ECHR Cases from the North Caucasus

The facts of the present case are connected to the Tagayeva and Others case. The applicants are thirty nine individuals who had either been taken hostage and/or injured, or are family members of those killed during the terrorist attack at a school in Beslan, North Ossetia, on 1-3 September of 2004. The hostage-taking was organized by the members of the Chechen separatist movement and occurred at the opening ceremony of the academic year. More than 1,000 people were held captive. A number of hostages were killed by the terrorists in the first two days. On the 3 of September, the armed intervention of the Russian forces killed over 330 people (including over 180 children) and injured over 750 people. Relying on Article 2 of the Convention, the applicants complained about violations of the right to life on the following accounts: a breach of the positive obligation to protect life as the school security had not been properly ensured prior to the attack; the absence of an effective investigation due to the fail to establish all the relevant circumstances of the tragic events and to identify the persons responsible, as well as the denial of the victims’ full access to the documents of the criminal investigation; and finally, the disproportionate use of force as the storming of the building was not undertaken with the primary aim of preserving lives.

The application concerns allegations of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial execution of the applicants’ relatives by law-enforcement agencies perpetrated in the end of 2016 - beginning of 2017 in the Chechen Republic. After the disappearance of their relatives, the applicants and their family members have allegedly been subjected to intimidation by local authorities in attempts to dissuade them from lodging complaints for criminal investigation into the incidents. No criminal case was opened into the applicants’ allegations by the domestic authorities, albeit for an inquiry which resulted in refusals to open a criminal case. On 18 December 2019 the applicants were granted anonymity pursuant to Rule 47 § 4 of the Rules of Court. The applicants complain under Article 2 of the Convention that their relatives were abducted and most probably killed by State agents and that the authorities failed to investigate the matter.

The applicant complains under Article 2 of the Convention that her son Magomed Gorchkhanov was abducted and killed by State agents and that the authorities failed to effectively investigate the matter. Under Article 5 of the Convention, she alleges that her son’s arrest and detention by State agents were unlawful and under Article 13 of the Convention, that she had no effective domestic remedies against the violations alleged under Article 2 of the Convention.

The applicants, Mr S.T. and Ms Y.B., are Russian nationals who were born in 2001 and 1999 respectively and live in Grozny (Chechen Republic, Russia). They are a couple. The case concerns an allegation of unlawful detention and ill-treatment of the first applicant, a moderator of an opposition channel known for criticising the Chechen authorities, by State agents in September 2020 in Chechnya, and the ineffectiveness of the ensuing investigation into the matter. Relying on Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) and Article 5 (right to liberty and security), the applicants complain that the first applicant was unlawfully detained and subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment by State agents.

The applicants are Russian nationals who live in the Republic of Ingushetia (Russia). They are close relatives of Magomed Khayauri, born in 1991, Islam Tachiyev, born in 1992, and Artur Karsamauli, born in 1986. The case concerns the killing by State agents of the three young men on a university campus in July 2012. The investigation into the incident was terminated, owing to the death of the suspects, and reopened by decision of the investigators’ superiors more than ten times. It is still pending. Relying on Article 2 (right to life), the applicants allege that State agents killed their relatives in a botched security operation and that the authorities failed to investigate the matter effectively. Under Article 13 (right to an effective remedy), the applicants complain that they had no effective remedy at their disposal.

The case regards the events, described in the case Khayauri and others v. Russia. Mr Artur Karsamauli was one the the persons killed together with Mr Khayauri  on 28 July 2012 on the premises of the Ingushetia State University. The applicant (Artur's father) complain under Article 2 of the Convention that his son was killed by State agents and that the authorities failed to effectively investigate the matter.

"In the evening on 28 July 2012 Mr Khayauri (the son and the brother of the applicants) was sitting on a bench with his friends Mr Artur Karsamauli and Mr I.T. on the premises of the Ingushetia State University awaiting the time to go to the mosque. At about 10 p.m. the FSB officers opened gunfire at the three young men and killed all of them. The criminal case was opened against three men on suspect of an unlawful possession of firearms and an attempt on the life of a law-enforcement officer. According to the investigators, the three men belonged to an illegal armed group and that day had a meeting with a certain Mr M. Dzh. who had been wanted by the authorities. To date no criminal case has been opened into the killing of Magomed Khayauri, Artur Karsamauli and Mr I.T. The applicants complain under Article 2 of the Convention that their relative was killed by State agents and that the authorities failed to effectively investigate the matter. Under Article 13 they allege that they had no effective domestic remedies against the violation alleged.
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In the period of March 2013 the special military operation “Barrier 2013” took place at the administrative border of Ingushetia and Chechnya. It was aimed at arresting members of illegal armed groups hiding in the forests in the area. According to the applicants (parents of Usman Gaysultanov), they were never informed about the operation. On 10 March 2013 the applicants’ sons Usman and Mayrbek Gaysultanov, the third applicant and eleven other residents of Achkhoy-Martan boarded a URAL lorry to go to Bamut village to pick ramsons. On the way to the forest the lorry passed through a military checkpoint without being stopped. Moreover, there were no warnings signs or markings around the area and no information concerning a special operation in the vicinity of the forest. While picking up ramsons, the three men were subjected to a half-hour of mortar fire. Usman Gaysultanov was severely wounded by one of the projectiles and both of his legs were torn off. The third applicant received serious injuries to the lower part of his body. As soon as the pickers were able to leave the forest, they went to Bamut village, from where Usman Gaysultanov was taken to a hospital in Grozny and the third applicant to a hospital in Urus-Martan.On the following day, Mr Gaysultanov died in the hospital. The applicants complain under the substantive limb of Article 2 of the Convention that the authorities failed to comply with their positive obligation to safeguard the right to life of Mr Usman Gaysultanov and the third applicant by failing to warn them about the special operation. They also allege that the authorities failed to comply with the negative obligation under Article 2 as the men had been subjected to mortar fire aimed at them by State agents. In addition, under the procedural limb of Article 2  the applicants complain that the authorities failed to carry out an effective investigation into the matter.

