been instituted on 6 December 2003. Nonetheless, it is ready to accept the Government's assertion regarding the date of institution of the investigation in case No. 26075.
112. The Court further points out that it is unable to draw a time-line of the investigation as the Government failed to inform it of the dates on which investigative measures had been taken. However, the sparse data at its disposal allows concluding that at least some of such measures, including crucial ones, were delayed in breach of the obligation to exercise exemplary diligence in dealing with a serious crime (see Paul and Audrey Edwards v. the United Kingdom, No. 46477/99, § 86, ECHR 2002-II).
113. It appears that a number of essential investigative steps were never taken. Most notably, there is no evidence in the case file that the investigators took any steps to establish the identity of the owner of the APC seen at the crime scene on 30 November 2003. Nor is it clear whether the investigators have ever tried to verify the information provided by the first applicant and Mr Elmarzayev concerning the involvement of particular law-enforcement units in their sons' kidnapping (see paragraphs 29 - 31 and 66). The Court observes in this respect that, although the Government referred to interviews of servicemen of one unit that had been on mission in the Chechen Republic on 30 November 2003 (see paragraphs 36 and 62 above), they did not indicate in what manner that unit could have been linked to the units mentioned by the two victims.
114. The Court also notes that even though the first applicant was eventually granted victim status, he was not informed of significant developments in the case. 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 proceedings (see {Oyur} v. Turkey [GC], No. 21594/93, § 92, ECHR 1999-III).
115. Lastly, the Court notes that the investigation in case No. 26075 was suspended on 1 March 2004, that is, three months after it had been commenced. It was resumed on 29 March 2004 and then joined with the investigation in case No. 32027 on 13 May 2004. It is not clear whether any progress in the investigation was achieved after that date. It follows from the information submitted by the applicants that the proceedings in case No. 32027 were suspended on 6 July 2005. The Court assumes that no significant investigative steps have been taken in this case from then until January 2008, when Mr Elmarzayev was questioned following the communication of the present case to the Government, that is, for two years and six months. The Government did not advance any plausible explanation for this particularly lengthy period of inactivity, especially in criminal proceedings relating to such a serious crime.
116. The Court will now examine the limb of the Government's objection that was joined to the merits of the application (see paragraph 78 above). Inasmuch as it concerns the fact that the domestic investigation is still pending, the Court notes that the authorities' failure to take necessary and urgent investigative measures undermined the effectiveness of the investigation in its early stages. Furthermore, the Government mentioned that the applicants had the opportunity to apply for judicial or administrative review of the decisions of the investigating authorities in the context of exhaustion of domestic remedies. The Court observes in this respect that the applicants, having no access to the case file and not being properly informed of the progress of the investigation, could not have effectively challenged the actions or omissions of the investigating authorities before a court or a higher prosecutor. Besides, after a lapse of time some investigative measures that ought to have been carried out promptly could no longer usefully be conducted. Therefore, it is
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