5.  The applicants are:
1)  Ms Marzhan Kushtova, who was born in 1925,
2)  Mr Magomet (in the documents submitted also spelt as Magomed and Magomed-Bashir) Kushtov, who was born in 1950,
3)   Ms Minovsi (also spelt as Minuosi) Tsitskiyeva, who was born in 1954,
4)  Ms Madina Kushtova, who was born in 1960,
5)  Mr Musa Kushtov, who was born in 1961,
6)  Ms Fatima Kushtova, who was born in 1966 and
7)  Ms Khulimat Kushtova, who was born in 1968.
The applicants are Russian nationals who live in the Republic of Ingushetia, Russia. The first applicant is the mother of the other six applicants and of Mr Ibragim Kushtov, who was born in 1971.
6.  The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows.
7.  At the material time, Mr Isa Kushtov, Mr Ibragim Kushtov’s older brother, was wanted by the authorities on terrorism charges. Mr Isa Kushtov was killed in Ingushetia in July 2006, about six months after the events in question (see the Court’s judgment in Kushtova and Others v. Russia, no. 21885/07, §§ 7‑9, 16 January 2014).
8.  On 25 January 2006 Mr Ibragim Kushtov was driving his VAZ-21074 car with registration number B309TX15 (in the documents submitted the number was also referred to as B309КX15) near Magas airport in Ingushetia when he was stopped by policemen, forced into a Niva vehicle and taken away. His car was left behind. The circumstances of the incident were described by a witness, M., who submitted as follows:
“On 25 January 2006 I witnessed the capture of a young man who was about 30 to 35 years old at around 5.30 p.m. ... I saw two traffic police officers stop ... a white VAZ-2107. When the driver got out of the car, one of the police officers hit him in the face twice and they started fighting. Suddenly two Niva cars (one white and one blue) drove up. Six military personnel jumped out of them. They were wearing camouflage uniforms and masks ... Some of them were not wearing masks. They looked Slavic and spoke Russian without an accent. I have seen only Federal Security Service members wear such uniforms. The people who got out of the blue Niva were wearing dark uniforms. The driver did not wear a uniform. He spoke like a local. All the men assaulted the [young man] and started beating him. Somehow, he managed to break free and started running down the road. I saw one of the servicemen shoot at him ... A bit later [the young man] stumbled and fell down. I cannot say whether he was wounded. [The other men] caught up with him and beat him again. They opened the back door of the white Niva and pushed him in. They then left ... I have no doubt that they were with the Federal Security Service. Only those people can move around freely and without hindrance.”
It is unclear whether the witness’s statement, which was submitted by the applicants to the Court and dated 3 April 2007, was also given to the authorities.
9.  According to the applicants, State agents abducted Mr Ibragim Kushtov in order to “lure Isa Kushtov out of hiding” and that holding suspected terrorists’ relatives in order to make suspects surrender had occurred several times in the region. They referred to the report of the Human Rights Watch NGO “Disappearances in Chechnya as a Crime Against Humanity”[1].
10.  The Government did not dispute the applicants’ version of events, but stressed that the perpetrators of Mr Ibragim Kushtov’s abduction had been unidentified individuals and not State agents as alleged.
11.  In reply to a request from the Court to submit a copy of documents on the steps taken by the investigation into Mr Ibragim Kushtov’s abduction, the Government furnished copies of criminal case file no. 066000005, running up to 434 pages. The information submitted may be summarised as follows.
12.  The applicants immediately complained about the abduction to various authorities, including the Sunzhenskiy district prosecutor’s office (hereinafter “the prosecutor’s office”), the Ministry of the Interior (hereinafter “the police”) and the Federal Security Service (Федеральная Служба Безопасности (ФСБ)) (hereinafter “the FSS”).
13.  On 26 January 2006 the police interviewed the second applicant, who stated that he had learnt of his brother’s abduction from his relatives and that his brother’s white VAZ-2107 car had been taken to the premises of the Sunzhenskiy district police department ( Сунженский районный отдел внутренних дел (РОВД)) (hereinafter “the ROVD”).
14.  On 28 January 2006 the prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 066000005 in connection with the abduction.
15.  On 9 February 2006 the investigators received a request for information from the human rights NGO Memorial which stated that the first applicant had requested their assistance in the search for her son who had been abducted by law-enforcement officers. The investigators were requested to provide information about which State agency had arrested the first applicant’s relative and on what charges.
