5.  The applicants were born in 1952 and 1960 respectively. They live in the town of Argun, in the Shali District of the Chechen Republic. 6.  The applicants are the parents of Mr Idris Khalidovich Gakiyev, born in 1980. At the material time the applicants and their son lived at 33 the Eighth of March Lane, in the town of Argun. 7.  At about 2 a.m. on 30 November 2003 three armoured personnel carriers (“APCs”) arrived at the applicants’ house. A group of armed men wearing camouflage uniforms got off the vehicles and burst inside. The men wore no masks and had Slavic features; they did not identify themselves but the applicants inferred that they belonged to the Russian special task forces. 8.  The servicemen severely beat the first applicant with the butts of their machine guns; when he lost consciousness, they left him lying on the floor. At some point they poured petrol over the first applicant’s body. Then they seized Idris Gakiyev, took him outside and placed him in one of the APCs. Before leaving, the servicemen set the applicants’ house on fire. Then they climbed into the APCs and drove away. 9.  The second applicant went out into the street and cried. The first applicant somehow managed to get out of the burning house. Later, the fire was extinguished but the house had been demolished by then.
(b)  Medical examination of the first applicant 10.  The case file contains a medical certificate issued by the Argun Town Hospital on 30 November 2003, which reads as follows:
“... on 29 November 2003 [Khalid Gakiyev] applied to the Argun Town Hospital [for medical assistance] in relation to the bodily injuries inflicted on him.
He was examined by a traumatologist and a neuropathologist and prescribed with the requisite treatment.” 11.  According to the certificate, the first applicant was diagnosed with a closed craniocerebral injury, cerebral concussion, injuries to the right parietal area, injuries and a bruise to the left cheekbone and orbital area, haemorrhage in the left eye and abrasions on the face, abdomen and hips. 12.  At about 2 a.m. on 30 November 2003 unidentified armed persons in camouflage uniforms armed with machine guns and travelling in APCs entered the house at 11 Groznenskiy Lane, Argun, and kidnapped Mr Khuseyn Elmarzayev, born in 1981, and Mr Khaseyn Elmarzayev, born in 1985. Then the same persons drove to the house at 33 the Eighth of March Lane, Argun, and kidnapped Idris Gakiyev. After the kidnappings the perpetrators set both houses on fire. 13.  After their son’s abduction the applicants complained to various State agencies and officials, including the Russian President, the Russian State Duma, the Russian Ombudsman, the Russian Prosecutor General, the President of the Chechen Republic and the local administration. Most of those complaints were forwarded to the prosecutors’ offices at different levels. 14.  By letter of 2 December 2003 the prosecutor’s office of the town of Argun (“the town prosecutor’s office”) requested the local administration to assess the damage to the applicants’ house. They mentioned that “unidentified persons wearing camouflage uniforms and armed with machine guns” had inflicted bodily injuries on the first applicant and had kidnapped his son. On 5 December 2003 the commission formed by the local administration drew up an evaluation report, according to which the applicants’ house had been completely demolished and could not be reconstructed. 15.  On 6 December 2003 the town prosecutor’s office instituted an investigation into the disappearance of Idris Gakiyev and two other inhabitants of Argun under Article 126 § 2 of the Russian Criminal Code (“aggravated kidnapping”). The case file was assigned the number 26075. 16.  On 9 January 2004 the town prosecutor’s office informed the second applicant that her complaint to the Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian President in the Southern Federal District had been included in the investigation file. They further commented that the search for Idris Gakiyev, although fruitless so far, was under way. 17.  On 21 January 2004 the prosecutor’s office of the Chechen Republic informed the second applicant that investigative measures were being taken to solve Idris Gakiyev’s kidnapping and advised her to send further queries to the town prosecutor’s office. 18.  On 23 January 2004 the Chechen Department of the Federal Security Service (“the Chechen FSB”) informed the second applicant that they were taking requisite measures to find Idris Gakiyev’s kidnappers. 19.  