5.  The applicants are:
(1) Mr Ibragim Alikhanov, who was born in 1930,
(2) Ms Muslimat Alikhanova, who was born in 1936 and
(3) Ms Tamara Alikhanova, who was born in 1976.
The first and second applicants live in the village of Ruguzh and the third applicant in the village of Gurik, Republic of Dagestan, a region neighbouring the Chechen Republic. The first and second applicants are the parents of Mr Amirkhan Alikhanov, who was born in 1974; the third applicant is his wife.
6.  The circumstances of the case can be summarised as follows.
7.  On 23 December 2004 Mr Alikhanov was driving on an errand on the road between Khasavyurt and Makhachkala, Dagestan. During the ride he twice called his brother, Mr A. When he called the second time, he said that he was approaching the stationary traffic police checkpoint near Makhachkala and that he would soon arrive at his brother’s place. However, he never arrived.
8.  Early on the following day, 24 December 2004, Mr A. went to the “Mars-20” traffic checkpoint on the northern outskirts of Makhachkala to find out whether the traffic police officers had information about either his brother, Amirkhan Alikhanov, or his dark-red VAZ 2108 car with registration number B 235 CC 05 РУС. The police officers who had been on duty on the night of 23 December 2004 told him that during the evening of 23 December 2004 several men in police uniforms and balaclavas had arrived at the checkpoint in three VAZ cars (the 2107, 21099 and 2121 models). The men, who had introduced themselves as officers of the Dagestan Organised Crime Unit (УБОП – “the Organised Crime Unit”) had apparently been waiting for someone to go through the checkpoint. The staff of the checkpoint did not note their cars’ registration numbers. As Amirkhan Alikhanov had been passing through the checkpoint, the officers from the Organised Crime Unit had stopped him and asked to open his car boot. Then they had grabbed him and forced into one of their vehicles. One of the officers had got in Amirkhan Alikhanov’s car and they had all driven off with him and his car to Makhachkala, the capital city of Dagestan.
(b)  Subsequent developments
9.  At 3.21 p.m. on 26 December 2004 Mr A. received a phone call from an unidentified person who said that if he wanted to see his brother alive he should bring 25,000 United States dollars (USD) at 10 p.m. on 28 December 2004 to Khasavyurt bus station.
10.  At 12.59 p.m. on 28 December 2004 the same person called Mr A. and told him that he should now add a zero to the amount – meaning that Mr A. would have to pay USD 250,000. Both phone calls were made from the same telephone number, which the applicants noted down. On the following day they informed the law-enforcement authorities about the phone calls (see paragraphs 18-20 below).
11.  In April 2005 the first applicant and Mr A. received information from an unspecified source about six bodies found in the forest near the village of Zamay-Yurt, in the Chechen Republic, and immediately went there. According to the locals and certain police officers from Zamay-Yurt, the bodies had been buried in the village cemetery in accordance with Muslim traditions. In a shed at the cemetery, the applicants found Amirkhan Alikhanov’s clothes, which were covered in blood and pierced with bullet holes. Mr A. collected them and took them to the authorities for DNA testing (see paragraphs 46, 49-50 and 53-54 below).
12.  According to the applicants, residents of Zamay-Yurt told them that on 25 January 2005 the federal forces had staged a mock fight in the forest: they had shot at dead bodies that they had brought with them. The locals, who had subsequently buried the bodies at the cemetery, said that the bodies had had traces of torture: cigarette and soldering iron burns, pulled out nails, cut off or shot off fingers and noses, kneecaps shot through, and ears. From the state of the corpses, it was evident that all of the six persons had been starved. Furthermore, each body had had a broken right collarbone and traces of a single, execution-style shot to the head.
13.  An article about the discovery of the bodies was published in the Novoye Delo newspaper on 29 April 2005.
14.  On 11 January 2006 the Dagestan Civil Registry issued a death certificate in respect of Amirkhan Alikhanov, stating that he had died on 23 December 2004 in Zamay-Yurt.
