substantiated complaints gives rise to a strong presumption of at least acquiescence in the situation and raises strong doubts as to the objectivity of the investigation.
106. For the above reasons the Court considers that Leoma Meshayev and Bislan Saydayev must be presumed dead following their unacknowledged detention by State servicemen.
III. Alleged violation of Article 2 of the Convention
107. The applicants complained under Article 2 of the Convention that their relatives had disappeared after having been detained by Russian servicemen and that the domestic authorities had failed to carry out an effective investigation into 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 alleged violation of the right to life
of Leoma Meshayev and Bislan Saydayev
108. The Court has already found that the applicants' relatives must be presumed dead following unacknowledged arrest by State servicemen and that the deaths can be attributed to the State. In the absence of any justification in respect of the use of lethal force by State agents, the Court finds that there has been a violation of Article 2 in respect of Leoma Meshayev and Bislan Saydayev.
B. The alleged inadequacy of the investigation
into the abduction
109. The applicants argued that the investigation had not been effective and adequate, as required by the Court's case-law on Article 2. They noted that it had been opened belatedly, that the taking of the most basic steps had been protracted, and that the applicants had not been informed properly of its progress. They argued that the fact that the investigation had been ongoing for such a long period of time without producing any known results had been further proof of its ineffectiveness. 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.
110. The Government claimed that the investigation met the Convention requirements, as all measures envisaged in national law were being taken to identify the perpetrators. They argued that the first and ninth applicants had been granted victim status and had had every opportunity to participate effectively in the proceedings.
111. The Court has on many occasions stated that the obligation to protect the right to life under Article 2 of the Convention also requires by implication that there should be some form of effective official investigation when individuals have been killed as a result of the use of force. It has developed a number of guiding principles to be followed for an investigation to comply with the Convention's requirements (for a summary of these principles see Bazorkina, cited above, §§ 117 - 119).
112. The Court notes at the outset that most of the documents from the investigation were not disclosed by the Government. It therefore has to assess its effectiveness on the basis of the few documents submitted by the parties and the information about its progress presented by the Government.
113. Turning to the facts of the case, the Court notes that while the applicants immediately informed the
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