Постановление Европейского суда по правам человека от 02.04.2009 «Дело Сайдалиева и другие (Saydaliyeva and others) против России» [англ.]

/> 113. The Court observes that a number of essential investigative steps were delayed considerably. For instance, the first applicant, who had witnessed her son's abduction, was questioned for the first time only on 23 September 2002 (see paragraph 51 above), which is almost two months after the commencement of the investigation. Moreover, Mr Ch. and Mr S. were questioned for the first time only after August 2007, following the communication of the present application to the Government (see paragraph 60 above). Although it is not clear from the Government's submissions when the investigators questioned Luisa Saydaliyeva, an eyewitness to the abduction, the fact that this interview was mentioned for the first time only in January 2008 gives grounds to assume that they did not do it promptly (see paragraph 63 above). It is obvious that the witnesses' statements, if they were to produce any meaningful results, should have been taken immediately after the crime was reported to the authorities, and as soon as the investigation commenced. Such delays, for which there has been no explanation in the instant case, not only demonstrate the authorities' failure to act of their own motion but also constitute a breach of the obligation to exercise exemplary diligence and promptness in dealing with such a serious crime (see Paul and Audrey Edwards v. the United Kingdom, No. 46477/99, § 86, ECHR 2002-II).
114. The Court further notes that a number of essential steps were never taken. Most notably, it does not appear that the investigators tried to identify and question the villagers who had gathered in the applicants' house for the funeral on 16 April 2002. Neither did they try to verify whether any APCs or Ural vehicles had been used by any military or law-enforcement agencies in the vicinity of Serzhen-Yurt on 16 April 2002.
115. The Court also notes that even though the first applicant was eventually granted victim status in case No. 59186, she was only notified of the suspension and resumption of the proceedings, and not of any other significant developments. 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).
116. Lastly, the Court notes that the investigation in case No. 59186 was suspended and resumed twice. Moreover, the periods of inactivity of the investigators when no proceedings were pending were particularly lengthy: one year, eight months and twenty days between 6 October 2002 and 25 June 2004 and three years between 1 August 2004 and 1 August 2007.
117. The Court will now examine the limb of the Government's objection that was joined to the merits of the complaint (see paragraph 76 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 actions or omissions of investigating authorities before a court or a higher prosecutor. Furthermore, the investigation has been resumed by the prosecuting authorities themselves owing to the need to take additional investigative steps. However, they still failed to investigate the applicants' allegations properly. Besides, after a lapse of time some investigative measures that ought to have been car



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