ed in Bazarnaya Street in Martan-Chu in the Urus-Martan district of Chechnya Mr Lecha Salmanovich Basayev and Mr Lema Aliyevich Dikayev and took them away to an unknown destination".
B. The official investigation into the abduction
1. Information provided by the applicants
38. On 9 July 2002 the first applicant complained to the Urus-Martan district prosecutor's office (the district prosecutor's office) about the abduction of Lecha Basayev. The applicant did not retain a copy of her complaint.
39. On 1 August 2002 the eighth applicant wrote to the district military commander's office and the district prosecutor's office describing in detail the circumstances of Lema Dikayev's abduction and asking for assistance in establishing his whereabouts.
40. On 2 August 2002 the first applicant complained again to the district prosecutor's office that Lecha Basayev had been abducted. In her letter she stated that he had been abducted by a group of approximately twenty unidentified masked armed men and pointed out that her complaints about it to a number of State authorities had produced no results.
41. At some point in August 2002 a district police officer visited Lecha Basayev's house and obtained a statement from the fourth applicant concerning the circumstances of Lecha Basayev's abduction.
42. On 23 August 2002 the Urus-Martan district prosecutor's office (the district prosecutor's office) initiated an investigation into the abduction of Lecha Basayev and Lema Dikayev under Article 126 § 2 of the Criminal Code (aggravated kidnapping). The case file was assigned number 61117. In the submitted documents it is also referred to under No. 6117.
43. On 24 August 2002 the first and seventh applicants were granted victim status in the criminal case.
44. On 12 October 2002 the military prosecutor's office of the United Group Alignment (the UGA) forwarded the eighth applicant's complaint to the military prosecutor's office of military unit No. 20102.
45. On 23 October 2002 the district prosecutor's office suspended the investigation in the criminal case for failure to identify the perpetrators.
46. On 20 December 2002 the seventh applicant wrote to the Chechnya prosecutor's office stating that her brother had been taken away by representatives of federal forces and asking for his whereabouts to be established.
47. On 5 February and 3 April 2003 the Chechnya prosecutor's office informed the first applicant that on 23 October 2002 the investigation in the criminal case had been suspended.
48. On 20 February, 22 March, 5 April and 25 June 2003 the prosecutors' offices forwarded the applicants' complaints about their relatives' abduction to the prosecutors' offices of lower levels for examination.
49. On 21 April 2003 the seventh applicant requested the district prosecutor's office to inform her about the progress of the investigation in the criminal case.
50. On 22 May 2003 the military prosecutor's office of military unit No. 20102 informed the applicants that as a result of their query it had been established that the military servicemen had not been implicated in the disappearance of Lecha Basayev and Lema Dikayev.
51. On 17 June 2003 the seventh applicant wrote to the Chechnya prosecutor's office complaining about her brother's abduction and the unauthorised search of their family house. She described in detail the circumstances of Lema Dikayev's abduction and stated that the abductors had beaten him up in the presence of his family members. She requested the authorities to resume the investigation in the criminal case, to establish her brother's whereabouts and to take necessary measures to identify the culprits.
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