ply to M.B.'s question as to why they had not been stopped, the police officer answered that an FSB officer of the Ingushetiya department of the FSB had been in one of the vehicles.
(d) Statements by officer Ch.
58. According to the Government, officer Ch., questioned as a witness on an unspecified date, stated that on 18 December 2003 he had been on duty at the GAI station in Karabulak. M.B. applied to him, saying that armed persons driving two vehicles without number plates had arrested Bashir Mutsolgov and had been taking him in the direction of the GAI station. When Ch. stopped those vehicles the driver of the Niva showed a special permit allowing unhindered passage for his vehicle. Ch. did not pay attention to the name on the permit, as the driver was an officer of the Ingushetiya FSB department whom Ch. had previously met, most recently on 30 September 2003 at the scene of a crime at 6 Chkalova Street in Karabulak.
59. During an additional interview as a witness Ch. confirmed his earlier statement in full but submitted that, owing to the time which had elapsed since the abduction of Bashir Mutsolgov, he would not be able to identify the FSB officer who had shown him the special permit.
(e) Statements by officers of the GAI station
60. According to the Government, officers L., B., Ki., T., O. and Ka. of the GAI station, interviewed as witnesses, made statements similar to those given by officer Ch.
(f) Statement by L.T.
61. According to the Government, L.T., interviewed as a witness on an unspecified date, stated that, as a senior officer of the Kostroma regional department of the FSB, he had been stationed in Ingushetiya from 15 July to 1 November 2003. On 18 December 2003 he had been at his permanent post in the Kostroma Region.
(g) Further investigative steps
62. The Government further submitted that unspecified authorities had requested that the Ingushetiya department of the FSB provide information in connection with officer Ch.'s statements. From their reply it followed that officers of that authority had not been at the crime scene at 6 Chkalova Street, Karabulak.
63. With a view to establishing Bashir Mutsolgov's whereabouts and obtaining information on whether he had been arrested or prosecuted, the investigation sent out requests [поручение] to numerous authorities, including unspecified prosecutors of the Ingushetiya Republic, heads of the FSB departments in the North Caucasus and the UGA military prosecutor's office. According to the replies of those State bodies, he was not under arrest or criminal prosecution and his whereabouts were unknown.
64. From the replies of the GOVD, and the remand centres in the Argunskiy, Nozhay-Yurtovskiy, Urus-Martanovskiy, Kurchaloyskiy, Itum-Kalinskiy, Sharoyskiy, Leninskiy, Shatoyskiy, Oktyabrskiy, Gudermesskiy and Groznenskiy districts, as well as several remand centres in the North Ossetia-Alania Republic, it followed that Bashir Mutsolgov was not detained in those detention facilities.
65. The investigation in the case concerning Bashir Mutsolgov's abduction had been repeatedly suspended for failure to identify those responsible and subsequently resumed with a view to verifying new information. It found no evidence that Bashir Mutsolgov had been abducted by State officials or that he was not alive. The investigation in case No. 23520016 was pending.
66. Despite specific requests by the Court, the Government refused to furnish any copies from the investigation file in case No. 23520016. They claimed that the investigation was in progress and that disclosure of the documents would be in violation of Article 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and would "breach the rights of the parties to the criminal proceedings". Neither did the Government indicate the exact dates or provide any further details of the witness' inte
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