On 30 January 2004 the prosecutor’s office of the Chechen Republic forwarded the second applicant’s complaint to the town prosecutor’s office and ordered that the search for Idris Gakiyev be pursued actively. 20.  On 1 March 2004 the town prosecutor’s office suspended the investigation in case no. 26075 for failure to identify those responsible and notified the first applicant accordingly. 21.  On 29 March 2004 the town prosecutor’s office informed the applicants that the investigation in case no. 26075 had been resumed. 22.  On 1 December 2003 the town prosecutor’s office instituted an investigation into aggravated kidnapping in case no. 26075. 23.  On an unspecified date the house at 33 the Eighth of March Lane was inspected as a crime scene. Nothing was found or collected there. 24.  On an unspecified date the second applicant was granted victim status and questioned. She stated that on 30 November 2003 she had been at home with her husband and son. At about 2 a.m. her son had heard someone knocking at the door; the first applicant had told him to open it. Then armed men in camouflage uniforms and helmets had burst inside the house; two of them had had night vision devices. They had started beating her son and husband. One of the armed men had thrown something inside the house and the house had caught fire. The second applicant had taken her unconscious husband outside the house. In the meantime the armed men had put her son in an APC and driven away. The second applicant had not seen how many APCs had been there. The unknown men had taken away an attaché case with documents. The house had been destroyed by fire. Later, the second applicant had learned that two other young men had been kidnapped on the same night under similar circumstances. 25.  On unspecified dates the investigators granted victim status to Mr and Ms Elmarzayev, the parents of the two kidnapped young men, and questioned them. The Elmarzayevs stated that on 30 November 2003 an APC had driven into their courtyard. Then unknown armed men in camouflage uniforms and masks had entered their house and beaten up Mr Elmarzayev and his sons Khuseyn and Khaseyn. One of the armed men had thrown something inside the house and it had caught fire. Khuseyn and Khaseyn Elmarzayev had been taken out of the house, put inside the APC and driven away. Mr and Ms Elmarzayev had not seen the APC’s registration number. 26.  The investigators questioned Mr B., the applicants’ neighbour, as a witness. He stated that on 30 November 2003 he had been awakened by the sound of the second applicant screaming, who had then told him about her son’s abduction. 27.  Ms I., Ms D. and Ms Dzh., the Elmarzayevs’ neighbours, stated that on 30 November 2003 they had been awakened by the noise of APCs driving past. Then they had seen that the Elmarzayevs’ house was burning and learned that Khuseyn and Khaseyn Elmarzayev had been kidnapped. 28.  The commander of the UGA headquarters and the aide of the head of the Temporary Joined Group of Bodies and Units of the Russian Ministry of the Interior (“VOGOiP”) informed the investigators that no special operations had been carried out in Argun on the night of 30 November 2003. The VOGOiP had no information on the kidnapping of Idris Gakiyev and the Elmarzayev brothers and had no APCs in their armouries. 29.  On an unspecified date the first applicant was also questioned. He stated that he had been told by an undisclosed source in the FSB that his son had been kidnapped by servicemen of the internal troops of the Ministry of the Interior and then kept in the territory of the Khankala base together with Mr Ch. 30.  Mr Elmarzayev was questioned again and stated that he had learned from an undisclosed source that the commander of “the oil regiment” could have been involved in his sons’ kidnapping. 31.  Later, Mr Elmarzayev stated that shortly before the kidnapping unknown men who had identified themselves as police officers had visited his house on two occasions and checked documents. Some servicemen of the department of the interior of Argun had told him that servicemen of special task force unit no. 34 could have been involved in the crime. At some point Mr Elmarzayev added that he had heard rumours that his sons had been kidnapped by a task force unit of the Ministry of the Interior under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel P. of the Khankala base. 32.  The damage to the applicants’ house was estimated at 147,113 Russian roubles. 33.  On 29 February 2004 the first applicant lodged his civil claims in the criminal case concerning the damage to his house with the town prosecutor’s office. On the same date he was granted civil plaintiff’s status. 34.  