ic shock caused by multiple gunshot wounds to the body and extremities. Sharip Elmurzayev's death was a result of traumatic shock caused by multiple gunshot wounds to the head and body. Isa Khadzhimuradov died of traumatic shock caused by multiple gunshot wounds to the body.
33. On 30 April 2004 the Civil Registry Office of the Shali District issued a certificate stating that Zelimkhan Osmayev had died on 9 April 2004. The cause of death was not specified.
34. On 12 May 2004 the Civil Registry Office of the Shali District issued death certificates in respect of Bayali Elmurzayev and Idris Elmurzayev. According to the certificates, both men died on 9 April 2004; the cause of death was not specified.
35. It is unclear whether official death certificates were issued in respect of Idris Elmurzayev, Khusin Khadzhimuradov and Apti Murtazov.
4. Official investigation
(a) Information received by the applicants
36. On 27 March 2004 Lechi Shaipov's father filed a written compliant about his son's abduction to the prosecutor's office of the Shali District ("the district prosecutor's office").
37. On 8 April 2004 the prosecutor's office of the Chechen Republic ("the republican prosecutor's office") forwarded the thirty-fourth applicant's complaint about the disappearance of Bayali, Idris and Sharip Elmurzayev to the district prosecutor's office. On the same day it forwarded to the district prosecutor's office complaints by other relatives of the eight missing inhabitants of Duba-Yurt.
38. On 8 April 2004 the acting military commander of the Chechen Republic demanded that the district military commander's office verify the facts complained of by the eighteenth and twenty-second applicants by 9 and 10 April 2004, respectively.
39. On 16 April 2004 the district prosecutor's office informed the twenty-second applicant that the investigation into his brother's kidnapping in case No. 36025 was underway and that investigative measures were being taken to resolve the crime. On the same date the republican prosecutor's office informed some of the applicants that the investigation into the kidnapping of the eight inhabitants of Duba-Yurt was pending.
40. On 5 June 2004 the republican prosecutor's office informed the applicants that the investigation in case No. 36025 had been suspended on account of a failure to identify those responsible. They further noted that, despite the suspension of the proceedings, investigative measures were being taken to resolve the crime and advised the applicants of their right to appeal against the decision.
41. On 8 June 2004 the military prosecutor's office of military unit No. 20116 informed the eighteenth and twenty-second applicants that the servicemen of that unit had not carried out any special operations in Duba-Yurt and had not apprehended any individuals on the dates mentioned in their complaints.
42. It does not appear that the applicants received any further information regarding the investigation.
(b) Information provided by the Government
43. According to the Government, on 31 March 2004 the district prosecutor's office instituted an investigation into the disappearance of the eight inhabitants of Duba-Yurt under Article 126 (2) of the Russian Criminal Code (aggravated kidnapping). The case file was assigned the number 36025.
44. On the same date the investigating authorities sent a number of enquiries to representatives of the federal military authorities, district and republican departments of the Federal Security Service, town and district prosecutor's offices of the Chechen Republic and the criminal police of the Shali District. They requested information as to which military units had been stationed in the Shali District and could have partic
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