The applicants complain under the substantive limb of Article 2 of the Convention that the authorities failed to comply with their positive obligation to safeguard the right to life of their four killed relatives and that of the fifth applicant and the disappeared Mr Vakhayev by failing to warn them about the special operation. Furthermore, the applicants allege that the authorities also failed to comply with the negative obligation of that provision as their four relatives and the fifth applicant had been shot intentionally by State agents and Mr Vakhayev had been abducted by them during the special operation. The applicants complain under the procedural limb of Article 2 that the authorities failed to carry out an effective investigation into the matter. Under Article 3 of the Convention, the fourth and seventh applicants complain of the mental suffering caused to them by the disappearance of their brother Mayr-Ali Vakhayev. Under Article 13 of the Convention, the applicants complain of a lack of effective remedies in respect of the above-mentioned complaints

Allegedly, in early April 2010 Gilani Tsechoyev was stopped by unspecified law-enforcement officers, who spoke Chechen and Russian without an accent. As these officers were attempting to force him into a car, Officer Kha. ordered them to let him go.
On 24 June 2010 two people fired gun shots at the victim causing his death. Two of the applicant’s friends, Ch. and B., were eye-witnesses to the events. On the same day, an investigator carried out a crime-scene inspection. On 25 June 2010 a criminal case was opened.

The applicant was a sister of Ms Natalia Estemirova, now deceased, a prominent human rights activist and campaigner in Russia working in the North Caucasus, including documenting cases of human rights violations in the Chechen Republic. The applicant complained under Articles 2 and 13 of the Convention of the murder of her sister and the authorities’ failure to thoroughly, effectively and speedily investigate her death.

Muslim Zulkarnayev is currently serving a term of imprisonment in correctional colony IK-4 in the Mariy-El Republic. The applicant complains under Article 3 of the Convention that he had been subjected to repeated ill-treatment and that the authorities failed to carry out an effective investigation into it. He further submits that he was held in unacknowledged detention between 15 and 25 April 2006, in breach of all guarantees of Article 5 of the Convention.

The applicant, Rizvan Abdulkhanov, is a Russian national who was born in 1974 and lives in Grozny (Russia). The case concerns the serious wounding of the applicant by the police and their allegedly obstructing him from receiving medical treatment for his injuries. Relying on Articles 2 (right to life), 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) and 13 (right to an effective remedy) of the Convention, the applicant complains that he was seriously wounded as the result of excessive use of force by the police, that the authorities prevented him from receiving necessary medical treatment and failed to investigate the matter effectively.

The applicant is a national of Belarus. Ten days after the birth of her daughter in 2018, her husband abducted the baby and took her to his native village in Chechnya. His family prevented the applicant from seeing her daughter outside their house. The husband beat the applicant on 22/02/18, 17/03/18 and 15/05/18, including when she was breastfeeding the baby. On 22/05/18 the applicant reported the beatings to the police (refusal to investigate on 16/07/18; quashed on 08/05/19, one day before examination of an application for judicial review; refusal to investigate on 19/06/19; quashed on 18/10/20, on the day of examination of an application for judicial review).

The applicants are 29 Russian nationals who were living in village Borozdinovka inhabited mostly by ethnic Avarians and few Chechen and Russian families. On 4 June 2005 a military convoy, later identified by villagers as soldiers from the Vostoc battalion (formed of ethnic Chechens and headed by Sulim Yamadayev), entered the village. Armed men in camouflage proceeded to passport check of all male inhabitants of the village, and searched several houses. About 200 men over the age of fifteen were taken to local school and there were beaten and humiliated by the men in military uniform during several hours. Following the personal identification of all villagers, eleven men, one Russian and ten Avars – Kamil Magomedov, Abakar Aliyev, Said Magomedov, Ahmed Abdurakhmanovich Magomedov, Ahmed Payzulayevich Magomedov, Eduard Lachkov, Shakhban Magomedov, Murtuz Umarov, Magomed Isayev, Ahmed Kurbanaliyev, and Magomed Kurbanaliyev - were taken with the armed forces when those left the village, and never seen again alive. Chechen villagers were released. On the same day, Magomazi Magomazov was found burnt with a gun shot wound. Also, before leaving the armed men had set on fire the houses of Said Magomedov and Kamil Magomedov. Within two following days, burnt human remains were found at the site of two houses. In total, four houses were burnt. Soon after start of investigation, the villagers left for Republic of Dagestan requesting authorities to grant them with refugee status and compensate for property losses. Some applicants were compensated of RUR 200,000 (EUR 5,035) by the authorities of the Shelkovskoy district in exchange for the transfer of their houses to Chechens. In July 2005, internet media reported about the document confirming the special operation of Vostok battalion with names of the arrested men coincided with the names of disappeared. It also mentioned death of Magomazi Magomadov. On 27 July 2005 the military prosecutor of the United Group of Forces instituted the criminal proceedings against the commander of the Vostoc battalion, Mr Aziev. Later, Grozny Garrison Court found Mr Aziev guilty of exceeding official powers and sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment, with one year suspended term. The families of the victims were not notified in advance about the forthcoming trial and could not, therefore, challenge the judgment. The investigation into the special operation of 4 July 2005 is still pending. The applicants, some of whom had been granted victim status, were not properly informed about the progress of the investigation, including results of forensic examination of the human remains from the two burnt houses.

In the beginning of January 2010 Mariya Malayeva went to the investigators of the Leninskiy Inter-District Investigations Department in Grozny who told her that on 5 January 2010 her son Aslambek Saidakhmadov had been brought to them for questioning and then released. They also told her that on 7 January 2010 Aslambek Saidakhmadov had bought a train ticket to Rostov. The applicant learned from her neighbour, Ms I.T., that her relative, Mr M., an officer of the OMON, had been arrested after the applicant’s son had absconded from the OMON headquarters. According to the neighbour, the abductors believed that Mr M. had helped Aslambek to run away and held him in detention on their premises until Aslambek Saidakhmadov had been abducted in Astrakhan and taken back to them.

