n Umalatov and Shamad Durdiyev were not among them.
11. The applicants have had no news of Usman Umalatov and Shamad Durdiyev since 15 October 2002.
12. In support of their allegations, the applicants submitted the statements of the first and second applicants, as well as an affidavit signed by eight men who had been detained on 15 October 2002 together with Usman Umalatov.
2. The Government's account
13. In their observations the Government confirmed that both men had been detained on 15 October 2002 in Nagornoye in the course of a special security operation. Later on the same day they were transferred to the FSB office in Znamenskoye and then released after their identities had been ascertained.
B. The search for Usman Umalatov and Shamad Durdiyev
and the investigation
14. Since 15 October 2002 the applicants have repeatedly applied in person and in writing to various public bodies. In their letters to the authorities the applicants and their family members referred to their relatives' detention and asked for assistance and details of the investigation. These enquiries have mostly remained unanswered, or purely formal replies have been given in which the applicants' requests have been forwarded to various prosecutors' offices. The applicants submitted some of the letters to the authorities and the replies to the Court, which are summarised below.
1. Official investigation into Usman
Umalatov's disappearance
15. The first applicant submitted that several days after his son's disappearance the head of the FSB office for the Nadterechny district had told him in a personal conversation that Usman Umalatov and Shamad Durdiyev had been released on the day of their detention. However, they have not been found since.
16. On 24 October 2002 an investigator of the prosecutor's office of the Urus-Martan district of Chechnya opened criminal proceedings (case file No. 65049) in response to the first applicant's complaint about his son's abduction. The investigator noted that the applicant's son had been taken into custody by unknown masked persons and taken away to an unknown destination. It appears that at some later point the investigation was transferred to the Nadterechny district prosecutor's office ("the district prosecutor's office").
17. On 25 October 2002 the first applicant was granted victim status in the proceedings.
18. On 29 January 2003 the investigator of the district prosecutor's office adjourned the criminal proceedings given the failure to identify the persons against whom the charges must be brought (Article 208, part 1, item 1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure). The investigator's decision instructed the Nadterechny district department of the Ministry of the Interior (ROVD) to search for Usman Umalatov and the persons responsible for his disappearance. No new information was communicated to the first applicant following his subsequent complaints and requests to the prosecutor's office.
19. On 2 March 2004 the first applicant complained of unlawful inaction of the investigation authorities to the Nadterechny district court ("the district court") under Article 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
20. On 29 March 2004 the district court dismissed the first applicant's complaint as he had failed to appear before the court. The summons to appear before the court reached the local post office at his place of residence only on 31 March 2004.
21. On 6 April 2004 the first applicant lodged with the district court a new complaint under Article 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure concerning the lack of an effective investigation into his son's disappearance. This complaint was dismissed on 13 April 2004 as no breach of
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