ithin the exclusive knowledge of the authorities, as in the case of persons under their control in detention, strong presumptions of fact will arise in respect of injuries and death occurring during that detention. Indeed, the burden of proof may be regarded as resting on the authorities to provide a satisfactory and convincing explanation (see Salman v. Turkey [GC], No. 21986/93, § 100, ECHR 2000-VII, and {Cakici} v. Turkey [GC], No. 23657/94, § 85, ECHR 1999-IV).
74. The Court observes that it has developed a number of general principles relating to the establishment of facts in dispute, in particular when faced with allegations of disappearance under Article 2 of the Convention (for a summary of these, see Bazorkina v. Russia, No. 69481/01, §§ 103 - 09, 27 July 2006). The Court also notes that the conduct of the parties when evidence is being obtained has to be taken into account (see Ireland v. the United Kingdom, 18 January 1978, § 161, Series A No. 25).
75. The Court notes that despite its requests for a copy of the entire investigation file into the kidnapping of Salman Abdulazizov, the Government refused to produce any documents from the file, on the grounds that they were precluded from providing them by Article 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The Court observes that in previous cases it has 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)).
76. In view of the foregoing and bearing in mind the principles referred to above, the Court finds that it can draw inferences from the Government's conduct in this respect. It considers that the applicant has presented a coherent and convincing picture of her husband's abduction.
77. The Court takes note of the Government's assertion that Salman Abdulazizov could have been kidnapped by insurgents wishing to take revenge on him but considers nonetheless that this is outweighed by the applicant's arguments for the following reasons.
78. The applicant's allegation that her husband's kidnappers were State agents is strongly supported by the witness statements. For instance, Mr D.M. stated before the domestic authorities that he and his brother had been kept locked up for four days following their abduction by armed men travelling in UAZ and Ural vehicles (see paragraph 42 above). It appears from the meagre information submitted by the Government that Mr I., Mr E. and Mr V. gave a similar description of the circumstances of their arrest and detention.
79. Moreover, the Government accepted that at least four witnesses had claimed before the investigators to have heard Salman Abdulazizov's voice coming from the premises of the Urus-Martan District military commander's office (see paragraphs 40 and 41 above).
80. The Court observes that certain points of the witness statements are disputed by the parties. The Government noted that the applicant's account of events had changed in the course of the domestic investigation. They further insisted that Mr D.M., Mr I. and Mr E. had not claimed in the course of their respective interviews to have seen or heard Salman Abdulazizov while in detention. The applicant submitted a written statement by Mr I. confirming that he had seen her husband inside the Ural vehicle and later in the building in which he had been kept.
81. In the Court's view it is understandable that the applicant might omit or add certain details to her depositions made at different stages of the investigation, as a human being could not normally be expected to repeat his or her narrative on several occasions word by word. The Court is unable to verify whether there were any discrepancies between Mr I.'s statements made before the investigators and the Court as the Government failed to provide a transcript of his int
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