produced only a few 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-VIII (extracts)).
85. 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 respect of the well-foundedness of the applicants' allegations. The Court will thus proceed to examine crucial elements in the present case that should be taken into account when deciding whether the applicants' relatives can be presumed dead and whether their deaths can be attributed to the authorities.
86. The applicants alleged that the persons who had taken Aslan and Mokhmad Mudayev away on 29 January 2003 and then killed them had been State agents. The Government did not dispute any of the main factual elements underlying the application. They acknowledged that the applicants' relatives had been detained by State agents, but suggested that they had been released some time later.
87. The Government submitted that the applicants' relatives had been detained on 29 January 2003 by representatives of the local law-enforcement agencies under the command of the head of the Nadterechniy district department of the FSB officer M.Kh. and taken to the FSB office for questioning and that they had been released shortly afterwards (see paragraph 25 above). In support of their position the Government referred to the summary of the witness statement given by officer M.Kh. to the investigators (see paragraph 65 above), which the Government did not submit to the Court. The Court would stress in this regard that the evaluation of the evidence and the establishment of the facts is a matter for the Court, and it is incumbent on it to decide on the evidentiary value of the documents submitted to it (see {Celikbilek} v. Turkey, No. 27693/95, § 71, 31 May 2005).
88. The Court notes that the applicants'
> 1 2 3 ... 10 11 12 ... 18 19 20
Zaki.ru законы и право
поиск по сайту
каталог документов
добавить сайт Zaki.ru в избранное
Правовые акты международные
Правовые акты Российской Федерации
