that ought to have been carried out much earlier could no longer usefully be conducted. Therefore, it is highly doubtful that the remedy relied on would have had any prospects of success. Therefore, the Court finds that the remedy relied on by the Government was ineffective in the circumstances and rejects their preliminary objection in this part also.
98. In the light of the foregoing, the Court finds that the authorities failed to carry out an effective criminal investigation into the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of Mr Magomed Dokuyev, in breach of Article 2 under its procedural head. Accordingly, there has been a violation of Article 2 on this account also.
III. Alleged violation of Article 3 of the Convention
99. The applicants further relied on Article 3 of the Convention, submitting that their relative had been ill-treated during his apprehension and most likely tortured during his detention. The first, second and third applicants also claimed that as a result of their family member's disappearance and the State's failure to investigate those events properly, they had endured mental suffering in breach of Article 3 of the Convention. Article 3 reads:
"No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."
100. The applicants maintained the complaint.
101. The Government disagreed with these allegations and argued that the investigation had not established that Mr Magomed Dokuyev had been subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment prohibited by Article 3 of the Convention. The Government accepted that the applicants must have suffered as a result of their relative's disappearance. However, since the involvement of State agents into his abduction had not been established, the State could not be held responsible for their sufferings.
A. The alleged ill-treatment of the applicants' relative
1. General principles
102. In so far as the applicants complained of alleged ill-treatment of Mr Magomed Dokuyev upon and after his apprehension, the Court reiterates that allegations of ill-treatment must be supported by appropriate evidence. To assess this evidence, the Court adopts the standard of proof "beyond reasonable doubt" but adds that such proof may follow from the coexistence of sufficiently strong, clear and concordant inferences or of similar unrebutted presumptions of fact (see Ireland v. the United Kingdom, judgment of 18 January 1978, § 161 in fine, Series A No. 25).
103. The Court reiterates that "where an individual makes a credible assertion that he has suffered treatment infringing Article 3 at the hands of the police or other similar agents of the State, that provision, read in conjunction with the State's general duty under Article 1 of the Convention to "secure to everyone within their jurisdiction the rights and freedoms defined in... [the] Convention", requires by implication that there should be an effective official investigation" (see Labita v. Italy [GC], No. 26772/95, § 131, ECHR 2000-IV).
2. The alleged ill-treatment
104. In so far as the complaint concerns the ill-treatment Mr Magomed Dokuyev was allegedly subjected to in detention, the Court notes that it has found it established that he was detained on 14 February 2001 by State agents. It has also found that, in view of all the known circumstances, he can be presumed dead and that the responsibility for his death lies with the State authorities (see paragraph 84 above). However, the exact way in which Mr Magomed Dokuyev died has not been established. The Court notes that the applicants' allegation of their relative's having been ill-treated in detention is supported only by the first applicant's statement that he had heard his son screaming in a nearby tent. However, thi
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