16.  On 15 February 2006 the first applicant wrote to the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation asking him to provide security for her and the other applicants. She said in the letter: “Our house has been raided on several occasions by law-enforcement officers in camouflage uniforms and masks, who swore and hit us with rifle butts ... our family has faced a great deal of threats from the law-enforcement agencies and the other State special services”. The complaint was included in the criminal case file. No reply was given to it.
17.  On 29 March 2006 the investigators searched the applicant’s house in the village of Troitskaya (also spelled Troitskoye). No evidence was collected.
18.  On 1 April 2006 the prosecutor’s office refused to open a criminal case related to the first applicant’s allegations of harassment by the law-enforcement agencies.
19.  On 10 April 2006 the Ingushetia FSS informed the investigators that they had not conducted any special operations in Troitskaya on 31 December 2005.
20.  On 13 April 2006 the investigators obtained information on the calls made to and from Mr Ibragim Kushtov’s mobile telephone on the date of the abduction.
21.  On 10 May 2006 the first applicant requested that the investigators provide her with information on the progress of the investigation into her son’s abduction. She was informed in reply that the whereabouts of her son had not been established but that search measures were being taken.
22.  On 17 May 2006 the Ingushetia FSS replied to a request for information from the investigators that the second applicant’s allegations of the possible involvement of FSS agents in the abduction and detention of his brother were not true.
23.  On 28 May 2006 the investigation of the criminal case was suspended for failure to establish the identity of the perpetrators. On 29 May 2006 the applicants were informed of that decision.
24.  On various dates between February and May 2006 the investigators sent numerous information requests to various law-enforcement agencies and penal institutions concerning the possible arrest or detention of Mr Ibragim Kushtov. All of the replies were negative.
25.  On 28 June 2006 the investigation was resumed.
26.  On 26 July 2006 the investigators granted victim status to the second applicant in response to his request of 19 June 2006.
27.  On an unspecified date in June or July 2006 the first applicant again complained to the Prosecutor General, the head of the Federal Security Service and the Minister of the Interior, stating that her family was being threatened by law-enforcement agents, who had harassed her and her relatives and that her son Mr Ibragim Kushtov had been abducted in order to make him confess to crimes he had not committed.
28.  On 28 August 2006 the investigation was suspended for failure to identify the perpetrators.
29.  On 28 December 2006 the first applicant requested that the investigators question the many people who had witnessed the abduction. In particular, she stressed that the perpetrators had stopped the traffic during the abduction and that therefore many drivers had stopped and witnessed the events. In addition, Mr Ibragim Kushtov’s car had been stopped by policemen in traffic police uniforms and the incident had taken place about 200 metres from the traffic police station. She enclosed a hand-drawn map of the area in question and the police station’s location. No reply was given to the request.
30.  On 27 November 2006, 29 April 2007 and on 21 December 2007 the investigators refused requests from the first and second applicants to have access to the investigation file.
31.  The investigation was suspended between 22 October 2006 and 25 December 2014, when it was resumed. It is still ongoing.
32.  On 26 January 2006 the investigators questioned Officer M.B. of the traffic police who stated that at about 5.30 p.m. on 25 January 2006 he and two of his colleagues, B.G. and A. Kh., had been on duty at the traffic police station near the airport. An officer of the ROVD, Yu.E., had arrived and told them that unidentified men in two Niva cars had abducted the driver of a white VAZ car about 500 metres from the station. The witness had immediately gone to the scene, where he had found a VAZ-21074 car with registration number B309TX15 and had taken it to the ROVD. The car had been searched there and a driver’s licence in the name of Mr Ibragim Kushtov had been found in it.
33.  On 26 January 2006 the investigators questioned Officer B.G., whose statement was similar to that of M.B.
34.  On 26 January 2006 the investigators also questioned Officer Yu.E. of the ROVD who stated that he had been driving in the vicinity of the airport when he had seen a group of five or six people standing next to a white VAZ-2107 car. They had told him that unidentified men in Nivas, one blue and one white, had just abducted the driver of the white VAZ.
35.  On 30 January 2006 the investigators questioned the fifth applicant, who stated that he and his relatives had found two Chechen women who had witnessed his brother’s abduction by men in two Niva cars. According to the applicant, both women worked at the service station next to where the crime had taken place. Furthermore, on 31 December 2005 a group of ROVD policemen and FSS officers had visited the Kushtov family, looking for Mr Isa Kushtov, who had been wanted by the authorities. The applicant had said during the search that no one in the family, including Mr Ibragim Kushtov, had known Mr Isa Kushtov’s whereabouts since 2002.