The applicant refers to the death of her husband Timur Dzankhotovich Gatsalov who died in the result of the events of 13-14 October 2005 in Nalchik. According to those who took part in identification of the bodies, during several days following the events of 13 and 14 October 2005 the corpses were kept in the morgue and in a few other locations in wholly unsatisfactory conditions. On several occasions the applicant requested various officials, including the prosecutors, to return the bodies of her husband for burial. The requests either remained unanswered or were refused. The applicant complains under Articles 8 and 9 of the Convention that the State authorities unnecessarily interfered with her right to family and private life and freedom of religion by denying her access to the body of her killed relative for religious burial according to Islam traditions and customs.

Safar Dayfurovich Laypanov, is a Russian national, who was born in 1968 and lives in Karachayevsk. The applicant complained under Articles 3 and 13 of the Convention that he had been ill-treated by the police officers to obtain confession, that the authorities had failed to investigate these episodes, that the domestic courts had breached his presumption of innocence by convicting him on the basis of the evidence obtained under torture.

Roman Magomedovich Gastemirov, is a Russian national who was born in 1979 and lives in the town of Groznyy, the Chechen Republic The applicant complained under Articles 3 and 13 of the Convention that he had been ill-treated by the police officers to obtain confession, that the authorities had failed to investigate these episodes, that the domestic courts had breached his presumption of innocence by convicting him on the basis of the evidence obtained under torture.

The applicants, Mr Umar Bagaudinovich Khadziyev, Mr Alikhan Magomedovich Ozdoyev and Mr Rustam Yunusovich Tsurov, are Russian nationals who were born in 1984, 1977 and 1980 respectively and live in the village of Kartsa of the Republic of the North Ossetia-Alania. It appears that at present they are serving a sentence of imprisonment in a penitentiary establishment in Russia. The applicants complained under Articles 3, 6, 13 and 14 of the Convention that they had been ill-treated by the police officers to obtain confession, that the authorities had failed to investigate these episodes, that the domestic courts had breached their presumption of innocence by convicting them on the basis of the evidence obtained under torture, that the criminal proceedings against them had been generally unfair and discriminatory on account of their Ingush ethnicity.

At about 12.30 p.m. on 20 July 2005 a group of four policemen of the Nadterechny ROVD arrived at the sheepfold and ordered Aslanbek Vitrigov  to follow them to the ROVD. On 21 July 2005 a group of policemen of the Nadterechny ROVD arrived at the sheepfold in Komarovo, where were Anzor Agamerzayev. Six to seven persons grabbed and beat him up in front of his relatives. They twisted his arms behind his back, tied them with his belt and threw him into their car, where they continued beating him up on the way to the Nadterechny ROVD. On 30 July 2005 Adam Tuntuyev was instructed by his superior to follow police officers to the Nadterechny ROVD “for an identification parade”. Upon arrival the applicant was filmed and photographed. At about 11 p.m. on 30 July 2005 he was placed in the ROVD detention ward. Within the premises of the  ROVD Aslanbek Vitrigov, Anzor Agamerzayev and Adam Tuntuyev were severely tortured into confessing to crimes.

Murat Ismailovich Shavayev, is a Russian national, who was born in 1975 and is detained in Kharp. The applicant complains under Article 3 of the Convention that he was subjected to ill-treatment and that the authorities failed to carry out an effective investigation into his allegations. He further complains under Article 13 of the Convention that he had no effective remedies in respect of his grievances under Article 3.

The applicant, Mr Aslan Aliyev, is a Russian national, who was born in 1981 and is currently serving a prison sentence in correctional colony IK‑2 in the Kurgan Region. The applicant complains under Article 3 of the Convention that he was subjected to ill-treatment and that the authorities failed to carry out an effective investigation into his allegations. He further complains under Article 13 of the Convention that he had no effective remedies in respect of his grievances under Article 3.

The applicants, Mr Ismail Mutayev and Mr Ismail Tatayev, are Russian nationals. The first applicant was born in 1981 and the second applicant – in 1975. The applicants are currently serving their terms of imprisonment in colony IK-2 in the Tomsk Region and in a colony in the Volgograd Region, respectively. The applicants complain under Article 3 of the Convention that they were subjected to torture and that the domestic authorities failed to carry out an effective investigation of their allegations.

On 31 October 2004 Imran Uspanov was apprehended in his house in the village of Assinovskaya by a group of servicemen (“kadyrovtsy”), who took him to the Sunzhenskiy District Department of the Interior (ROVD) and tortured there. In the following months, Imran was detained at the Achkhoy-Martanovskiy ROVD and subjected to repeated torture and ill-treatment. Imran Uspanov complained in writing to the prosecutor’s office of the Chechen Republic about his ill-treatment by officers of ROVD. The Prosecutor's office refused to open a criminal inquiry into the ill-treatment despite the existence of medical reports and witness statements in support of his complaints. In 2005, Imran was convicted to over 18 years imprisonment on the basis of the confessions obtained through torture.

On 29 April 2011 law enforcement officers carried out a special operation in Progress village in the Stavropol Region. According to the authorities, Mr K.T. was in Progress village with nine other armed individuals and offered armed resistance to the officers. As a result of the operation, Mr K.T. and the nine other individuals were killed. As stated by the expert examination, the applicant’s son’s death was caused by an explosion. On the same date the authorities opened criminal case no. 2917 on account of traffic and storage of weapons. It follows from the case file that on 6 June 2012 criminal case no. 2917 was merged with case no. 70/20-10. On 17 April 2012 the applicant complained to the court of the refusal to return the body of his son. After several judicial refusals in 2012, on 27 February 2013 the Nalchik City Court granted the applicant’s complaint and found the continued withholding of the body unlawful.

