r of the thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth applicants, as well as of Mr Adlan Dzhunaidovich Dovtayev, born in 1971. Adlan Dovtayev was married to the ninth applicant; they are the parents of the tenth, eleventh and twelfth applicants.
A. Events between 30 December 2002 and 1 January 2003
1. The applicants' account
9. The applicants did not witness the events described below and gained knowledge of them from third persons.
(a) Abduction of Adlan Dovtayev and Sharpuddin Israilov
10. On 30 December 2002 Adlan Dovtayev drove a VAZ-21043 car from Grozny to Urus-Martan. He was accompanied by his acquaintances, Mr S.B., Mr K.B., Mr I.B. and Mr L.I.
11. At about 5 p.m., when the VAZ-21043 car was within 500 metres of federal military check-point No. 18, two armoured personnel carriers ("APCs") without registration numbers crossed its path. Passengers of the APCs - unidentified armed men wearing camouflage uniforms and masks - fired at the VAZ-21043 car and forced it to stop. Then they blocked the road with the APCs and forced Adlan Dovtayev, S.B., K.B., I.B. and L.I. to get into one of them.
12. Meanwhile, Sharpuddin Israilov was driving his VAZ-2103 car from Grozny to Urus-Martan. He was accompanied by police officers, Mr M.A., Mr R.Ya. and Mr A.S.
13. At about 5.30 p.m., when the VAZ-2103 car was within about 1000 metres of check-point No. 18, a group of armed men forced it to stop. The armed men hit the car with a burst of machine gun fire and wounded Sharpuddin Israilov, R.Ya. and A.S. Then the armed men took Sharpuddin Israilov, M.A., R.Ya. and A.S. out of the car, forced them to the ground and searched them. They then put the four men into the back-seat of the VAZ-2103 and two armed men drove it to the woods where the APCs were parked.
14. By the time the VAZ-2103 reached the APCs, R.Ya. had died. The armed men threw his dead body on the APC's roof. Then they took Sharpuddin Israilov, M.A. and A.S. out of the VAZ-2103 car and put them into the APC in which Adlan Dovtayev, S.B., K.B., I.B. and L.I. had been kept.
15. Some of the armed men got in the two VAZ cars; then all the vehicles drove off in the direction of the village of Khankala. At some point the vehicles stopped, the armed men took R.Ya.'s dead body from the APC's roof and blew it apart with explosives. The vehicles then drove away.
16. Eventually the vehicles stopped. The abducted men heard the noise of flying helicopters and concluded that they had been brought to the federal military base in the village of Khankala ("the Khankala base") and that the armed men belonged to the Russian military.
(b) Detention at the Khankala base
17. Upon arrival at the Khankala base the servicemen placed Adlan Dovtayev, Sharpuddin Israilov, S.B., K.B., I.B., L.I., M.A. and A.S. inside an iron cabin; through its windows the detainees could see two satellite aerials and a helipad.
18. On the following day the servicemen took M.A. out of the iron cabin. They questioned him about his involvement in a terrorist attack on the House of the Government of the Chechen Republic and beat him in the course of the interview. During the same day the servicemen took the other detainees outside for questioning in turn. M.A. did not witness how Adlan Dovtayev and Sharpuddin Israilov were questioned.
19. At about 10 a.m. on 31 December 2002 the servicemen tied Adlan Dovtayev and Sharpuddin Israilov's arms with adhesive tape, blindfolded the two men, put them in an UAZ vehicle and drove away. Adlan Dovtayev and Sharpuddin Israilov have not been seen since.
20. Three hours later the servicemen took two other detainees in a white Niva car, drove away from the Khankala base and threw them out of the car in the forest. After a certain lapse of time they did the same with the four
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