ared. In support of their submission they produced their own statements describing the events of that day, including the statement of the third applicant who had witnessed the abduction from the beginning, two hand-drawn maps of the applicants' block of flats, and statements by several witnesses (see paragraphs 15 - 19 above).
94. The Government denied that State agents were involved in the abduction of the applicants' relatives and challenged the applicants' and their witnesses' statements as inconsistent.
95. The Court notes at the outset that despite its requests for a copy of the investigation file into the abduction of Mayrudin Khantiyev, the Government produced no documents from the case file. They 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)). In view of this and bearing in mind the principles cited above, the Court finds that it can draw inferences from the Government's conduct in this respect.
96. The Court further observes that there are indeed several inconsistencies in the applicants' submissions. In particular, whilst the first applicant mentioned in her statement that she had seen the servicemen in Mayrudin Khantiyev's flat, it transpires from the third applicant's statement that the first applicant rushed outside shortly after Mayrudin Khantiyev had been put into the Niva vehicle and it had started taking off. Hence, the Court considers it unlikely that the first applicant could have seen the intruders in Mayrudin Khantiyev's flat. Furthermore, the Court does not find it likely that Ms B. and Mr U. could have seen the Niva vehicle from inside the house when they got to the staircase (see paragraph 18 above).
97. The Court is however not persuaded that the above-mentioned inconsistencies are such as to cast doubt on the overall veracity of the applicants' submissions. Bearing in mind the difficulties for the applicants of obtaining the necessary evidence in support of their allegations and having examined the first to third applicants' statements, their description of the events in the application form, their hand-drawn maps of the applicants' block of flats, importantly, statements by Ms V., Ms P., Mr Da., Ms S. and Mr Du., the Court finds that the applicants have presented an overall coherent and convincing picture of the abduction of their relative by armed men in camouflage uniforms who spoke Russian and had arrived and left on a white Niva vehicle with blackened windows and without registration plates.
98. Having regard to the considerations mentioned in paragraphs 92 - 97 above, the Court will thus proceed to examine the crucial elements in the present case that should be taken into account in order to decide whether the applicants' relative's disappearance should be attributed to the State authorities and whether he should be presumed dead.
99. The Court first points out that by January 2000 the Staropromyslovskiy district of Grozny was under the firm control of the authorities (see Khashiyev and Akayeva v. Russia, Nos. 57942/00 and 57945/00, §§ 39 - 42, 24 February 2005, and Goygova v. Russia, No. 74240/01, § 90, 4 October 2007). It is common ground between the parties that at the material time the city of Grozny was under curfew and that the applicants' house was situated about 50 metres from the district military commander's office which had its own checkpoint (see paragraphs 8 and 64 above). It is likewise undisputed that there were two permanent watch posts of servicemen of the district military commander's office on the roof of the applicants' house and that their task was to secure compliance with the curfew b
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