The applicants complained about the lack of any effective remedy in domestic law - in respect of allocation to a remote colony.

Under Articles 8 and 13 of the Convention Ms Kuchmenova, Ms Akhmetova, Ms Shavayeva, Mr Aslan Kuchmenov, Mr Bapinayev and Mr Mironov (no. 20559/19) complain that the respective transfers of Mr Aslan Kuchmenov, Mr Murat Bapinayev and Mr Eduard Mironov to remote penitentiary facilities amount to breach of family ties between the detainees and their family members.

Murat Sarabiyevich KASHIRGOV complains that he had been ill-treated by State agents during the criminal proceedings against him and that the domestic authorities failed to carry out an effective investigation in this respect, and that he did not have effective remedy in respect of their grievances.  The applicant deceased on 19 June 2016. The applicant’s wife maintained the application.

The applicant complains that he had been ill-treated by State agents during the criminal proceedings against him and that the domestic authorities failed to carry out an effective investigation in this respect, and that he did not have effective remedy in respect of his grievances.

On 21 October 2005, police in Nalchik detained Batyr Pshibiyev on suspicion of participation in the attacks on law enforcement agencies and other official buildings in the city eight days earlier. In subsequent days, law enforcement officers at the organized crime department (UBOP) and pretrial detention center in Nalchik repeatedly beat and otherwise ill-treated him.

The applicant complains that he had been ill-treated by State agents during the criminal proceedings against him and that the domestic authorities failed to carry out an effective investigation in this respect, and that he did not have effective remedy in respect of his grievances.

On 13 October 2005 Daniil Khamukov arrested on suspicion of involvement in the raid and taken to the Anti-Terrorism Centre of the General Department of the Ministry of the Interior in the Southern Federal Circuit. He had been kicked, and hit on the head several times with a rifle butt. In the morning of 14 October 2005, after having been subjected to further torture aimed at obtaining a confession, Daniil was taken to hospital, where he received first aid. On the same day he was taken to a temporary detention centre. On 16 October 2005 to 7 November 2005 Daniil underwent in-patient hospital treatment for his injuries. His hospital diagnosis was “right elbow multifragmental gunshot fracture, closed head injury, brain contusion, general weakness, dizziness, nausea, acute pain in the right arm”. Subsequently he was held in a remand prison, where the beatings continued on a regular basis. Daniil Khamukov complained that he had been ill-treated by State agents during the criminal proceedings against him and that the domestic authorities had failed to carry out an effective investigation.

Amur Abubovich KHAKULOV complains that he had been ill-treated by State agents during the criminal proceedings against him and that the domestic authorities failed to carry out an effective investigation in this respect, and that he did not have effective remedy in respect of his grievances. The applicant deceased on 7 October 2016. The applicant’s wife maintained the application.

Khasanbi Kadirovich KHUPSIRGENOV complains that he had been ill-treated by State agents during the criminal proceedings against him and that the domestic authorities failed to carry out an effective investigation in this respect, and that he did not have effective remedy in respect of his grievances.

Ruslan Bashirovich KUCHMENOV complains that he had been ill-treated by State agents during the criminal proceedings against him and that the domestic authorities failed to carry out an effective investigation in this respect, and that he did not have effective remedy in respect of their grievances.

Aslan Bashirovich KUCHMENOV complains that he had been ill-treated by State agents during the criminal proceedings against him and that the domestic authorities failed to carry out an effective investigation in this respect, and that he did not have effective remedy in respect of his grievances.

Zaur Amurbiyevich SOKMYSHEV complains that he had been ill-treated by State agents during the criminal proceedings against him and that the domestic authorities failed to carry out an effective investigation in this respect, and that he did not have effective remedy in respect of his grievances.

Murat Khanaliyevich BAPINAYEV complains that he had been ill-treated by State agents during the criminal proceedings against him and that the domestic authorities failed to carry out an effective investigation in this respect, and that he did not have effective remedy in respect of their grievances.

On 27 March 2006 the applicant was arrested in the streets of Sukhumi, the capital of Abkhazia, by the policemen of the Adlersky District Department of the Interior of the town of Sochi of the Krasnodar Region. It appears that there was a suspicion of the applicant’s involvement in a terrorist attack in the town of Nalchik on 13 October 2005. During the night on 28 March 2006 these policemen escorted the applicant to the building of the Regional Department in charge of fighting the organised crime in the town of Nalchik. The applicant complained that he had been ill-treated by the authorities during of the criminal proceedings against him.

Artur Zaurbiyevich KELEMETOV complains that he had been ill-treated by State agents during the criminal proceedings against him and that the domestic authorities failed to carry out an effective investigation in this respect, and that he did not have effective remedy in respect of their grievances.

Azret Ismailovich SHAVAYEV complains that he had been ill-treated by State agents during the criminal proceedings against him and that the domestic authorities failed to carry out an effective investigation in this respect, and that he did not have effective remedy in respect of their grievances.

Rasul Yusupovich KHULAMKHANOV complains that he had been ill-treated by State agents during the criminal proceedings against him and that the domestic authorities failed to carry out an effective investigation in this respect, and that he did not have effective remedy in respect of their grievances.

Aslan Borisovich BEROV complains that he had been ill-treated by State agents during the criminal proceedings against him and that the domestic authorities failed to carry out an effective investigation in this respect, and that he did not have effective remedy in respect of their grievances.

Arsen Leonidovich BOZIYEV complains that he had been ill-treated by State agents during the criminal proceedings against him and that the domestic authorities failed to carry out an effective investigation in this respect, and that he did not have effective remedy in respect of their grievances.

Khusei Magomedovich KHUBOLOV complains that he had been ill-treated by State agents during the criminal proceedings against him and that the domestic authorities failed to carry out an effective investigation in this respect, and that he did not have effective remedy in respect of their grievances.