15.  The Government submitted that on 23 December 2004 Amirkhan Alikhanov had been abducted from the traffic police checkpoint by unidentified persons, as described by the applicants. However, contrary to the applicants’ submissions, his body had never been found. The conclusions of the forensic expert examination referred to by the applicants concerning the identity of the body found next to Zamay-Yurt had been indecisive, as there had not been enough DNA material on the clothing found at the cemetery. The Government did not submit any information or theories concerning the possible whereabouts of Amirkhan Alikhanov after the abduction. At the same time, they stated that the domestic authorities had looked into the possibility of Amirkhan Alikhanov’s involvement with illegal armed groups in the Chechen Republic.
16.  In their submission on the admissibility and merits of the application, the Government confirmed that a report on the discovery of six bodies next to Zamay-Yurt had been broadcast on a federal television channel. The report had shown bodies of bearded men in camouflage uniforms and military boots, with firearms and ammunition next to them. It had been impossible to identify the corpses by their faces owing to bullet wounds to their heads. The broadcast had demonstrated the willingness of the local authorities not to cover up the incident in Zamay-Yurt and had proved that State agents could not have been involved in the alleged abduction.
17.  In reply to the Court’s request for a copy of the investigation file in respect of criminal case no. 55826, which had been opened into the abduction of Amirkhan Alikhanov, the Government furnished its contents, which ran to 266 pages. Some of the documents were either missing or partially illegible; most of the documents bore double numbering (that is to say each page bore its original number and also a number ascribed to it when it had been added to the case file). The information contained in the documents submitted can be summarised as follows.
18.  On 29 December 2004 the investigators from the Kirovskiy district prosecutor’s office in Makhachkala (“the investigators”) questioned Amirkhan Alikhanov’s brother, Mr A., who stated that on 23 December 2004 his brother, Amirkhan Alikhanov, had been abducted at the “Mars-20” traffic police checkpoint “by servicemen from the Organised Crime Unit”. B.P., a police officer known by the nickname “Stariy”, who had been on duty at the checkpoint at the time, had related the incident’s details to him. On 26 December 2004 he had received a phone call during which the caller suggested to him that he pay USD 25,000 in exchange for his brother. Then on 28 December 2004 the same person had called him again from the telephone number 8-906-447-6785 and had told him that the amount of the demanded ransom had gone up by ten times because Mr A. had complained to the police about the abduction.
19.  On 14 January 2005 the investigators again questioned Mr A., whose statement concerning the abduction was similar to the statement given on 29 December 2004. In addition, he stated that Mr B.P., who had been on duty at the traffic police checkpoint, had told him that the abductors had introduced themselves as officers from the Organised Crime Unit and that two traffic police officers from Makhachkala had been with them. The abductors from the Organised Crime Unit had taken Amirkhan Alikhanov away, while one of the traffic police officers had taken his car. After that, he and his relatives had searched for Amirkhan Alikhanov at various police stations and remand prisons, but to no avail. On 26 December 2004, he had received a phone call from the number 8-906-447-6785 during which the caller had made a ransom demand of USD 25,000. On 28 December 2004, the same person had called again from the same number and had requested a ransom, the amount of which had gone up ten times after Amirkhan Alikhanov’s relatives had failed to cooperate. Mr A. stressed that his brother, Amirkhan Alikhanov, had been abducted by servicemen from the Organised Crime Unit.
20.  On 15 January 2005 the investigators questioned another relative of Amirkhan Alikhanov, Mr Al., whose statement concerning the abduction was similar to those of Mr A. According to Mr Al., Amirkhan Alikhanov had been abducted by police officers from the Organised Crime Unit, with the assistance of two traffic police officers.
21.  On an unspecified date in January or February 2005 the investigators questioned Mr Dzh.G., the owner of telephone number 8-906-447-6785, who stated that he had not used that number and had no information about the abduction as in December 2004 he had lent his passport to a stranger at the mobile telephone shop for the purchase of a SIM card with that telephone number.
22.  On 1 February 2005 the investigators questioned the neighbourhood police officer, Mr R.Sh., who stated that the area of Amirkhan Alikhanov’s residence was under his supervision and that he had known Amirkhan Alikhanov since childhood. To his knowledge in December 2004 Amirkhan Alikhanov had been arrested by the police for unknown reasons.
23.  On 22 February 2005 the investigators questioned Mr N., another brother of Amirkhan Alikhanov, who stated that as he resided in another region of the Russian Federation, he had learned of the abduction from his relatives.
