at her husband had been abducted by FSB officers. She also alleged that no proper investigation had taken place. In view of these allegations, the Court asked the Government to produce documents from the criminal investigation file opened in relation to the abduction. The evidence contained in that file was regarded by the Court as crucial to the establishment of the facts in the present case.
78. In their submissions the Government confirmed that on 17 June 2004 police officers stopped two cars at the "Volga-20" checkpoint. After the men sitting in those two cars had refused to produce their documents, they had been brought to the Sunzhenskiy ROVD. There four of them presented the identity papers of FSB officers and documents authorising detention of the other two men, Mr Medov and K. Then they had been released and had driven to Chechnya. The Government contended, however, that, as was revealed later, those persons had never served in the FSB and identity documents had never been issued to them.
79. The Court notes that despite its repeated requests for a copy of the investigation file opened into the disappearance of the applicant's husband, the Government refused to produce such a copy, invoking Article 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. It further notes that the Government did not request the application of Rule 33 § 2 of the Rules of Court, which permits a restriction on the principle of the public character of documents deposited with the Court for legitimate purposes, such as the protection of national security and the private life of the parties, as well as the interests of justice. The Court observes that it has already found on a number of occasions that the provisions of Article 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure do not preclude disclosure of documents from a pending investigation file, but rather set out a procedure for and limits to such disclosure (see Mikheyev v. Russia, No. 77617/01, § 104, 26 January 2006, and Imakayeva v. Russia, No. 7615/02, § 123, ECHR 2006-... (extracts)). For these reasons the Court considers the Government's explanation insufficient to justify the withholding of the key information requested by the Court.
80. Referring to the importance of a respondent Government's cooperation in Convention proceedings, the Court finds that there has been a breach of the obligations laid down in Article 38 § 1 (a) of the Convention to furnish all necessary facilities to the Court in its task of establishing the facts.
81. In view of the above finding, the Court considers that no separate issues arise under Article 34.
C. The Court's evaluation of the facts
1. Abduction of Mr Adam Medov
82. The Court points out that a number of principles have been developed in its case-law when it is faced with the task of establishing facts on which the parties disagree. As to the facts that are in dispute, the Court reiterates its jurisprudence confirming the standard of proof "beyond reasonable doubt" in its assessment of evidence (see {Avsar} v. Turkey, No. 25657/94, § 282, ECHR 2001-VII). Such proof may follow from the coexistence of sufficiently strong, clear and concordant inferences or of similar unrebutted presumptions of fact. In this context, the conduct of the parties when evidence is being obtained has to be taken into account (see {Tanis} and Others, cited above, § 160).
83. The Court observes that it is not disputed between the parties that Mr Adam Medov together with K. were apprehended by armed men and then brought to the Sunzhenskiy ROVD following their captors' failure to produce documents at the check point. Although the applicant submitted that Mr Medov had been apprehended by eight persons, from the Government submissions corroborated by the materials of the case available to the Court it appears that there were four persons. Accordingly, the Court will pr
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