Постановление Европейского суда по правам человека от 15.01.2009 «Дело Медова (Medova) против России» [англ.]

oceed on the basis that Mr Medov had been apprehended by four armed persons.
84. The parties agreed that after the armed persons who had apprehended Mr Adam Medov together with K. had failed to produce their identity documents at the check point, they had been taken to the Sunzhenskiy ROVD where they had produced the documents of FSB officers. It is also not in dispute between the parties that all the six men were then released from the Sunzhenskiy ROVD and that the four armed men drove with Mr Medov and K. to Chechnya.
85. The parties disputed, however, whether the four armed men had actually been FSB officers. The applicants argued that they had been, relying on (i) the fact that they had produced FSB identity documents, (ii) the confirmation of the FSB Department in the Republic of Ingushetia given by telephone to the prosecutor of the Sunzhenskiy district that the persons in question had been FSB officers and that they had acted lawfully in detaining Mr Medov and K., (iii) the authorities' failure to check the FSB register of "undercover documents". The Government contended that the persons in question had not been FSB officers and that their identity documents had been forged. They relied on the information provided by FSB according to which the persons concerned had never served in the FSB and that such identity documents had never been issued.
86. The Court observes that the domestic investigation which is under way has to date produced no conclusive results on the matter. It also notes that the applicant's allegation that between 15 and 16 June 2004 Mr Medov was held at the FSB headquarters is not corroborated by any evidence. Inasmuch as the applicant relied on the prosecuting authorities' replies of 21, 24 and 26 June and 1 July 2004 to the effect that Mr Medov had been detained by FSB officers under the command of V.V. Beletskiy, the replies were clearly based on the documents produced by the armed men at the Sunzhenskiy ROVD and could not have taken into account subsequent information provided by the FSB. Furthermore, those replies contained no information about Mr Medov's alleged detention at the FSB headquarters.
87. The Court further notes that, having been informed of Mr Medov's abduction by persons in possession of FSB identity documents, the FSB had consistently denied that such persons had ever formed part of its staff and that identity documents had ever been issued to them.
88. Having regard to the principles cited above and the parties' submissions the Court is prepared to accept that Mr Adam Medov and K. were abducted by armed men who identified themselves as FSB officers. However, the evidence submitted by the parties is not sufficient to establish to the requisite standard of proof whether the armed men were indeed FSB officers.

2. Whether Mr Adam Medov may be presumed dead

89. The Court notes that after the six men were released from the Sunzhenskiy ROVD they drove to Chechnya. The Court reiterates that in 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-...), it found that, in the context of the conflict in the Chechen Republic, when a person was detained by unidentified servicemen without any subsequent acknowledgement of the detention, this could be regarded as life-threatening.
90. In the present case, however, the Court has not found it established that Mr Adam Medov was detained by servicemen, but found that he was abducted by four armed men. Nevertheless, the Court is of the opinion that a finding of State involvement in the disappearance of a person is not a condition sine qua non for the purposes of establishing whether that person can be presumed dead; in certain circumstances the disappearance of a person may in its

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