24.  On 27 February 2005 the investigators questioned the third applicant, who stated that she had learnt of her husband’s abduction from her relatives. According to rumours in their village, Amirkhan Alikhanov had been arrested for causing someone’s death in a traffic accident.
25.  On 28 March 2005 the investigators questioned a police officer, A.Kh., who stated that at about 6 p.m. on 23 December 2004 he had been on duty at the “Mars-20” traffic checkpoint when two traffic police officers in a red and white police VAZ 2107 car with the beacon light (that is to say flashing roof lights) and the blue registration plate of the Makhachkala traffic police department had arrived at the checkpoint. The witness had no recollection of the events afterwards and stated that he had already been interviewed about the incident during the internal inquiry carried out by the internal security department of the Dagestan Ministry of the Interior.
26.  On 28 March 2005 the investigators also questioned another traffic police officer, Mr A.Kh., whose statement concerning the abduction was not furnished to the Court.
27.  On 29 March 2005 the investigators again questioned Mr A., who stated that on 25 March 2005 he had learned that in Zamay-Yurt in Chechnya, at some point in January or February 2005, federal servicemen had conducted a special operation and killed six persons. This information had been broadcast during the news programme of one of the federal television channels. On the same date he and his relative, Mr A.G., had gone to that village, where in a shed next to the cemetery they had found various pieces of clothing. Among them he had identified and collected those of his brother, Amirkhan Alikhanov. Then a local resident had shown to them the three graves where the six bodies had been buried. According to the village residents, 28‑29 January 2005, they had heard intensive shooting during a special operation conducted by the federal forces in the vicinity; the servicemen had allegedly brought with them the six persons whom they had allegedly shot there during the special operation and had then buried their bodies. A local hunter had seen the servicemen burying the bodies and informed the local law enforcement authorities of this. Then those bodies had been exhumed and examined by the local prosecutor’s office; subsequently, they had been given to the locals for burial. The local residents had buried the bodies but had kept the clothing for identification.
28.  On 5 April 2005 the investigators again questioned Mr A., who, inter alia, again described the circumstances of the discovery of the clothes of his abducted brother in Zamay-Yurt and stated that according to the local residents, a special operation had been conducted there at the end of January 2005 during which six people had been killed and then buried by federal servicemen. One of the local residents, whose identity Mr A. would not provide out of fear for this person’s safety, had told them that at the end of December 2004, two of his relatives had been abducted by servicemen next to the local mosque and that both bodies had subsequently been found among the six corpses at the cemetery.
29.  On 11 April 2005 the investigators questioned Mr S.Sh., who stated that his wife, Ms P.N., had assisted the brothers of the abducted Amirkhan Alikhanov in their search for him. On 4 February 2005 she had left the house with a large amount of cash to continue searching for Amirkhan Alikhanov and had not returned. All his attempts to contact her on her mobile telephone had been to no avail. However, on 7 March 2005 a relative of his, Ms A., had managed to have Ms P.N. answer her telephone for a few seconds; behind his wife she had heard a man asking who was calling – then the connection had been cut off. According to Mr S.Sh., his wife’s disappearance was directly related to that of Amirkhan Alikhanov, and both of them had been abducted by the same persons.
30.  On an unspecified date in April 2005 the investigators again questioned Mr A., whose statement was similar to the ones he had given before.
31.  On 18 May 2005 the investigators questioned A.A., a police officer, who stated that he worked for the Organised Crime Unit in Makhachkala. He denied having any information about the abduction of Amirkhan Alikhanov and stated that the allegations of his participation in Mr Alikhanov’s abduction were unsubstantiated.
32.  On 20 May 2005 the investigators questioned another police officer from the Organised Crime Unit, A.M., who also stated that he had no information concerning Amirkhan Alikhanov’s abduction. At the same time, he stated that at the end of December 2004 he had met Mr A. and Mr Al., who had told him about the abduction and had asked him – in return for money – to assist them in their search for their relative, Mr Alikhanov. He had refused and had simply informed them (free of charge) that Amirkhan Alikhanov had not been detained on the premises of their unit.
