(c) in action lawfully taken for the purpose of quelling a riot or insurrection."
A. The parties' submissions
97. The Government contended that the domestic investigation had obtained no evidence to the effect that Magomed-Ali Abayev and Anvar Shaipov were dead or that any servicemen of the federal law-enforcement agencies had been involved in their kidnapping or alleged killing. The Government claimed that the investigation into the kidnapping of the applicants' relatives met the Convention requirement of effectiveness, as all measures available under national law were being taken to identify those responsible. They further alleged that the applicants and the witnesses had impeded the investigation of the abduction by belatedly informing the investigators about the special uniform of the officers who had allegedly taken away Magomed-Ali Abayev and Anvar Shaipov and about the young men and the woman who had informed the fourth applicant about her son's alleged whereabouts.
98. The applicants argued that Magomed-Ali Abayev and Anvar Shaipov had been detained by State servicemen and should be presumed dead in the absence of any reliable news of them for several years. The applicants also argued that the investigation had not met the effectiveness and adequacy requirements, laid down by the Court's case-law. For instance, the criminal investigation into the abduction had been opened more than two years after the incident; the investigators had failed to take such crucial investigative steps, as identification and questioning of officers who had been stationed in the building of the former clothing factory and establishing which military units manned the checkpoint at the time. The applicants further argued that the investigation of the abduction had been suspended and resumed a number of times - thus delaying the taking of the most basic steps - and that they had not been properly informed of the most important investigative measures. The fact that the investigation had been pending for such a long period of time without producing any known results was further proof of its ineffectiveness. They also invited the Court to draw conclusions from the Government's unjustified failure to submit the documents from the case file to them or to the Court.
B. The Court's assessment
1. Admissibility
99. The Court considers, in the light of the parties' submissions, that the complaint raises serious issues of fact and law under the Convention, the determination of which requires an examination of the merits. Further, the Court has already found that the Government's objection concerning the alleged non-exhaustion of domestic remedies should be joined to the merits of the complaint (see paragraph 81 above). The complaint under Article 2 of the Convention must therefore be declared admissible.
2. Merits
(a) The alleged violation of the right to life of Magomed-Ali Abayev and Anvar Shaipov
100. The Court has already found that the applicants' relatives must be presumed dead following unacknowledged detention by State servicemen. In the absence of any justification put forward by the Government, the Court finds that their deaths can be attributed to the State and that there has been a violation of Article 2 in respect of Magomed-Ali Abayev and Anvar Shaipov.
(b) The alleged inadequacy of the investigation of the kidnapping
101. The Court has on many occasions stated that the obligation to protect the right to life under Article 2 of the Convention also requires 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 Conven
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