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, § 161, Series A No. 25).
69. The Court notes that despite its requests for a copy of the investigation file into the abduction of Zurab Iriskhanov, the Government produced only a part of the documents from the case file. 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-... (extracts)).
70. 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' son can be presumed dead and whether his death can be attributed to the authorities.
71. The applicants alleged that the persons who had taken Zurab Iriskhanov away on 19 June 2002 and then killed him were State agents.
72. The Government suggested in their submissions that the abductors of Zurab Iriskhanov may have been criminals pursuing mercenary goals or that he had staged his abduction himself in order to join illegal armed groups. However, these allegations were not specific and the Government did not submit any material whatsoever in support of them. 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).
73. The Court notes that the applicants' allegation is supported by the witness statements collected by the applicants and by the investigation. It finds that the fact that a large group of armed men in uniform during curfew hours equipped with military vehicles was able to move freely through military roadblocks and proceeded to check identity documents and take two persons away from their home strongly supports the applicants' allegation that these were State servicemen conducting a security operation. In their applications and witness statements to the authorities the applicants and the other witnesses consistently maintained that Zurab Iriskhanov had been detained by military servicemen, and requested the investigation to look into that possibility (see paragraphs 29, 33, 36 - 41, 46 and 50 - 52 above).
74. The Government questioned the credibility of the applicants' statements in view of certain discrepancies relating to the exact circumstances of the arrests and the description of the hours immediately following the detention. The Court notes in this respect that no other elements underlying the applicants' submissions of facts have been disputed by the Government. The Government did not furnish to the Court a number of witness statements to which they referred in their submissions. In the Court's view, the fact that over a period of several years the applicants' recollection of an extremely traumatic and stressful event differed in rather insignificant details does not in itself suffice to cast doubt on the overall veracity of their statements.
75. The Court observes that where the applicants make out a prima facie case and the Court is prevented from reaching factual
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