o follow the abductors by car. Referring to the applicants' witness statements given to the investigation, they pointed out that the first applicant had not informed the investigators about his attempt to follow the abductors by car and that both applicants had not mentioned the presence of their relative Imali in the house during the abduction. The Government further submitted that fact that the majority of the abductors spoke unaccented Russian, were wearing camouflage uniforms and drove around in several vehicles did not mean that these men could not have been members of illegal armed groups or criminals pursuing a blood feud. They asserted that the crime could have been attributable to illegal armed groups and pointed out that groups of mercenaries from Ukraine had committed crimes in the Chechen Republic. They further emphasised that members of illegal armed groups could have passed through the checkpoints in the area under the full control of the Russian federal forces.
B. The Court's evaluation
75. The Court observes that in its extensive jurisprudence it has developed a number of general principles relating to the establishment of the facts 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, 18 January 1978, § 161, Series A No. 25).
76. The Court notes that despite its requests for a copy of the investigation file into the abduction of Sarali Seriyev, the Government produced only a few documents from the case file, of which some were only partial copies. 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)).
77. 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' relative can be presumed dead and whether his death can be attributed to the authorities.
78. The applicants alleged that the persons who had taken Sarali Seriyev away on 1 June 2004 and then killed him were State agents.
79. The Government suggested in their submissions that the abductors of Sarali Seriyev may have been members of paramilitary groups or criminals pursuing a blood feud. However, these allegations were not specific, and the Government did not submit any material to support them. The Court takes note of the Government's allegation that the firearms and camouflage uniforms had probably been stolen by insurgents from Russian arsenals in the 1990s. Nevertheless, it considers it very unlikely that several vehicles with a number of armed men could have moved freely in broad daylight in an area under the full control of the federal forces and could pass through military checkpoints without being unnoticed. 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).
80. The Court notes that the applicants' allegation is supported by the witness statements collected by the investigation. It finds that the fact that a large group of armed men in uni
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