Albiyan Anatolyevich MALYSHEV complains that he had been ill-treated by State agents during the criminal proceedings against him and that the domestic authorities failed to carry out an effective investigation in this respect, and that he did not have effective remedy in respect of their grievances.

Azamat Salykhovich AKHKUBEKOV complains that he had been ill-treated by State agents during the criminal proceedings against him and that the domestic authorities failed to carry out an effective investigation in this respect, and that he did not have effective remedy in respect of their grievances.

At about 3.45 p.m. on 5 September 2020 (in the documents submitted the date was also stated as 6 September 2020) Mr S.T. was at work at the hotel, when two men in black uniforms of the Chechen police arrived there. A third police officer waited for them on the other side of the street. The two officers, who went into the hotel, grabbed Mr S.T. and forced him outside. When the hotel’s guards asked the men why and where they were taking Mr S.T., one of them used physical force against the guard, whereas another one showed the Chechen police service card. Then the abductors forced Mr S.T. in one of two black Toyota Camry cars with Chechnya registration plates and drove off. Mr S.T. has gone missing since. A part of the abduction of Mr S.T., which had taken place outside the hotel, was depicted by the CCTV, and the recording was submitted by the applicants’ representatives to the Court. On 7 September 2020 a video recording of Mr S.T. completely naked on his knees next to a glass bottle was published on "1ADAT" channel.

On 11 January 2010 at around 1 p.m. the applicant’s son, Mr G.M., and the son’s acquaintance Mr K. drove in a car in the centre of Makhachkala. According to the applicant, at some point they stopped the car and came under intense fire from three law enforcement agents, who had been waiting for them in an ambush. Both were killed on the spot.

On 22 December 2010 Ms Zalina Yelkhoroyeva went to see her brother Mr T.Ye. in the remand prison in Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia-Alania (North Ossetia), about forty five kilometres away from Karabulak. She drove there with his wife Ms L.E. At the prison they found out that Mr T.Ye. had been placed into a military hospital. On their way back to Karabulak, Ingushetia, the two women drove on the “Kavkaz” highway. Around 4 p.m. near the village of Novoye in the Prigorodnyy district in North Ossetia, about twenty-five kilometres from Karabulak, their car was blocked by four armoured UAZ vehicles and one silver-coloured VAZ-2114 vehicle. A group of armed men in camouflage uniforms and balaclavas emerged from the vehicles. They spoke unaccented Russian. Their uniforms had the traffic police insignia (ГАИ). The men ordered everyone to get out of the car and asked for documents. As they learned who Zalina Yelkhoroyeva was, they put her in a VAZ-2114 and drove away. Other men ordered Ms L.E. to drive to checkpoint “Chermenskiy Krug” located on the border between Ingushetia and North Ossetia and wait for Ms Yelkhoroyeva there. To the question who they were, the men answered that they were from the Federal Security Service (“FSB”) and the military intelligence (Главное разведывательное управление Министерства обороны РФ). Shortly thereafter Ms L.E. lodged a complaint with the nearby Mayskoye police department in North Ossetia, on the border with Ingushetia, about the abduction of Ms Yelkhoroyeva.

On the morning of 25 March 2012 Mr Danilin took the first applicant to work in his VAZ-2109 car. He was supposed to pick her up from work at 1 p.m. that day. However, he did not arrive. The first applicant tried calling him, but to no avail. In the evening, the first applicant and her relatives started searching for Mr Danilin. At about 10 p.m. the first applicant received a call from an unfamiliar number; it was Mr Danilin, who said that he had been beaten, his car and mobile phone had been taken from him and he needed help. Then another man who introduced himself as a police officer from the village of Novolak (also referred to as Novolakskoye in the documents submitted) told the applicant to bring 50,000 roubles (about 1,300 euros) to the police station in that village in exchange for Mr Danilin’s release. When later in the evening the first applicant with about a dozen of her relatives arrived there, the police officers at the police station denied any knowledge of Mr Danilin’s whereabouts and demanded that they return home or they would be “detained as well”.  It appears from the documents submitted that the investigation is still pending, the whereabouts of Mr Danilin have not been established and the perpetrators of his abduction have not been identified.

Mikhail Aleksandrovich Vladovskiy was ill‑treated at the hands of the police in 2004, that there was no effective investigation into the matter, and that he had no effective domestic remedy at his disposal to complain of the ill-treatment.

Olga Islamova and O.I. were married from 1996 to 2014. They had three children, a daughter born in 2004, a son born in 2006, and a daughter born in 2011. The family lived in Samara. In July 2015, O.I. collected their four-year-old daughter from a children's play area and took her to Khasavyurt, Dagestan.

Olga went to court, and on December 16, 2015, the Privolzhsky District Court in Samara Region ruled that the mother should have custody of the children and that O.I. must return the daughter to the mother. But O.I. ignored the decision and hid the daughter in Dagestan until October 2016. The mother and daughter were reunited in October 2016 and Olga signed the document confirming completion of the court decision's execution. But O.I. then seized the daughter again and hid. Clearly, the bailiff had been in cahoots with the father.

After that, repeatedly, when action on the court decision was taken, Olga was not notified of when the bailiffs would go to O.I. She called the bailiffs on numerous occasions and received answers such as, "Let's wait a bit longer", "I conveyed everything to the debtor", "I warned the debtor that the decision must be executed", or "I told the debtor that his behaviour was not right".

In 2018, Olga succeeded in having the bailiffs return her daughter, but when they arrived in Samara, they were met by O.I. and his friends. The men took the youngest daughter by force, beat the oldest daughter, Yelena, who was pregnant at that moment, and rammed Olga with their car, injuring her leg.

O.I. took the daughter to Chechnya and since then has refused to let the girl even speak on the phone to her mother. He also applied to the courts for custody, and though the Privolzhsky District Court's decision has still not been executed, a new court decision has given custody of the youngest daughter to the father.

