applicant had never lodged any complaints concerning Yusup Satabayev's detention before the domestic courts. They concluded that there had been no violation of Article 5 of the Convention in respect of Yusup Satabayev's detention.
2. The Court's assessment
135. Inasmuch as the Government may be understood to raise the plea of non-exhaustion with respect to the present complaint on account of the applicant's failure to challenge the lawfulness of Yusup Satabayev's detention before a court, the Court reiterates that, under Rule 55 of the Rules of Court, any plea of inadmissibility must be raised by the respondent Contracting Party in its written or oral observations on the admissibility of the application (see K. and T. v. Finland [GC], No. 25702/94, § 145, ECHR 2001-VII, and N.C. v. Italy [GC], No. 24952/94, § 44, ECHR 2002-X). However, in their submissions prior to the Court's decision as to the admissibility of the present application the Government did not raise this argument. There are no exceptional circumstances which would have absolved the Government from the obligation to raise their preliminary objection before the adoption of that decision. Consequently, the Government are estopped from raising a preliminary objection of non-exhaustion of domestic remedies in this respect at the present stage of the proceedings.
136. The Court has previously noted the fundamental importance of the guarantees contained in Article 5 to secure the right of individuals in a democracy to be free from arbitrary detention. It has also stated that unacknowledged detention is a complete negation of these guarantees and discloses a very grave violation of Article 5 (see {Cicek} v. Turkey, No. 25704/94, § 164, 27 February 2001, and Luluyev, cited above, § 122).
137. The Court has found it established in paragraphs 109 - 113 above that Yusup Satabayev was detained by State servicemen on 23 February 2000 and remained in continued detention until his presumed death after 14 August 2000. It is not disputed between the parties that until 27 July 2000 Yusup Satabayev was detained on suspicion of having committed a criminal offence. It is not in dispute either that he should have been released on that date following the discontinuation of the criminal proceedings against him. Accordingly, the Court has to decide whether his detention after 27 July 2000 was compatible with Article 5 of the Convention.
138. The Court takes note of the Government's latest submissions that Yusup Satabayev was released as soon as the relevant decision had reached remand prison IZ-20/2, that is, on 1 August 2000, as well as of the fact that they have not furnished any proof of Yusup Satabayev's release on that date (see paragraph 109 above). However, as regards the period before 1 August 2000, even assuming that Yusup Satabayev remained in detention due to the fact that the decision on his release had not reached the detention facility with sufficient expedition, the Court reiterates that it must scrutinise complaints of delays in the release of detainees with particular vigilance (see Nikolov v. Bulgaria, No. 38884/97, § 80, 30 January 2003). Whereas some delay in implementing a decision to release a detainee is understandable and often inevitable in view of practical considerations relating to the running of the courts and the observance of particular formalities, the national authorities must attempt to keep it to a minimum (see, among other authorities, Mancini v. Italy, No. 44955/98, § 24, ECHR 2001-IX).
139. The Court reiterates that administrative formalities connected with release cannot justify a delay of more than several hours (see Nikolov, cited above, § 82) and that it is for the Contracting States to organise their legal system in such a way that their law-enforcement authorities can meet the obligation to avoid unjustified deprivation of
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