one to five days prior to the date on which the bodies were found (see paragraph 66 above).
83. On the facts of the case, it is therefore clear that the applicants' relatives were taken into custody and their bodies were later found with multiple gunshot wounds. The Court notes that it was never alleged by the Government, or suggested by the evidence adduced, that the applicants' relatives had been released at any moment after being apprehended. In such circumstances the Court is not convinced by the Government's argument that the applicants' relatives might have been killed by members of illegal armed groups and is bound to conclude that the applicants' relatives died whilst being detained by State agents. In the absence of any plausible explanation on the part of the Government as to the circumstances of the deaths of the applicants' eight relatives, it further finds that the Government have not accounted for these deaths and that the respondent State's responsibility for this death is therefore engaged.
84. Accordingly, there has been a violation of Article 2 of the Convention in this respect.
2. Alleged inadequacy of the investigation
(a) Submissions by the parties
85. The applicants submitted that the investigation in the present case had fallen short of the requirements of Convention standards. They pointed out at the outset that the Government had withheld information regarding the investigation by refusing to provide the file of the criminal investigation. They further insisted that the investigation had been superficial, even though it had been promptly commenced and certain investigative actions had been taken at the beginning. In particular, the investigating authorities had questioned Messrs Suliman and Ibragim Elmurzayev, two of the three men who had been detained and then released on 27 March 2004, whereas Mr Umar Elmurzayev, the third man released, did not seem ever to have been questioned, although he could be considered as a very important witness in the case. Moreover, the questioning of Messrs Suliman and Ibragim Elmurzayev appeared to have been superficial and had not gone into any details. Similarly, it does not appear that the authorities attempted to find out from the local residents whether there had been any insignia on the military uniforms of the perpetrators, or whether they had had any distinctive marks. Furthermore, the authorities do not seem to have questioned servicemen who had been on duty on the check-points on the night of the incident. The applicants also submitted that the authorities had carried out only a preliminary medical examination of the bodies found, failing to perform an in-depth forensic examination, to extract bullets from the corpses and to send them for ballistic tests. The authorities also did not seem to have made efforts to establish exactly where the applicants' relatives had been killed. The applicants further pointed out that, as could be ascertained from the Government's observations, the latest investigative action had been taken in April 2004 and the Government had not submitted any information regarding further developments in the investigation.
86. The Government argued that the investigation into the disappearance and murder of the applicants' relatives met the Convention requirement of effectiveness, as all measures envisaged in national law were being taken to identify those responsible. They submitted that the investigation was being carried out in full compliance with the domestic law and that a large number of investigative actions had been taken, including inspection of the crime scenes at the houses from which the applicants' relatives had been abducted, medical examination of the corpses and the sending of numerous enquiries to the federal military and security agencies to verify the possible involvement of federal servi
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