36.  On 30 January 2006 the investigators again questioned the ROVD officer Yu. E. who stated that at about 5.30 p.m. on 25 January 2006 he had been off duty and driving home when, about 300 metres from the airport roundabout, he had seen a group of about ten armed men in camouflage uniforms of a black and sand colour in two four-door Nivas, one light and one dark one, with blackened windows. The men had stopped a white VAZ‑2107 car with the registration number B309TX15, forced out its driver and detained him. The witness had wanted to pull over to find out what was going on, but one of the armed men had waved him on. The witness had then driven further, about 300 metres, and had seen officers from the ROVD at the airport roundabout. He had informed them about the abduction and then reported the incident to the head of the ROVD. According to the witness, the abductors had been armed with Kalashnikov machine guns, had prevented passing cars from pulling over at the scene and had carried out the abduction in the space of a few minutes.
37.  On 30 January 2006 the investigators questioned Ms R.I. who stated that she worked at the service station situated close to the road leading to the airport roundabout. On 25 January 2006 she and her colleague Ms S.S. had seen a crowd of men next to the service station. The witnesses had thought that the men were fighting and wanted to approach them. One of them waved them away. Then a young man had broken away from the crowd and gone about five metres, but the other men had dragged him back and forced him into the back of one of two Niva cars that had been there. Then the abductors had driven off in the direction of the airport. A number of cars had passed by during the incident, but none of them had pulled over.
38.  On 30 January 2006 the investigators also questioned Ms S.S. whose statement about the abduction was similar to that of Ms R.I. In addition, she stated that the abductors, a group of at least five people, had been in uniforms, armed with machine guns and that judging by the position of the VAZ-02107 car, it had been blocked in by the abductors’ two Nivas.
39.  On 31 January 2006 the investigators granted victim status to the first applicant and questioned her. The applicant stated that she had four daughters and five sons, of which Mr Ibragim Kushtov was the youngest. On 25 January 2006, at about 4.50 p.m. Mr Ibragim Kushtov had spoken with someone on the telephone and had left the house. Later in the evening their family had learnt from the Troitskiy district police officer that Mr Ibragim Kushtov had been abducted by men in two Nivas, one white and one grey, and that his car had been left at the crime scene. She further stated that her other son, Mr Isa Kushtov, was wanted by the authorities and that their family had not kept in contact with him.
40.  On 1 and 6 February 2006 the investigators questioned the police officers M.B., B.G and A.Kh. They all stated that at about 5.30 p.m. on 25 January 2006 they and their colleague Kh.B. had been on duty at the police station at the airport roundabout when Officer Yu.E. had informed them that armed men in camouflage uniforms in two white and dark Niva cars had abducted a man from a white VAZ-2107 a few hundred metres from the station and had driven off, leaving the VAZ at the scene. Having reported the incident to their superiors, the witnesses had gone to the crime scene and had found documents in the VAZ-2107 in the name of Mr Ibragim Kushtov.
41.  On 4 February 2006 the investigators questioned the third applicant, who stated that she had learnt of the abduction from her relatives and that on 31 December 2005 local law-enforcement agents had arrived at her relatives’ house looking for Mr Isa Kushtov.
42.  On 6 February 2006 the investigators questioned the ROVD Officer Ab.B. who stated that at about 8 a.m. on 31 December 2005 he and six or seven colleagues had been ordered to detain Mr Isa Kushtov. They had arrived at the first applicant’s house in three cars whose make and model he could not recall. On the way they had been joined by two other vehicles with men in civilian clothing in them. At the applicants’ house they had checked the identity documents of two men and a woman. After about ten minutes, the officers had left the house. He had learnt of Mr Ibragim Kushtov’s abduction only on 6 February 2006.
43.  On 6 February 2006 the investigators questioned Ms M.A. and Ms R.K., both of whom stated that on 25 January 2006 they had been driving with an acquaintance in the latter’s car when they had seen a group of armed men in dark-green camouflage uniforms in two Niva cars, who had been forcing a young man into one of their vehicles. After that, the abductors had driven off, leaving a white VAZ-2107 at the scene. In addition, Ms R.K. stated that she had noticed two traffic police officers sitting in a silver VAZ-21099 parked at the scene of the incident and that she had been surprised to see traffic police officers there as usually they patrolled another area in the vicinity of the airport.
44.  On 7 February 2006 the investigators questioned the head of the ROVD, Officer M. Ev., who stated that on 30 December 2005 his police station had received a request for assistance from the Sunzhen department of the FSS. On 31 December 2005 they and the FSS officers had gone to the village of Troitskaya. The group had comprised twenty officers in four or five vehicles. They had searched the applicants’ house for Mr Isa Kushtov, but to no avail.
