itnesses to the crime. [The applicants'] neighbours were questioned only in August 2003.
... on 20 April 2003 the investigation in the criminal case was resumed owing to "the lack of response to several information requests forwarded to law-enforcement agencies in Chechnya".
... on 20 May 2003 the decision to suspend the criminal investigation was taken.
On 6 August 2003 the investigation was resumed.
A plan of operational-investigative measures was drawn up on 6 August 2003. According to the prosecutor's office, the investigation's main theory was the abduction of the Dolsayev brothers by servicemen of federal forces. To verify this theory, [the investigation] issued the order "to conduct by 18 August 2003 an expert evaluation of the objects collected from the crime scene". However, it should be recalled that the crime scene examination had not been conducted and, consequently, no objects had been collected from the scene. The investigative orders listed in the plan of operational-investigative measures had not been carried out.
The investigation in the criminal case was suspended on 6 September 2003.
On 4 April 2005 the investigation was resumed.
Orders concerning "verification of the operations conducted by the servicemen of the Urus-Martan FSB and servicemen of the Urus-Martan district military commander's office on the day of abduction" were issued...
On 4 May 2005 the investigation in the criminal case was suspended.
On 6 June 2005 the investigation was resumed...
On 6 July 2005 the investigation was suspended.
On 27 November 2006 the investigation was resumed...
On 28 November 2006 the investigation was suspended.
On 14 May 2007 the investigation was resumed...
On 18 May 2007 the investigation was suspended again.
On 29 June 2007 the investigation was resumed.
On 5 July 2007 the investigation conducted a crime scene examination, during which photos of the Dolsayev family's household were taken. "Nothing was collected from the crime scene."
The investigation file contains the response of military unit No. 6845 to an information request by the prosecutor's office: "the military commander's office of the Internal Troops [of the Ministry of the Interior] has been stationed in the Urus-Martan district since 2003. At present it is not possible to provide information concerning the military units and their servicemen [stationed in the area in 2002] as in 2002 the military commander's office consisted of units of the Ministry of Defence. [However,] in 2003 the office was discontinued; therefore, it is not possible to provide information as to which units became its successor."
[In the investigation file] there is also the response of the OG VOGO (operational unit of the temporary operational group - оперативная группировка временной оперативной группы) and PMVD (units of the Ministry of the Interior) (подразделений МВД): "there is no information concerning the passage of military vehicles through the checkpoints in the Urus-Martan district in the end of 2002 as there is no archive."
In conclusion, it is possible to say that the investigation of this criminal case has not been carried out. The investigation file contains practically no information other than requests for information and assistance and responses to them; the latter state that none of the law-enforcement agencies in Chechnya apprehended the Dolsayev brothers. The prosecutor's office did not even try to verify whether this was true. The crime scene examination was not conducted until five years after the abduction..."
(b) Court proceedings initiated by the applicants
68. On 31 October 2003 the Urus-Martan District Court of Chechnya ("the District Court") granted a request by the second applicant and declared Beslan
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