rits
(a) The alleged violation of the right to life of Aslanbek Khamzayev
75. The Court reiterates that Article 2, which safeguards the right to life and sets out the circumstances when deprivation of life may be justified, ranks as one of the most fundamental provisions in the Convention, from which no derogation is permitted. In the light of the importance of the protection afforded by Article 2, the Court must subject deprivation of life to the most careful scrutiny, taking into consideration not only the actions of State agents but also all the surrounding circumstances (see, among other authorities, McCann and Others v. the United Kingdom, 27 September 1995, §§ 146 - 47, Series A No. 324, and {Avsar}, cited above, § 391).
76. As noted above, the domestic investigation failed to produce any tangible results as to the identities of the persons responsible for the alleged kidnapping of Aslanbek Khamzayev. The applicants have not submitted persuasive evidence to support their allegations that State agents were the perpetrators of such a crime. The Court has already found above that, in the absence of relevant information, it is unable to find that security forces were implicated in the disappearance of the applicants' relative (see paragraph 70 above). Neither has it established "beyond reasonable doubt" that Aslanbek Khamzayev was deprived of his life by State agents.
77. In such circumstances the Court finds no State responsibility, and thus no violation of the substantive limb of Article 2 of the Convention.
(b) The alleged inadequacy of the investigation into the kidnapping
78. 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", 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 (see, mutatis mutandis, McCann and Others, cited above, § 161; and Kaya v. Turkey, 19 February 1998, § 86, Reports of Judgments and Decisions 1998-I). The essential purpose of such investigation is to secure the effective implementation of the domestic laws which protect the right to life and, in those cases involving State agents or bodies, to ensure their accountability for deaths occurring under their responsibility. This investigation should be independent, accessible to the victim's family, carried out with reasonable promptness and expedition, effective in the sense that it is capable of leading to a determination of whether the force used in such cases was or was not justified in the circumstances or otherwise unlawful, and afford a sufficient element of public scrutiny of the investigation or its results (see Hugh Jordan v. the United Kingdom, No. 24746/94, §§ 105 - 09, ECHR 2001-III (extracts), and Douglas-Williams v. the United Kingdom (dec.), No. 56413/00, 8 January 2002).
79. The Court notes that there is no proof that Aslanbek Khamzayev has been killed. However, it reiterates that the above-mentioned obligations also apply to cases where a person has disappeared in circumstances which may be regarded as life-threatening (see {Togcu}, cited above, § 112). The applicants informed the investigating authorities that Aslanbek Khamzayev had disappeared in suspicious circumstances. Given the considerable number of reported enforced disappearances of persons in the Chechen Republic and the enduring confrontation between illegal armed groups and federal troops in the region in the early 2000s, the Court considers that the disappearance of Aslanbek Khamzayev could be regarded as life-threatening. Furthermore, it must be accepted that the more time that goes by without any news of the person who has disappe
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