nt authorities shortly after the kidnapping of Zurab Iriskhanov and that an investigation has been pending since 24 June 2002. The applicants and the Government dispute the effectiveness of the investigation of the kidnapping.
65. The Court considers that the Government's objection raises issues concerning the effectiveness of the investigation which are closely linked to the merits of the applicants' complaints. Thus, it decides to join this objection to the merits of the case and considers that the issue falls to be examined below.
II. The Court's assessment of the evidence
and the establishment of the facts
A. The parties' arguments
66. The applicants maintained that it was beyond reasonable doubt that the men who had taken away Zurab Iriskhanov were State agents. In support of their complaint they referred to the following facts. At the material time Samashki had been under the total control of federal troops. There had been Russian military checkpoints at the roads leading to and from the village. The armed men who had abducted Zurab Iriskhanov had Slavic features and spoke Russian without an accent, which proved that they were not of Chechen origin. The men had arrived at the applicants' house late in the evening, which indicated that they had been able to move around past curfew. They had arrived in APCs, the military vehicles which had been deployed at the time only by State representatives. The men acted in a manner similar to that of special forces carrying out identity checks. They were wearing specific camouflage uniforms, were armed and had portable radios. The men fired a number of shots without fear of being heard by law enforcement agencies located in the village. The officer who had come out to the applicants and their neighbours from the local military commander's office had confirmed that Zurab and Gilani Iriskhanov had been detained in their office. All the information disclosed from the criminal investigation file supported their assertion as to the involvement of State agents in the abduction. Since their son had been missing for a very lengthy period, he could be presumed dead. That presumption was further supported by the circumstances in which he had been arrested, which should be recognised as life-threatening.
67. The Government submitted that unidentified armed men had kidnapped Zurab Iriskhanov. They further contended that the investigation of the incident was pending, that there was no evidence that the men were State agents and that there were therefore no grounds for holding the State liable for the alleged violations of the applicants' rights. The Government asserted that the abduction could have been attributable to criminals who could have kidnapped Zurab Iriskhanov for a ransom or that he could have staged his abduction with the assistance of his relatives, in order to join illegal armed groups. They further argued that there was no convincing evidence that the applicants' relative was dead. The Government raised a number of objections to the applicants' presentation of the facts. The fact that the perpetrators of the abduction spoke unaccented Russian and were wearing camouflage uniforms did not mean that these men could not have been members of illegal armed groups or criminals pursuing mercenary goals. The Government further alleged that the applicants' description of the circumstances surrounding the abduction was inconsistent. In particular, the applicants' descriptions of the abductors and the insignia on their uniforms were not sufficiently precise and Gilani Iriskhanov's allegations about his subsequent detention in the local law enforcement agencies were unsubstantiated.
B. The Court's evaluation of the facts
68. The Court observes that in its extensive jurisprudence it has developed a
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