The investigators requested information on the kidnapping of Idris Gakiyev and the Elmarzayev brothers from law-enforcement agencies of the Chechen Republic. According to the replies received, no special operations had been carried out in Argun on 10 April 2003 and the three men had not been prosecuted for or suspected of participation in illegal armed groups. 35.  The head of the Chechen FSB informed the investigators that Idris Gakiyev and the Elmarzayev brothers had participated in the State Duma elections on 7 December 2003 as they had signed the election register. 36.  Servicemen of the task force unit of the town of Zlatoust, the Chelyabinsk Region, who had been on mission in Argun in November and December 2003, were questioned and stated that they knew nothing about the kidnapping of the residents of Argun on 30 November 2003. 37.  At about 10.30 a.m. on 29 March 2004 unidentified corpses showing signs of violent death were found in a pit in the vicinity of a half-demolished nursery at Sapernaya Street in Grozny. 38.  One of the corpses, referred to as “dead body no. 2”, was in a camouflage uniform, a sailor’s long-sleeve shirt and running shoes. The head was covered with a plastic bag and a sack; a piece of wire was wrapped round the neck. The first applicant identified the body as that of Idris Gakiyev. 39.  Between 1 and 30 April 2004 the expert of the forensic bureau of Mozdok carried out a port-mortem examination of Idris Gakiyev’s corpse. He established that the death had been caused by mechanical asphyxia and had occurred some three to nine days before the beginning of the autopsy. 40.  On 15 June 2004 the Argun Town Polyclinic issued a medical certificate concerning Idris Gakiyev’s death. 41.  On 16 June 2004 the Agrun Town Registry Office issued a certificate in respect of Idris Gakiyev, according to which the violent death had occurred on 22 March 2004. 42.  At about 10.30 a.m. on 29 March 2004 three dead bodies were discovered in a pit near a demolished kindergarten at Sapernaya Street in Grozny. 43.  On 8 April 2004 the district prosecutor’s office issued a certificate confirming that on 29 March 2004 three dead bodies showing signs of violent death, including that of Idris Gakiyev, had been discovered in Grozny. 44.  On 8 April 2004 the district prosecutor’s office granted the first applicant victim status in case no. 32027 on the ground that he had sustained non-pecuniary damage caused by his son’s violent death. On the same date the first applicant was notified of that decision. 45.  On 22 April 2004 the Temporary Operational Group of the Russian Ministry of the Interior informed the second applicant that they had carried out an inquiry and established that the investigation into Idris Gakiyev’s kidnapping in case no. 26075 had been opened on 6 December 2003 by the town prosecutor’s office. They commented that the police had no further information on the identities of the perpetrators. 46.  On 27 April 2004 the district prosecutor’s office issued a certificate confirming that on 29 March 2004 two dead bodies showing signs of violent death, including that of Idris Gakiyev, had been discovered in Grozny. 47.  On 28 April 2004 the town prosecutor’s office forwarded criminal case no. 26075 to the district prosecutor’s office pursuant to the territorial jurisdiction rules. 48.  On 2 July 2004 the prosecutor’s office of the Chechen Republic informed the second applicant that the case file concerning Idris Gakiyev’s kidnapping had been transferred to the district prosecutor’s office following the discovery of his dead body and that investigative measures were being taken to establish the perpetrators’ identities. 49.  On 22 October 2004 the SRJI, acting on the applicants’ behalf, requested the town prosecutor’s office to inform them of progress in the investigation in case no. 26075. On 27 December 2004 the prosecutor’s office of the Chechen Republic replied that the investigation into Idris Gakiyev’s kidnapping and subsequent killing had been resumed and that investigative measures were being taken to solve the crime. 50.  On 2 November 2005 the SRJI requested an update on progress in the investigation from the town prosecutor’s office and the prosecutor’s office of the Chechen Republic. On 16 November 2005 the town prosecutor’s office replied that case file no. 26075 had been transferred to the district prosecutor’s office on 28 April 2004. 51.  