notes that there has been no reliable news of the applicants' relative since that date. His name has not been found in any official records of detention facilities. The domestic investigation into Isa Zaurbekov's disappearance, which has dragged on for several years, has not made any meaningful findings regarding his fate. Lastly, the Government did not submit any explanation as to what had happened to him after he had been apprehended.
74. Having regard to the previous cases concerning disappearances of people in Chechnya which have come before the Court (see, for example, Imakayeva, cited above, and Luluyev and Others v. Russia, No. 69480/01, ECHR 2006-XIII (extracts)), the Court considers that, in the context of the conflict in the Chechen Republic, when a person is detained by unidentified servicemen without any subsequent acknowledgement of the detention, this can be regarded as life-threatening. The absence of Isa Zaurbekov or of any news of him for over five years corroborates this assumption. In the light of these considerations, and having regard to the particular circumstances of the case, and more specifically the considerable lapse of time since the day on which Isa Zaurbekov went missing, the Court finds that he must be presumed dead following unacknowledged detention by State agents.
75. In the absence of any plausible explanation on the part of the Government as to the circumstances of Isa Zaurbekov's death, the Court further finds that the Government have not accounted for the death of the applicants' relative during his detention and that the respondent State's responsibility for this death is therefore engaged.
76. Accordingly, there has been a violation of Article 2 of the Convention in this connection.
B. Alleged inadequacy of the investigation
1. Submissions by the parties
77. The applicants insisted that the investigation in the present case had fallen short of the Convention standards. It had been pending for several years by now, having been adjourned and reopened on several occasions, but the authorities had made no meaningful effort to verify the possible involvement of the federal forces in Isa Zaurbekov's abduction despite the overwhelming evidence to that effect. The most essential investigative steps, such as questioning the servicemen from the checkpoint situated near the block of flats in which the second applicant and Isa Zaurbekov had lived, had not been taken. The applicants also argued that they had been denied an opportunity to participate properly in the investigation.
78. The Government claimed that the investigation into the disappearance of the applicants' relative met the Convention requirement of effectiveness, as all measures envisaged in national law were being taken to identify those responsible.
2. The Court's assessment
79. The Court reiterates that the obligation to protect the right to life under Article 2 of the Convention, read in conjunction with the State's general duty under Article 1 of the Convention to "secure to everyone within [its] jurisdiction the rights and freedoms defined in [the] Convention", 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, in particular by agents of the State. The investigation must be effective in the sense that it is capable of leading to the identification and punishment of those responsible (see {Ogur} v. Turkey [GC], No. 21594/93, § 88, ECHR 1999-III). In particular, there is an implicit requirement of promptness and reasonable expedition (see {Yasa} v. Turkey, 2 September 1998, §§ 102 - 104, Reports 1998-VI, and Mahmut Kaya v. Turkey, No. 22535/93, §§ 106 - 107, ECHR 2000-III). It must be accepted that there may be obstacles or difficulties whi
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