f at all. In the Court's view, the fact that a group of five to eight armed men in masks and camouflage uniforms, driving two vehicles without number plates, having caused an accident involving several dozen persons and apparently not being disturbed by this, could have, immediately after that accident, forced a person inside their vehicle in broad daylight and in the sight of numerous witnesses and could have passed unhindered through a GAI checkpoint, having presented a special passage permit usually used by members of law-enforcement officials, rather supports the applicants' allegation that the abductors were State agents (compare Asadulayeva and Others v. Russia, No. 15569/06, § 85, 17 September 2009; Alikhadzhiyeva v. Russia, No. 68007/01, § 59, 5 July 2007; Nasukhanova and Others v. Russia, No. 5285/04, § 95, 18 December 2008; and Ruslan Umarov v. Russia, No. 12712/02, § 91, 3 July 2008).
101. It is reiterated that where an applicant makes out a prima facie case and the Court is prevented from reaching factual conclusions owing to the withholding of documents by the Government, it is for the latter to argue conclusively why the documents in question cannot serve to corroborate the allegations made by the applicant, or to provide a satisfactory and convincing explanation of how the events in question occurred. The burden of proof is thus shifted to the Government, and if they fail in their arguments, issues will arise under Article 2 and/or Article 3 (see {Togcu} v. Turkey, No. 27601/95, § 95, 31 May 2005, and Akkum and Others v. Turkey, No. 21894/93, § 211, ECHR 2005-II).
102. Taking into account the above elements, the Court is satisfied that the applicants have made a prima facie case that Bashir Mutsolgov was abducted by State agents. The Government, on the contrary, have failed to discharge the burden of proof. Drawing inferences from the Government's failure to submit the documents which were in their exclusive possession, or to provide another plausible explanation for the events in question, the Court considers that Bashir Mutsolgov was arrested on 18 December 2003 in Karabulak by State agents during an unacknowledged security operation. Having made this finding, the Court does not consider it necessary to establish further the particular service to which the abductors of the applicants' relative would have belonged.
103. It remains to be decided whether Bashir Mutsolgov is to be presumed dead following his abduction by State agents. In this connection the Court reiterates that in a number of cases concerning disappearances of persons in the Chechen Republic it has repeatedly held that when a person is detained by unidentified State agents without any subsequent acknowledgment of the detention, this can be regarded as life-threatening (see, among many other authorities, Bazorkina and Imakayeva, both cited above; Luluyev and Others v. Russia, No. 69480/01, ECHR 2006-XIII (extracts); Baysayeva v. Russia, No. 74237/01, 5 April 2007; Akhmadova and Sadulayeva v. Russia, No. 40464/02, 10 May 2007; and Alikhadzhiyeva v. Russia, No. 68007/01, 5 July 2007). Furthermore, the Court held that a finding of State involvement in the disappearance of a person is not a condition sine qua non for the purposes of establishing whether that person can be presumed dead; in certain circumstances the disappearance of a person may in itself be considered as life-threatening (see Medova v. Russia, No. 25385/04, § 90, ECHR 2009-... (extracts), and {Osmanoglu} v. Turkey, No. 48804/99, § 57, 24 January 2008).
104. Turning to the circumstances of the present case, the Court notes that it has found it established that Bashir Mutsolgov had been abducted by State agents. There has been no news of him since the date of his abduction, which is more than six years ago. His name has not been found in the official records of any detention facility. Lastly, the Government failed to provide an
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