n the Chechen Republic when a person is detained by unidentified servicemen without any subsequent acknowledgement of the detention, this can be regarded as life-threatening. The absence of Vakha Saydaliyev or of any news of him for almost seven years supports this assumption.
102. Accordingly, the Court finds that the evidence available permits it to establish that Vakha Saydaliyev must be presumed dead following his unacknowledged detention by State servicemen.
IV. Alleged violation of Article 2 of the Convention
103. The applicants complained under Article 2 of the Convention that their relative had disappeared after having been detained by Russian servicemen and that the domestic authorities had failed to carry out an effective investigation of the matter. Article 2 reads:
"1. Everyone's right to life shall be protected by law. No one shall be deprived of his life intentionally save in the execution of a sentence of a court following his conviction of a crime for which this penalty is provided by law.
2. Deprivation of life shall not be regarded as inflicted in contravention of this article when it results from the use of force which is no more than absolutely necessary:
(a) in defence of any person from unlawful violence;
(b) in order to effect a lawful arrest or to prevent the escape of a person lawfully detained;
(c) in action lawfully taken for the purpose of quelling a riot or insurrection."
A. The parties' submissions
104. The Government contended that the domestic investigation had obtained no evidence to the effect that Vakha Saydaliyev was dead or that any servicemen of the federal law-enforcement agencies had been involved in his kidnapping or alleged killing. The Government claimed that the investigation into the kidnapping of the applicants' relative met the Convention requirement of effectiveness, as all measures envisaged in national law were being taken to identify the perpetrators. The investigation was pending before an independent body, that is, a prosecutor's office. Active measures were being taken to ensure that several witnesses be questioned, such as Mr Kh., the applicant's neighbour allegedly abducted on 16 April 2002 and the two men who had claimed to have seen Vakha Saydaliyev in Stavropol. The Government explained delays in carrying out certain investigative measures by the fact that since 2002 the Shali District had been a scene of action for various criminal, including terrorist, groups.
105. The applicants argued that Vakha Saydaliyev had been detained by State servicemen and should be presumed dead in the absence of any reliable news of him for almost seven years. The applicants also argued that the investigation had not met the requirements of effectiveness and adequacy, as required by the Court's case-law on Article 2. In particular, they pointed out that the investigation had been commenced belatedly and that a number of eyewitnesses to the abduction, including the third applicant, had not been questioned as witnesses at all. There had been lengthy periods of inactivity on the part of the investigators. The applicants invited the Court to draw conclusions from the Government's unjustified failure to submit the documents from the case file to them or to the Court.
B. The Court's assessment
1. Admissibility
106. The Court considers, in the light of the parties' submissions, that the complaint raises serious issues of fact and law under the Convention, the determination of which requires an examination of the merits. Further, the Court has already found that the Government's objection concerning the alleged non-exhaustion of domestic remedies should be joined to the merits of the complaint (see paragraph 76 above). The complaint u
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