At approximately 12.30 p.m. on 8th January 2005 Muslim Chudalov was stopped at the Kupskiy check-point and driven to the Leninskiy ROVD by policemen. Within the premises of the district police station (hereinafter Leninskiy ROVD) he was severely tortured into confessing to 15 crimes. The confessions signed by Muslim under torture formed the basis for his conviction on 12 charges out of 15. He was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment by a final decision of the Judicial Council of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated 15 June 2006. The Prosecutor's office refused to open a criminal inquiry into the ill-treatment despite the existence of medical reports and witness statements in support of his complaints.

In the middle of the night on 26 May 2004 a group of masked military servicemen detained X in Grozny and brought him to the Leninsky District Department of the Interior (ROVD). A number of policemen started to beat him with truncheons, electroluted him with wires attached to different parts of his body and sexually abused him. X eventually signed a confession. In the following weeks, the torture and ill-treatment continued both at the Leninsky ROVD and in ORB-2.

The applicant complains under Article 3 of the Convention that he was subjected to ill-treatment by State officials and that the investigation was ineffective in that regard.

The applicant complains under Articles 3 and 13 of the Convention that from 5 to 7 March 2015 he was tortured by law-enforcement officers and that the investigation in response to his complaint about ill-treatment in custody was ineffective. The applicant complains under Articles 3 and 13 of the Convention about the conditions of his detention at the remand prison and the courthouses and the conditions of transport to and from the courthouse or investigative committee.

On 28 July 2007 at around 4 a.m. a group of federal military officers arrived in Ali-Yurt on armoured personnel carriers (“APCs”) and two Gazel minibus vehicles without registration numbers. The officers broke into the applicants’ and other residents’ houses, pulling people out and beating them with gun butts. According to the applicants, around 30 residents, including women, minors and elderly people, were subjected to ill-treatment by the military. Around 19 people were taken to the Nazran Central Hospital. Two persons were admitted to Moscow hospitals. On 28 July 2007 an investigator of the Department of the Interior in the Nazranovskiy District of Ingushetia reported to his superior about the discovery of the evidence of crime (“рапорт об обнаружении признаков преступления”). According to the report, the applicants and a number of other residents had been admitted to the hospital with various injuries.

The applicant complains under Article 3 of the Convention that he was ill-treated by the ORB-2 officers and that the investigations into his allegations of ill-treatment were ineffective.

The applicant complains under Article 3 of the Convention that he was ill-treated by the ORB-2 officers and that the investigations into his allegations of ill-treatment were ineffective.

The applicants complain under Article 3 of the Convention that they were ill-treated by the ORB-2 officers and that the investigations into their allegations of ill-treatment were ineffective. The applicants submitted that they had been taken to the Operational‑Search Division of the North Caucasus Operations Department of the Chief Directorate of the Russian Ministry of the Interior in the Southern Federal Circuit (ОРБ-2 СКОУ ГУ МВД РФ по ЮФО  “ORB‑2”). They were placed in the ORB-2 temporary detention facility (“IVS”) where they were ill-treated by electric shocks, beatings, suffocations with the use of gas masks. Arrest records were drawn up days after their apprehensions.

The applicant complains under Article 3 of the Convention that he was ill-treated by the ORB-2 officers and that the investigations into his allegations of ill-treatment were ineffective.

The applicants complain under Article 2 of the Convention that their relative Marat Satybalov was subjected to severe beatings by the police officers and died as a result. They further allege that the authorities failed to carry out an effective investigation into the matter.
Under Article 3 of the Convention, the applicants complain that the police officers subjected Mr Satybalov to severe ill-treatment and that the authorities failed to investigate the matter. Under Article 5 of the Convention, the applicants complain that Mr Satybalov’s overnight detention at the police station between 2 and 3 May 2010 was unlawful. Under Article 13 of the Convention the applicants allege that they had no effective domestic remedies against the above-mentioned violations.

The applicants complain under Article 2 of the Convention that State agents abducted their relative Mr Abu Bisultanov, who has gone missing since and that the domestic authorities failed to effectively investigate the matter.

The applicant complains under Article 2 of the Convention that Mr Zeitun Gayev was murdered by agents of law-enforcement agencies. She further complains that the domestic authorities failed to thoroughly investigate her son’s alleged murder, in breach of the procedural obligation arising from Article 2 of the Convention. The applicant complains under Article 3 of the Convention that agents of law-enforcement agencies ill-treated her son after he was apprehended. She also complains that the domestic authorities did not investigate the alleged instances of ill-treatment, in breach of the procedural obligation arising from Article 3 of the Convention.

On 16 October 2006 the applicants tried to take part in a peaceful assembly (‘picket’) in Nazran, the Republic of Ingushetia. At the site of the planned picket the applicants were attacked by the men in civilian clothes, who beat and injured some of the picketers and subsequently apprehended them without giving any reasons for the arrest. Relying on Articles 10 and 11 of the Convention, the applicants allege that by failing to give sufficient reasons for the prohibition of the picket and by preventing them from holding the picket, the authorities breached the applicants’ rights to hold a peaceful assembly to express their solidarity with Ms Politkovskaya and protest against her murder.

The applicants complain under Article 2 of the Convention that State agents killed their relative Mr Khamzat Uzhakhov and that no effective investigation was carried out into the matter. Under Article 3 of the Convention the second applicant complains that she was subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment during the house search conducted on 25 November 2009 and that the authorities failed to investigate the matter. Under Article 8 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention, the applicants complain of the unlawful search, and of the destruction and theft of the second applicant’s family property during that unlawful search carried out on 25 November 2009.

