tions as presented by the applicants and took steps to check the involvement of law-enforcement bodies in the arrest. The investigation was unable to establish which precise military or security units had carried out the operation, but it does not appear that any serious steps were taken in that direction.
75. The Court observes that where the applicants make out a prima facie case and the Court is prevented from reaching factual conclusions owing to the lack of relevant documents, it is for the Government to argue conclusively why the documents in question cannot serve to corroborate the allegations made by the applicants, or to provide a satisfactory and convincing explanation of how the events in question occurred. The burden of proof is thus shifted to the Government and if they fail in their arguments issues will arise under Article 2 and/or Article 3 (see {Togcu} v. Turkey, No. 27601/95, § 95, 31 May 2005, and Akkum and Others v. Turkey, No. 21894/93, § 211, ECHR 2005-II).
76. The Government questioned the credibility of the applicants' statements in view of some discrepancies related to the details of the intruders' and the detained man's clothes and the descriptions of the exact sequence of events during the detention. However, the Court reiterates that the witness statements of the applicants and of the neighbours to which the Government refers have not been submitted to the Court. It is therefore unable to evaluate their accuracy and consistency. As to the minor inconsistencies noted by the Government in the applicants' submissions to the Court, in the Court's view, the fact that after several years the applicants' statements differed in rather insignificant details in the recollection of an extremely traumatic and stressful event, does not in itself suffice to cast doubt on the overall veracity of their statements.
77. Taking into account the above elements, the Court is satisfied that the applicants have made a prima facie case that their relative was detained by State servicemen. The Government's statement that the investigation did not find any evidence to support the involvement of the special forces in the abduction is insufficient to discharge them from the above-mentioned burden of proof. Drawing inferences from the Government's failure to submit the documents which were in their exclusive possession or to provide another plausible explanation of the events in question, the Court considers that Aslanbek Astamirov was arrested on 5 August 2002 at his house in Gekhi by State servicemen during an unacknowledged security operation.
78. There has been no reliable news of the applicants' relative since 5 August 2002. His name has not been found in any official detention facilities' records. Finally, the Government did not submit any explanation as to what had happened to him after his arrest.
79. The Court notes with great concern that a number of cases have come before it which suggest that the phenomenon of "disappearances" is well known in Chechnya (see, among others, Bazorkina, cited above; Imakayeva, cited above; Luluyev and Others v. Russia, No. 69480/01, ECHR 2006-... (extracts); Baysayeva v. Russia, No. 74237/01, 5 April 2007; Akhmadova and Sadulayeva, cited above; and Alikhadzhiyeva v. Russia, No. 68007/01, 5 July 2007). The Court has already found that, in the context of the conflict in Chechnya, when a person is detained by unidentified servicemen without any subsequent acknowledgment of the detention, this can be regarded as life-threatening. The absence of Aslanbek Astamirov or of any news of him for over six years supports this assumption. For the above reasons the Court considers that it has been established that he must be presumed dead following unacknowledged detention by State servicemen.
80. Furthermore, in a case involving disappearance, the Court finds it particularly regrettable that
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