33.  On 5 July 2005 the investigators questioned forensic expert Ms T.I., who stated that her findings, as stated in the forensic report (see paragraph 53 below), had not with absolute certainty established that the blood on the clothes found in Zamay-Yurt had been related to that of the first applicant; their facilities had been limited in their capacity to establish such conclusions. A generic expert evaluation would have helped to draw more certain conclusions.
34.  On 7 July 2005 Mr A. requested that the investigators question five police officers concerning their possible involvement in Amirkhan Alikhanov’s abduction. The investigators agreed on 14 July 2005 to grant his request. However, from the documents submitted it does not appear that any of those officers were subsequently questioned.
35.  On various dates in July and then in September 2005 the investigators questioned five of the police officers listed as drivers of the police cars in December 2004 (see paragraph 51 below). All of them denied having any information about the abduction.
36.  On 8 August 2005 the investigators questioned a traffic police officer, A., who, according to Mr A., had been present at the traffic police checkpoint during his brother’s abduction. The officer confirmed his presence on 23 December 2004 at the checkpoint but denied having any information about the incident.
37.  On 15 August 2005 the investigators questioned V.M., the police officer, who stated that he had assisted the applicants in their search for Amirkhan Alikhanov. According to the witness, he had accompanied Mr A. on 24 December 2004 when the latter had gone to various law-enforcement agencies looking for his brother. A few days after the abduction, they had received information that A.A. had participated in the abduction. Then, the witness had spoken with A.A.; the latter, having confirmed that he had been at the “Mars-20” checkpoint on the date of the abduction, had denied his involvement in the incident.
38.  On 28 December 2004 the first applicant complained to the Dagestan Prosecutor, requesting that an investigation into the circumstances of Amirkhan Alikhanov’s abduction be opened and that the traffic police officers who had been manning the checkpoint at the time of the events be questioned.
39.  On 30 December 2004 the investigators examined the crime scene at the checkpoint. No evidence was collected.
40.  On 7 January 2005 the investigators sent a number of requests for information to various police stations and remand prisons in Dagestan, asking whether they were holding Amirkhan Alikhanov in detention.
41.  On 8 January 2005 the investigators refused to institute criminal proceedings in respect of Amirkhan Alikhanov’s abduction.
42.  On 11 January 2005 the investigators wrote to the Dagestan Ministry of the Interior asking for assistance in establishing the circumstances of Amirkhan Alikhanov’s abduction. The request stated, inter alia, the following:
“The [preliminary] investigation file containing material collected in connection with the abduction of Amirkhan Alikhanov at the traffic police checkpoint ... has been forwarded to you for the organisation of an inquiry.
Mr B.P., who is a traffic police officer, claimed that at about 6.30 p.m. on 23 December 2004 Amirkhan Alikhanov had been detained by servicemen of the Organised Crime Unit at the “Mars-20” traffic checkpoint and taken in the direction of Makhachkala, while the police officers of the traffic police unit from Makhachkala had taken away his VAZ 2108 car ...
However, senior officials of the Organised Crime Unit and of the Makhachkala Department of the Interior denied that Amirkhan Alikhanov had been taken to their [respective] premises. Meanwhile, officer B.P. (“Stariy”) claimed that he knew one of the officers[that is to say abductors], and that he would be able to identify him.
Given the circumstances, it is necessary to conduct an inquiry into the officers of the Organised Crime Unit and the Makhachkala Department of the Interior and to facilitate the identification by Mr B.P. of their personnel – [firstly] from photographs and then from a line-up ...”
43.  On 12 January 2005 the investigators requested that the Khasavyurt prosecutor’s office assisted them in establishing the circumstances of the abduction by sending an officer to various law-enforcement agencies in that town to enquire whether Amirkhan Alikhanov had been arrested, detained or taken through local checkpoints by their agents.
44.  On 14 January 2005 the investigators quashed the decision not to initiate criminal proceedings as unlawful and opened criminal case no. 55826 to investigate the abduction of Amirkhan Alikhanov.
45.  On 27 February and 11 March 2005 the third and first applicants respectively were granted victim status in the criminal proceedings.
