ent case that should be taken into account when deciding whether the applicants' relative can be presumed dead and whether his death can be attributed to the authorities.
87. The applicants alleged that the persons who had taken Ruslan Magomadov away on 9 February 2003 and then killed him were State agents.
88. The Government suggested in their submissions that State authorities would not have used an APC to kidnap a police officer and that the abductors of Ruslan Magomadov must have been members of paramilitary groups or criminals pursuing mercenary goals. The Court observes that the Governments' allegation in this respect was not specific and that their submissions did not contain any indications whatsoever that the domestic investigation had found any evidence demonstrating the involvement of insurgents or criminals in the abduction of Ruslan Magomadov. The Court takes note of the Government's allegation that the military vehicles, firearms and camouflage uniforms had probably been stolen by insurgents from Russian arsenals in the 1990s. Nevertheless, it considers it very unlikely that several military vehicles, whether APCs or Ural vehicles, unlawfully possessed by members of illegal armed groups, could have moved freely through Russian military checkpoints without being noticed. Nor is it persuaded by the Government's unexplained assertion that a police officer could not have been arrested using an APC. The Court would stress in this regard that the evaluation of the evidence and the establishment of the facts is a matter for the Court, and it is incumbent on it to decide on the evidentiary value of the documents submitted to it (see {Celikbilek} v. Turkey, No. 27693/95, § 71, 31 May 2005).
89. The Court notes that the applicants' allegation is supported by the witness statements collected by the applicants and by the investigation. It finds that the fact that a large group of armed men in uniform during curfew hours, equipped with military vehicles, was able to move freely through military roadblocks during curfew hours and proceeded to check identity documents and abduct a police officer from his home strongly supports the applicants' allegation that these were State servicemen conducting a security operation. As can be seen from the Government's submission, in their witness statements provided to the investigation after the abduction of Ruslan Magomadov the applicants had stated that he had been detained by unknown servicemen (see paragraph 56) or by persons in military uniforms (see paragraph 51 above); the domestic investigation also accepted the assumptions presented by the applicants (see paragraph 18 above).
90. The Government questioned the credibility of the applicants' statements in view of certain discrepancies relating to the exact circumstances of the abduction as described by the applicants and by their neighbours. The Court notes in this respect that no other elements underlying the applicants' submissions of facts have been disputed by the Government. The Court notes that from the very beginning of the investigation the applicants, as well as their relatives, as eyewitnesses to the events, had been consistent in their witness statements concerning the involvement of the APCs; whereas the statements of the two neighbours, who had not witnessed the events and received the information about the involvement of Ural vehicles from a third party, had been obtained by the investigation almost three years after the abduction. In the Court's view, such discrepancies do not in themselves suffice to cast doubt on the overall veracity of the applicants' statements.
91. The Court observes that where the applicants make out a prima facie case and the Court is prevented from reaching factual conclusions owing to a lack of relevant documents, it is for the Government to argue conclusively why the documents in question
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