At about 6.20 p.m. on 27 September 2006 a group of armed men in camouflage uniforms and masks burst into the courtyard. They pushed Radzh Bulatov and Magomed Dambegov (the applicants) to the ground, hitting them with their gun butts, cuffed their hands and put dark plastic bags on their heads. The intruders then threw the applicants in their van where they continued beating them up and brought them to the so‑called “centre T” of the Ministry of the Interior of the Kabardino-Balkariya Republic (“центр Т” МВД КБР”). Then other police officers of the counterterrorist department continued ill-treating the applicants with a view to having them confess to unlawful possession  of arms and other crimes. They beat them up and administered electric shocks to their bodies. The applicants denied having committed the crimes imputed to them. Radzh Bulatov and Magomed Dambegov complain that during and after their arrest on 27 September 2006 they were subjected to ill‑treatment and that the national authorities failed to carry out an effective investigation into it.

Between 12 and 1 p.m. on 7 October 1999 the village of Elistanzhi in the Vedeno district was subjected to an aerial strike by Russian military forces. According to the applicants, there were no military or other facilities, or objects which could have been perceived as such, in the village or in the vicinity at the material time and the attack was therefore unprovoked and sudden. A number of buildings, including the local school, were destroyed in the attack. Thirty-five residents of the village were killed and sixty were wounded.

On 25 May 2000 at around 10 p.m. Russian military officers opened random fire in the village of Znamenskoye in the Nadterechniy district of Chechnya. The applicant was leaving his sister’s house when the officers attacked him, beating with gun butts and putting him in a UAZ-vehicle. Mr Kh.Kh. and Ms M.Kh., the applicant’s nephew and his wife, as well as their neighbours witnessed the applicant’s abduction. According to the applicant, the officers took him to the outskirts of the village, beat him, pulled out a denture with 17 golden teeth and took away his money (10,000 Russian roubles). When the applicant passed out, the officers undressed him and threw him out of the car.

The applicants complain under Article 2 of the Convention that State agents abducted their relatives and then killed them having staged an exchange of fire with the law-enforcement agents on the night between 8 and 9 October 2016 and that no effective investigation into the matter has been carried out. Under Article 3 of the Convention, the applicants complain of the moral suffering caused by their relatives’ abduction and the lack of information concerning their whereabouts and fate until their bodies were identified. Under Article 13 of the Convention the applicants alleged that they had no effective remedies against the violations under Article 2 of the Convention

Relying on Article 8 of the Convention, the applicants complain that for already seven years they cannot receive a long-term visit with their relevants, who are detained in prisons. They also complain about the conditions of the short-term visits. In particular, they complain about the impossibility of physical contact with their relatives from behind the wall installed in the rooms, the bugging of the device used to communicate with them, and the prohibition of their minor children to visit their parents.

The applicant complained under Articles 3 and 13 of the Convention that he had been subjected to ill-treatment by State officials and that the State had failed to conduct an effective domestic investigation into those incidents. On 04/12/2017 the Magasskiy District Court declared the refusal of 10/09/2017 unlawful. On 29/01/2018 the Magasskiy District Court dismissed the applicant’s complaint against the refusal of 11/01/2018. On 03/04/2018 the Supreme Court of Ingushetia dismissed the appeal.

The applicant complained under Articles 3 and 13 of the Convention that he had been subjected to ill-treatment by State officials and that the State had failed to conduct an effective domestic investigation into those incidents. On 04/04/2012 a criminal case was opened. It was suspended and resumed for at least five times between 04/04/2013 and 01/11/2014 for the failure to identify perpetrators. On 25/06/2013 and 10/04/2014 a criminal case against officers Kh. and O. was refused. On 07/12/2015 the applicant complained to the Nalchik City Court about the inactivity of the investigative authorities. On 30/12/2015 the court granted the claim and declared the refusals and the latest decision to suspend the investigation of 01/11/2014 unfounded and unlawful.

The applicant complained under Articles 3 and 13 of the Convention that he had been subjected to ill-treatment by State officials and that the State had failed to conduct an effective domestic investigation into those incidents. On 19/03/2015 the Magasskiy District Court declared the refusal of 11/12/2014 unreasoned and unlawful. On 27/04/2016 the Supreme Court of Ingushetia acquitted the applicant. On 14/07/2016 the Supreme Court of Russia quashed the acquittal. No further information.

The applicant complained under Articles 3 and 13 of the Convention that he had been subjected to ill-treatment by State officials and that the State had failed to conduct an effective domestic investigation into those incidents. 03/12/2007 a criminal case was opened. On 10/01/2008 the applicant was granted victim status. The case was suspended and resumed for at least 13 times between 03/03/2008 and 30/12/2016 for the failure to identify perpetrators. The investigator’s requests to the Minister of Internal Affairs to facilitate the appearance of OMON officers for interviews were unsuccessful. On 12/02/2013 the Leninskiy District Court rejected the applicant’s complaint against the decisions to extend the time limits of the investigation and investigators’ inactivity. On 19/03/2013 the Supreme Court of Chechnya rejected the applicant’s appeal.

The applicant complained under Articles 3 and 13 of the Convention that he had been subjected to ill-treatment by State officials and that the State had failed to conduct an effective domestic investigation into those incidents. The applicant’s allegations of ill-treatment and unrecorded detention were dismissed as unfounded: the applicant was in the police station before his official arrest and he stayed voluntarily there. On 14/09/2010 the Achkhoy-Martanovskiy District Court dismissed the complaint against the refusal of 11/06/2010 since it had already been quashed by that time. On 18/03/2011 the Urus-Martanovskiy District Court dismissed the complaint against the refusal of 16/08/2010 since the criminal case against the applicant was pending. On 04/05/2011 the decision was upheld on appeal. On 27/01/2011 the Achkhoy-Martanovskiy District Court convicted the applicant. On 23/03/2011 the Supreme Court of Chechnya upheld the conviction.