46.  On 29 March 2005 the investigators collected from Mr A. the clothes found by him next to Zamay-Yurt.
47.  On 1 April 2005 the investigators sent an assistance request to the Khasavyurt department of the Organised Crime Unit. The request stated, inter alia, the following:
“According to the contents of the criminal case file, on 23 December 2004, on his way from Khasavyurt to Makhachkala, Amirkhan Alikhanov was stopped at the “Mars-20” traffic police checkpoint by traffic policemen from Makhachkala ... . During the check of his identity documents a VAZ-2107 pulled over... [and] three unidentified men in balaclavas got out of it, grabbed Amirkhan Alikhanov, forced him into their car and drove off to Makhachkala. One of the traffic police officers from Makhachkala followed them in Amirkhan Alikhanov’s car ...
On 29 March 2005 the brother of the abducted person, Mr A., informed the investigators that he had received a phone call from a man who had seen a television programme about a special operation conducted by the federal forces in the Nozhay‑Yurt district [in the Chechen Republic], during which six persons had been killed and that two of the six bodies had been identified by relatives ... .
Mr A. had found [there] and brought to us the clothes of the abducted Amirkhan Alikhanov.
It is necessary to establish whether Amirkhan Alikhanov’s body was among the six bodies ... .”
48.  On 11 April 2005 criminal case no. 55826 (opened in connection with the abduction of Amirkhan Alikhanov) was joined with criminal case no. 558270 (opened in connection with the disappearance of Ms P.N.). The relevant decision stated, among other things, the following:
“... The investigation established that the crimes committed against Amirkhan Alikhanov and Ms P.N. were interconnected.
The husband of the disappeared Ms P.N., Mr S.Sh., stated that after the disappearance of Amirkhan Alikhanov, his wife (Ms P.N.) and the brothers of Amirkhan Alikhanov (Mr A. and Mr Al.) had been actively involved in the search for him; on several occasions she had visited the Dagestan Organised Crime Unit, where she had had meetings with their operational search officers. On the date of her disappearance she had been expecting a phone call from the head of the anti-kidnapping unit, Mr Gerey; for that meeting she had had a large amount of money in cash on her.
Mr S.Sh. believes that his wife’s disappearance [is connected] with officers of the Dagestan Organised Crime Unit and Amirkhan Alikhanov’s abduction.
As far as Amirkhan Alikhanov’s abduction is concerned, [the investigation] established that an officer from that department, A.A., had participated in the abduction. The investigators had issued an arrest warrant against him, but superiors at the Organised Crime Unit had obstructed A.A.’s meetings with the investigators.
Therefore, there are sufficient grounds to believe that both crimes were committed by the same group of persons ... .”
49.  On 11 April 2005 the investigators ordered an expert examination of the clothes found by Mr A. in Zamay-Yurt, and on 27 April 2005 they ordered their forensic expert examination (see paragraph 54 below).
50.  On various dates in April and May 2005 the investigators obtained saliva and blood samples from Mr A. and the first applicant for genetic expert evaluation and a DNA comparison with the blood on the clothes found in Zamay-Yurt.
51.  On 30 May 2005 the traffic police unit of the Dagestan Ministry of the Interior replied to a request for information from the investigators dated 26 April 2005 and provided them with a list of eight service vehicles used by the traffic police officers in December 2004.
52.  On 3 June 2005 the Russian Prosecutor General replied to the applicants’ request for information, stating that the Nozhay-Yurt District Prosecutor’s Office in Chechnya had opened a criminal case in connection with the discovery of unidentified bodies at the Zamay-Yurt cemetery. The brother of Amirkhan Alikhanov, Mr A., had identified the clothes on one of the bodies as those that had been worn by Amirkhan Alikhanov on the day of his abduction. A DNA test of the clothes had been commissioned. The Nozhay-Yurt District Prosecutor’s Office had also been instructed to identify the bodies with the aid of photographs.
53.  On 20 June 2005 the expert examination of the clothes found in Zamay-Yurt issued a report, according to which the first applicant’s equilocal genes were similar to those found on the clothes. On the same date, 20 June 2005, the investigators ordered a genetic expert evaluation to establish that the blood on the clothes was that of the first applicant’s relative. The results of this examination were not furnished to the Court.
54.  On 31 August 2005 the investigators ordered a forensic expert examination of the comparison of the clothes found in Zamay-Yurt with the description thereof contained in Amirkhan Alikhanov’s medical record kept in the local hospital. On 29 September 2005 the results of the examination were issued, the contents of which were not furnished to the Court.
