t appears that a number of essential steps were never taken. Most notably, it appears that no witnesses other than Mr B. and his mother were ever questioned. No information, let alone any documents, have been provided to the Court as to which servicemen, if any, were questioned in relation to the incident at the checkpoint on 9 March 2002. Apart from this incident, it appears that no servicemen were questioned with regard to the applicants' allegations that their relative had been abducted in the course of the special operation in Stariye Atagi. Likewise, there is no evidence that the place where Mr Ismail Dzhamayev was apprehended was ever examined. It appears that the filtering point at the poultry yard and the mill on the outskirts of the village were not examined either. Furthermore, it appears that the officials of the local administration which provided the applicants with a certificate confirming that their relative had been apprehended by servicemen during the special operation were never questioned either.
101. The Court observes that in the present case the investigating authorities not only did not comply with the obligation to exercise exemplary diligence and promptness in dealing with such a serious crime (see Paul and Audrey Edwards v. the United Kingdom, No. 46477/99, § 86, ECHR 2002-II), but failed to take the most elementary investigative measures.
102. The Court further notes that, according to the information available, two of the applicants were granted victim status, although it is not clear who exactly. In any event, the applicants were not informed of any significant developments in the investigation, apart from several decisions to suspend and resume it. It appears that they were not even provided with a copy of the decision of 26 March 2007 to discontinue the investigation. Accordingly, the investigators failed to ensure that the investigation received the required level of public scrutiny and to safeguard the interests of the next of kin in the proceedings.
103. Lastly, the Court notes that the investigation was adjourned and resumed several times. Such a manner of proceeding was not conducive to ensuring the accountability of the servicemen responsible for the abduction of the applicants' relative and involved in the incident of 9 March 2002.
104. Having regard to the Government's preliminary objection that was joined to the merits of the complaint, the Court observes that the applicants, having no access to the case file and not being properly informed of the progress of the investigation, could not have effectively challenged the actions or omissions of the investigating authorities before a court. Furthermore, the investigation was resumed by the prosecuting authorities themselves a number of times due to the need to take additional investigative measures (see, in particular, paragraphs 38 and 53). However, they still failed to investigate the applicants' allegations properly. Moreover, owing to the time that had elapsed since the events complained of, certain investigative steps that ought to have been carried out much earlier could no longer usefully be conducted. Therefore, it is highly doubtful that the remedy relied on would have had any prospects of success. This applies even more so to the decision of 26 March 2007 to discontinue the investigation, which was not provided either to the applicants or to the Court. Therefore, the Court finds that the remedy relied on by the Government was ineffective in the circumstances and rejects their preliminary objection in this respect.
105. In the light of the foregoing, the Court finds that the authorities failed to carry out an effective criminal investigation into the circumstances surrounding the abduction and subsequent death of Mr Ismail Dzhamayev in breach of Article 2 under its procedural head. Accordingly, there has been a violation of Article 2 on this account also.
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