45.  On 7 February 2006 the investigators also questioned the second applicant who stated, amongst other things, that in his search for Mr Ibragim Kushtov he had been told by a lawyer, Ms N., that his brother had been detained on FSS premises under the command of Officer S.G. According to the lawyer, Mr Ibragim Kushtov would be released in exchange for his brother Isa. He had been summoned through the lawyer to the FSS for questioning on 7 February 2006, to Officer S. G. Earlier that day S.G. had told the applicant that the FSS was not involved in the abduction and that Mr Ibragim Kushtov might have been detained on the premises of the police’s Department for the Fight Against Organised Crime in Khankala in Chechnya. The witness further stated that on 31 December 2005 a group of officers had visited his family’s house. They had looked for Mr Isa Kushtov and taken photos of Mr Ibragim Kushtov’s car, his identity documents and the house.
46.  On 9 February 2006 the investigators questioned the sixth applicant, who stated that she had learnt of her brother’s abduction from Officer Yu. E., who had arrived at their house on 25 January 2006. Prior to that, on 31 December 2005, their house had been searched by law‑enforcement agents who had been looking for her brother Isa.
47.  On 7 February 2006 the investigators questioned the ROVD officer Kh.M. whose statement was similar to that of Officer M. Ev. (see paragraph 44 above).
48.  On 31 March 2006 the investigators again questioned the first applicant. She stated that on several occasions before and after the abduction of her son, groups of armed servicemen from law-enforcement agencies, in camouflage uniforms and balaclavas, had forced their way into her house and searched it, but had found nothing of interest. The servicemen, who had prohibited the family from moving around during the search, had scared her relatives and had on one occasion hit Mr Ibragim Kushtov with their rifle butts. Before the abduction the servicemen had taken photos of Mr Ibragim Kushtov, his documents and the car.
49.  On 19 April 2006 the investigators questioned the applicants’ relative Mr I.K. who stated that he had tried calling Mr Ibragim Kushtov’s mobile telephone at about 5.30 p.m. on 25 January 2006, but to no avail.
50.  On various dates in April and May 2006 the investigators questioned several people who had called or received calls from Mr Ibragim Kushtov’s mobile telephone number on the date of the abduction. All of them either denied having spoken with him, stated that no conversation had taken place or that the telephone number used to call him had not been registered to them.
51.  On 30 June 2006 the investigators made a request to the head of the Ingushetia police to take steps to identify a man who on around 20 March 2006 had arrived at the applicants’ house and told the fifth applicant that Mr Ibragim Kushtov was being detained in a remand prison under somebody else’s name and that he could assist in his release in exchange for money. During his second visit the man had told the applicant that Mr Ibragim Kushtov had been transferred from the remand prison, in Khankala, to “Kadyrov’s prison” in Tsentaroy, Chechnya. The man had been a Chechen, in camouflage uniform and had been armed with a Makarov pistol.
52.  On 30 June 2006 the investigators again questioned the fifth applicant, who provided a detailed description of the man who had contacted him around 20 March 2006 concerning the whereabouts of his abducted brother.
53.  On 20 November 2006 the investigators questioned the FSS officer S.G., who stated that he was responsible for the search for Mr Isa Kushtov, who was wanted for a number of crimes. The witness stated that he had no information on the whereabouts of Mr Ibragim Kushtov and that the second applicant’s statement in that regard was untrue (see paragraph 45 above).
54.  On 28 August 2006 the investigation of the criminal case was suspended for failure to identify the perpetrators of the crime. The first applicant appealed against the suspension to the Sunzhenskiy District Court (the District Court).
55.  On 22 September 2006 the supervising prosecutor annulled the decision of 28 August 2006 and ordered that the investigation be resumed. On the same date, 22 September 2006, the District Court dismissed the first applicant’s complaint without examination.
56.  On 22 October 2006 the investigation was suspended again for failure to identify the perpetrators. The applicants appealed against the suspension to the District Court.
57.  On 22 January 2007 the District Court upheld the suspension of the proceedings. The applicants appealed to the Supreme Court of Ingushetia (“the Supreme Court”) stating, amongst other things, that the investigators had failed to take various basic steps, such as questioning the police officers who had been on duty at the checkpoints on the roads leading to and from the crime scene, or requesting information from the FSS and the police about agents who had been using Niva cars on the date of the abduction.
58.  On 20 February 2007 the Supreme Court dismissed the applicants’ appeal as unsubstantiated and upheld the decision to suspend the proceedings.