v and the reasons why they had been taken away by the servicemen.
17. At about midnight on 19 June 2002 the head of the local department of the interior, officer L.S., came out of the military commander's office building and told the crowd that Zurab and Gilani Iriskhanov would be released at 7 a.m. on the following morning, 20 June 2002.
18. In the morning of 20 June 2002 the applicants and other residents of the village returned to the military commander's office. At the office they were told that Zurab and Gilani Iriskhanov had not been detained on their premises. No explanation was provided concerning the whereabouts of the brothers. The applicants and their relatives decided to wait for the news about Zurab and Gilani Iriskhanov at the entrance to the building. They waited until midnight on 20 June 2002.
19. In the morning of 21 June 2002 the first applicant went to the Achkhoy-Martan district prosecutor's office (the district prosecutor's office) and asked them to come to the military commander's office. At about 10 a.m. the district prosecutor arrived at the military commander's office. Having spent about twenty minutes in the building, the prosecutor came out and told the applicants that about fifteen minutes before, on that very same morning, Zurab and Gilani Iriskhanov had been taken by helicopter to the main Russian military base in Khankala, Chechnya. A number of local residents saw the helicopter taking off from the yard of the military commander's office. After that three APCs drove out of the yard. Employees of the military prosecutor's office told the applicants that these APCs had arrived from the military base in Khankala.
20. When the applicants asked the district prosecutor for assistance in expediting the release of their sons, the latter told them that he could not do anything about it, as when he had arrived at the military commander's office even he had had to surrender his service gun to enter the building.
21. On several occasions from 21 to 23 June 2002 the applicants went to the military base in Khankala. The servicemen there told them that Zurab and Gilani Iriskhanov had been transferred to the ORB-2 (operational search bureau) of the Grozny department of the interior (the Grozny OVD).
22. On 26 June 2002 the applicants found a note in their yard. The letter stated that Gilani Iriskhanov had been detained in the ORB-2 of the Grozny OVD and that the applicants could pick him up from there.
23. In the morning of 27 June 2002 the applicants went to the ORB-2 in Grozny. Gilani Iriskhanov was released in exchange for money. The applicants were told that he had been transferred to the ORB-2 from the military base in Khankala. No information was available about the whereabouts of Zurab Iriskhanov.
24. While in detention Gilani Iriskhanov had been beaten and questioned about the whereabouts of his uncle, a member of illegal armed groups. After his release Gilani Iriskhanov underwent medical treatment in the Malgobek district hospital. Neither the applicants nor Gilani Iriskhanov complained to domestic authorities that he had been ill-treated.
b. The official investigation into the disappearance
25. On 20 June 2002 the applicants complained to the district prosecutor's office that their sons had been abducted. They also informed them of the registration numbers of the APCs which had taken away their sons on 19 June 2002.
26. On 24 June 2002 the district prosecutor's office instituted an investigation into the abduction of Zurab and Gilani Iriskhanov under Article 126 § 2 of the Criminal Code (aggravated kidnapping). The case file was given the number 63045.
27. On 16 April 2003 the first applicant requested the district prosecutor's office to assist her in the search for Zurab Iriskhanov.
28. On 19 April 2003 the distric
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