ments had not contained sufficient information which would have enabled her to appeal against them. In addition, the applicant had not been granted access to the case file.
117. The Government claimed that the investigation into the disappearance of the applicant's son met the Convention requirement of effectiveness as all measures envisaged in national law were being taken to identify those responsible.
118. The Court has on many occasions stated that the obligation to protect the right to life under Article 2 of the Convention also requires by implication that there should be some form of effective official investigation when individuals have been killed as a result of the use of force. It has developed a number of guiding principles to be followed for an investigation to comply with the Convention's requirements (for a summary of these principles see Bazorkina, cited above, §§ 117 - 119).
119. In the present case, an investigation of the abduction was carried out. The Court must assess whether that investigation met the requirements of Article 2 of the Convention.
120. The Court notes at the outset that the documents from the investigation were partially disclosed by the Government. It therefore has to assess the effectiveness of the investigation on the basis of these documents, documents submitted by the applicant and the information about the investigation's progress presented by the Government.
121. As to the facts of the case, it has already been established that no proper investigation has taken place into the disappearance of Abu Khasuyev. The Court notes that the investigation was opened on 27 October 2001, that is one month and twenty-seven days after the detention had occurred. This delay in itself was liable to affect the investigation of a crime such as abduction in life-threatening circumstances, where crucial action has to be taken in the first days after the event. The crime scene investigation in the applicant's flat was conducted only on 6 July 2006, which is four years, ten months and seven days after the abduction (see paragraph 73 above). It also appears that within the two years following the abduction the applicant was the only witness questioned by the investigators. In April 2008 the supervising prosecutor criticised the investigation, indicated the number of crucial steps which had been delayed and ordered the investigators to carry them out (see paragraph 81 above).
122. It is obvious that these measures, if they were to produce any meaningful results, should have been taken immediately after the crime was reported to the authorities, and as soon as the investigation commenced. These delays, for which there has been no explanation in the instant case, not only demonstrate the authorities' failure to act of their own motion but also constitute a breach of the obligation to exercise exemplary diligence and promptness in dealing with such a serious crime (see Paul and Audrey Edwards v. the United Kingdom, No. 46477/99, § 86, ECHR 2002-II).
123. A number of essential steps were never taken. Most notably, it does not appear that the investigation tried to identify and question the servicemen who had been manning the checkpoint situated across the street from the applicant's house or that they had tried to identify and question any of the servicemen who might have participated in a special operation in Urus-Martan and could have been involved in the detention of Abu Khasuyev.
124. The Court also notes that even though the applicant was granted victim status twice (see paragraphs 63 and 74 above), she was only informed of the suspensions and resumptions of the proceedings, and not of any other significant developments. Accordingly, the investigators failed to ensure that the investigation received the required level of public scrutiny, or to safeguard the interests of the next of kin in the procee
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