55.  On 14 September 2005 the Dagestan Prosecutor’s Office suspended the investigation for failure to identify the culprits.
56.  Between 7 and 29 September 2005 an expert evaluation of the clothes found in Zamay-Yurt was conducted. According to the report of that examination, dated 29 September 2005, the clothes belonged to Amirkhan Alikhanov.
57.  On an unspecified date in September 2005 the investigators informed the applicants that the investigation had been suspended. The relevant parts of the letter read as follows:
“... Criminal case no. 55826 into the abduction of [Mr Amirkhan] Alikhanov ... was opened on 14 January 2005 ...
The investigation has established that at approximately 6 p.m. on 23 December 2004, when [Mr Amirkhan] Alikhanov was driving his VAZ 2108 car from Khasavyurt to Makhachkala, he was stopped at the “Mars-20” ... checkpoint ... and taken to an unknown destination by unidentified men in camouflage uniforms.
The investigation has not established the involvement of any law-enforcement officers in the abduction.
From the [witnesses’] statements, the items seized, replies to requests, the report on DNA expert evaluation no. 18 of 20 June 2005 and the report on biological test no. 369 of 29 September 2005, it can be seen that [Amirkhan] Alikhanov was killed near the village of Zamay-Yurt ... when resisting the Chechen servicemen, who were conducting a special operation.
At present the criminal case is suspended on account of the failure to identify the perpetrators of [Amirkhan] Alikhanov’s abduction.”
58.  On 8 November 2005 the military prosecutor of military unit no. 20102 informed the applicants that they had received for investigation from another prosecutor’s office the criminal case file concerning the discovery of six unidentified male bodies in the forest two kilometres to the east of the village of Zamay-Yurt. The case file contained no information on the identification of the bodies, which had been buried as unidentified. There was no information regarding whether the body of Amirkhan Alikhanov had been among them.
59.  On 30 November and then on 12 December 2005 the applicants requested that the Dagestan Prosecutor exhume the bodies found in Zamay‑Yurt for post-mortem examination, including the establishment of the cause of Amirkhan Alikhanov’s death. No reply was given to those requests.
60.  On 28 December 2005 the Chechnya prosecutor’s office informed the applicants that on 17 July 2005 the criminal case file concerning the discovery of Amirkhan Alikhanov’s body had been transferred to the military prosecutor’s office of the United Group Alignment (the UGA).
61.  On 7 March 2006 the Russian Prosecutor General replied to the first applicant’s complaint regarding the investigators’ failure to effectively investigate the abduction. The letter stated, among other things, the following:
“ ... the contents of the criminal case file show that at about 6 p.m. on 23 December 2004, on his way from Khasavyurt to Makhachkala, Mr A. Alikhanov was stopped at the permanent “Mars-20” checkpoint for an identity check. At that moment, a VAZ 2107 vehicle pulled over, and the unidentified persons in balaclavas who had arrived in it detained Mr Alikhanov, took him into their vehicle and drove away in the direction of Makhachkala.
The traffic police officers who had been manning the checkpoint were questioned by the investigation and stated that the persons who had detained Mr Alikhanov had been, in their opinion, servicemen of the Organised Crime Unit, as they had had special service documents on them ... .
In the course of the proceedings, the investigators received information concerning Mr Alikhanov’s murder and the finding of his body among six corpses found on 28 January 2005 on the outskirts of Zamay-Yurt in the Nozhay-Yurt district in Chechnya.
In order to verify this information, a genetic expert evaluation was ordered; it concluded that there was a match of your genome with the one found on the clothes in the shed at the Zamay-Yurt cemetery – that is to say the possibility of it belonging to your son, Amirkhan Alikhanov, could not be excluded.
According to the information provided by the military prosecutor’s office of the UGA, the six corpses ... had belonged to members of illegal armed groups eliminated during clashes with the federal forces between 25 and 26 January 2005 ...
In order to verify the identity of one of those corpses as that of Amirkhan Alikhanov, the military prosecutor’s office is carrying out an additional check into the matter ... .”
62.  On 8 June 2009 the investigation of the criminal case was resumed. It appears to be still pending.