.
III. Alleged violation of Article 3 of the Convention
159. The applicants further relied on Article 3 of the Convention, submitting that as a result of their close relative's disappearance and the State's failure to investigate those events properly, they had endured mental suffering in breach of Article 3 of the Convention. Article 3 provides:
"No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. "
160. The applicants maintained the complaint.
161. The Government submitted that the investigation had produced no evidence that the applicants had been subjected to treatment prohibited by the above-cited Convention provision.
162. The Court observes that the question whether a member of the family of a "disappeared person" is a victim of treatment contrary to Article 3 will depend on the existence of special factors which give the suffering of the applicants a dimension and character distinct from the emotional distress which may be regarded as inevitably caused to relatives of a victim of a serious human-rights violation. Relevant elements will include the proximity of the family tie, the particular circumstances of the relationship, the extent to which the family member witnessed the events in question, the involvement of the family member in the attempts to obtain information about the disappeared person and the way in which the authorities responded to those enquiries. The Court would further emphasise that the essence of such a violation does not mainly lie in the fact of the "disappearance" of the family member but rather concerns the authorities' reactions and attitudes to the situation when it is brought to their attention. It is especially in respect of the latter that a relative may claim directly to be a victim of the authorities' conduct (see Orhan v. Turkey, No. 25656/94, § 358, 18 June 2002, and Imakayeva, cited above, § 164).
163. In the present case the Court notes that the applicants are the mother, wife and children of the individual who disappeared. They were eyewitnesses to his arrest. For more than nine years they have not had any news of him. During this period the applicants have applied to various official bodies with enquiries about their family member, both in writing and in person. Despite their attempts, the applicants have never received any plausible explanation or information as to what became of their family member following his detention. The responses received by the applicants mostly denied the State's responsibility for his fate or simply informed them that an investigation was ongoing. The Court's findings under the procedural aspect of Article 2 are also of direct relevance here.
164. In view of the above, the Court finds that the applicants suffered, and continue to suffer, distress and anguish as a result of the disappearance of their family member and their inability to find out what happened to him. The manner in which their complaints have been dealt with by the authorities must be considered to constitute inhuman treatment contrary to Article 3.
165. The Court therefore concludes that there has been a violation of Article 3 of the Convention also in respect of the applicants.
IV. Alleged violation of Article 5 of the Convention
166. The applicants further stated that Kazbek Vakhayev had been detained in violation of the guarantees of Article 5 of the Convention, which, in so far as relevant, provides:
"1. Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. No one shall be deprived of his liberty save in the following cases and in accordance with a procedure prescribed by law:...
(c) the lawful arrest or detention of a person effected for the purpose of bringing him before the competent legal authority on reasonable suspicion of having committe
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