lity of the submissions of the eyewitnesses that the alleged perpetrators had moved around in armoured personnel carriers. The Court notes in this respect that the Government did not indicate the dates on which the statements had been obtained by the investigating authorities. It is not unlikely that if witnesses had been questioned after a considerable lapse of time they would have had difficulties in recalling the exact timing of the events in question. Moreover, the Government did not indicate whether the investigating authorities had taken any steps to resolve the alleged contradiction. Overall, having regard to the materials in its possession, the Court has little doubt that the armed men who killed the applicant's husband were equipped with armoured personnel carriers.
57. In this connection, the Court notes that heavy military vehicles such as armoured personnel carriers were presumably in the exclusive possession of the State. It further notes the applicant's arguments that during the period under examination the area where the applicant's husband was murdered had been under the firm control of the federal forces, that the events in question had taken place in the close proximity of a federal military unit, and that the perpetrators must have passed through a check-point on the road between the village of Goyskoye and Urus-Martan, none of these arguments having been disputed by the Government. In a situation where a group of armed men was able to move freely in heavy military vehicles, and to open heavy fire in broad daylight within a territory which was under the control of the federal forces, and, in particular, in the close proximity of a federal military unit, the Court cannot but reach the conclusion that those men were State agents. The Court therefore finds it established that the applicant's husband was killed on 11 September 2000 by State agents.
58. In the absence of any plausible explanation on the part of the Government as to the circumstances of the death of the applicant's husband, the Court further finds that the Government have not accounted for his death and that the respondent State's responsibility for this death is therefore engaged.
59. Accordingly, there has been a violation of Article 2 of the Convention in this respect.
2. Alleged inadequacy of the investigation
(a) Submissions by the parties
60. The applicant argued that the investigation in the present case had fallen short of the Convention standards. It has been pending for several years but failed to produce any meaningful results. The applicant further argued that despite the overwhelming evidence confirming the involvement of military personnel, her husband's murder was being investigated by a civilian prosecutor's office rather than a military one. She argued that the civilian prosecutors lacked the competence to investigate crimes committed by the military. The applicant also contended that the authorities had failed to carry out a number of essential investigative measures, to inform her of the progress of the investigation, or to allow her access to any documents from the case file. In this latter respect the applicant thus argued that she had been excluded from the criminal proceedings.
61. The Government argued that the investigation into the murder of the applicant's husband met the Convention requirement of effectiveness, as all the measures envisaged in national law were being taken to identify those responsible. They submitted that the investigation was being carried out in full compliance with the domestic law and that a large number of investigative actions had been carried out, this fact having been confirmed by a decision of the Urus-Martan Town Court of 29 March 2004 given upon the applicant's complaint about the refusal of access to the case file (see paragraph 36 above). The Governm
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