On 28 November 2005 the district prosecutor’s office informed the SRJI that criminal case no. 32027 was pending before them. They noted that the case had been instituted following the discovery of five corpses, including that of Idris Gakiyev, in the pit in the Oktyabrskiy District of Grozny, and observed that the investigation had been suspended for failure to identify the perpetrators. They also mentioned that the first applicant had been admitted to the proceedings as a victim. 52.  In December 2005 the town prosecutor’s office informed the SRJI that case no. 26075 had been transferred to the district prosecutor’s office. 53.  On 22 December 2005 the applicants’ representatives requested the district prosecutor’s office to inform them of the progress in the investigation. 54.  On 23 January 2006 the district prosecutor’s office informed the SRJI that the investigation in case no. 32027 had been suspended on 6 July 2005 for failure to identify those responsible. 55.  On 13 March 2008 the first applicant was informed that case no. 32027 had been transferred to the Investigative Committee of the Prosecutor’s Office of Russia in the Chechen Republic. 56.  On 29 March 2004 the district prosecutor’s office instituted an investigation into the murder of three persons under Article 105 § 2 of the Russian Criminal Code in case no. 32027. 57.  A witness who had seen the dead bodies in the pit on 28 March 2004 was questioned. 58.  On 30 April 2004 post-mortem reports were drawn up in respect of the three unidentified corpses. It was stated that an unidentified person, referred to as “dead body no. 1”, had died of asphyxia by a loop round his neck some three to nine days before the expert examination, which had been carried out on 1 April 2004. An unidentified person referred to as “dead body no. 2” had died under the same circumstances. An unidentified person referred to as “dead body no. 3” had died of asphyxia as well but had also suffered an open cranial trauma with broken skull bones. 59.  On an unspecified date the first applicant identified one of the dead bodies as his son, Idris Gakiyev. He was then granted victim status in case no. 32027 and questioned. 60.  The town prosecutor’s office decided to transfer the investigation file in case no. 26074 to the district prosecutor’s office pursuant to the territorial jurisdiction rules. 61.  On 13 May 2004 the district prosecutor’s office joined case no. 26075 to case no. 32027. The joined case file was assigned the number 32027. 62.  The investigators questioned ten servicemen of the task force unit of the town of Zlatoust, the Chelyabinsk Region. The Government did not disclose their last names. The servicemen stated that in November – December 2003 they had been on mission in Argun but had not heard of its residents’ kidnapping on 30 November 2003. 63.  The Chechen FSB informed the investigators that they had no information concerning Idris Gakiyev and the Elmarzayev brothers. 64.  The investigators checked whether Idris Gakiyev had been kept in any temporary detention facilities of the Chechen Republic. 65.  On an unspecified date a former investigator of the district prosecutor’s office was questioned. He stated that on 29 March 2004 the police had informed the district prosecutor’s office that the remains of five dead bodies had been found in two pits at Sapernaya Street in Grozny; two corpses had been skeletonised and three others had borne obvious marks of a violent death. Two criminal cases had been instituted that had later been joined under the number 32027. 66.  On 19 January 2008 Mr Elmarzayev was again questioned as a victim. He stated that the armed men travelling in the APC and an UAZ vehicle who had kidnapped his sons on 30 November 2003 belonged to the task force unit under the command of Mr P. The servicemen had taken his sons’ identity papers and driver’s licenses and his unemployment registration card. That information remained unconfirmed. 67.  The first applicant and Mr Elmarzayev refused to disclose their sources of information, claiming that they feared for their lives. 68.  The investigation in case no. 32027, which had so far failed to identify the perpetrators, was ongoing. The implication of any law-enforcement agencies in the crime had not been established. 69.  Despite specific requests by the Court, the Government did not disclose any documents of the investigation file in case no. 32027. Relying on the information obtained from the Prosecutor General’’s Office, the Government stated that the investigation was in progress and that disclosure of the documents would be in violation of Article 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure since the file contained information of a military nature and personal data concerning witnesses or other participants in the criminal proceedings.