The applicant complained under Articles 3 and 13 of the Convention that he had been subjected to ill-treatment by State officials and that the State had failed to conduct an effective domestic investigation into those incidents. First refusal of 25/05/2005 (allegations of ill-treatment unfounded). On 14/04/2006 the trial court ordered an additional inquiry, which resulted in the refusal of 02/05/2006 (allegations of ill-treatment unsubstantiated). On 27/06/2006 the court again ordered an inquiry, which resulted in the refusal of 17/07/2006. On 29/01/2007 the Supreme Court of Chechnya acquitted the applicant on the grounds that his confession statements had been obtained under duress. On 13/09/2007 the Supreme Court of Russia quashed the acquittal and remitted the case for a new examination. It found the court’s finding regarding duress unsubstantiated, referring to the refusals to open a criminal case.

On 27 January 2017 at around 8 p.m. police officers arrested the applicant in his house and took him to police department no. 3 in Grozny. He was placed in a temporary detention facility (IVS). The officers put a bag over his head and beat him with a truncheon. They demanded him to confess to having intended to go to Syria in order to participate in illegal armed groups. In the police station the applicant met Mr T., Mr Ya. and Mr L., who were also beaten and forced to confess in similar intentions. The applicant’s ill-treatment lasted for five or six days. He was forced to do splits, beaten with rubber truncheons and metal bars. Officers insulted him, using foul language, made gunshots passing by the applicant.

The present case regards the deaths of the applicant’s brother and mother. On 17 November 2005 the applicant’s brother, Mr Zelimkhan Dashuyev, was abducted from his house in the Prigorodnoye village, in the Grozny district by a group of State servicemen in camouflage uniforms. The next day his body, bearing the traces of a violent death, was found in the vicinity of the Chechen-Aul village in the Grozny district. Even though, the criminal case was opened, it was suspended on several occasions and there was no progress in the investigation. On 14 October 2006 an unidentified person opened fire in the street, in the vicinity of the house of the applicant’s mother (Ms Ayupova). As a result, she received a gunshot wound to the chest and died instantly. The investigation was suspended on several occasions. The applicant complains under Article 2 of the Convention that her brother and then her mother had been killed by State agents in 2005 and 2006 respectively and that the authorities failed to carry out an effective investigation into the circumstances of their deaths.

The applicants complain under Article 8 of the Convention about the authorities’ failure to enforce the judgment of 9 February 2015 granting the first applicant a residence order in respect of the second applicant. They further complain under Article 13 of the Convention about the absence of an effective domestic remedy against the alleged violation under Article 8.

On 5 April 2002 the applicant’s sister Ms K.G. went from Grozny to Gamurziyevo village in Ingushetia to visit her son in a hospital. She had been travelling by taxi with some other passengers. Around 10 a.m. at the outskirts of Sernovodsk village the taxi went under fire and due to multiple gunshot wounds the taxi driver and all of the passengers died. On 6 April 2002 the Achhoy-Martanovskiy Interdistrict Prosecutor’s Office opened criminal investigation of the event. Despite criticism from supervising prosecutors and the regional court regarding the negligent conduct of the investigation, basic investigative steps were never carried out, and the precise circumstances of death of the applicant's sister were never established.

Until 1999 Ayzat Bakayeva (the applicant) with her family resided in Grozny. After they had become aware that the new military operation to liquidate separatist Chechen government was initiated by the Russian authorities, they fled to Ingushetia. On 4 February 2001 the applicant returned to Grozny to visit her relatives. She discovered that her parents were missing and their house had been looted. Later she was informed that her father Mr B.A. was killed by a Russian sniper and her mother Ms. B.Z. shot and her body was burned by the Russian soldiers in Martan-Chu village. During the investigation the person who had committed this crime could not be indentified.

The applicants complained under Article 2 of the Convention that the State agents had been responsible for their relatives’ abduction and subsequent disappearance and that the authorities had failed to carry out an effective investigation into the matter. Under Article 3 of the Convention, the applicants complained that they had suffered mentally on account of their relatives’ disappearance and their inability to ascertain their faith as well as the authorities’ indifference to their complaints and requests for assistance in elucidating the circumstances of the incidents. Under Article 5 of the Convention, the applicants complained that their relatives’ unlawful detention violated that provision in its entirety and that, in violation of Article 13 of the Convention, they had no effective domestic remedies against the alleged violations of Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention.

On 7 December 2009 security forces and agents of the FSB carried out an operation in the Оrdjonikidzenskaya settlement in Ingushetia. Khasan Tsoroyev (the applicant) and his wife were apprehended and later relased. Khasan Tsoroeyv, against the advice of the local policemen present in the house, entered and saw the corps of his dead son in a bedroom. The applicant was informed that his son was requested to lift the seat of an unfolding couch for inspection, but he pulled an automatic gun from under the couch and shot at the agents of the FSB. He was immediately killed with three defensive shots to the head. The  body of the applicant’s son was taken to a morgue for forensic examination and returned two hours later. In the evening of the same day he was buried by the relatives. An investigation into his killing was initiated but it has not produced any results.

On 3 December 2004 the first applicant and his wife were away staying at their relatives’. Their three children – the second and third applicants and fourteen-year-old Saydan – remained at home. At about 8.30 p.m. the second applicant heard a helicopter approaching the village and then a bomb exploding in the vicinity of their house. The windows were blown out and the candles went out. The second applicant tried to calm down the third applicant and Saydan who were very frightened. He lit a candle and asked his brother and sister to lie down on the floor. He then ran out to open the door of the cowshed. Immediately after the second applicant returned to the house he heard the helicopter approaching again and a new explosion followed. He lost consciousness. When he regained consciousness his head ached, he was blinded and blood covered his face. He heard the third applicant screaming. He found her by the sound of her voice, pulled her out from the debris and carried her outside. He then returned to the house in search of Saydan. He found his body lying on the floor and carried it outside. The neighbours came to help them. One of them brought the second and third applicants to the doctor at the neighbouring village. They were transported to a hospital in Gudermes and then in Grozny. The third applicant was diagnosed with an open craniocerebral injury, brain contusion, a penetrating head trauma and a trauma of the left eye. She followed a lengthy treatment. In January 2006 she had an ocular prosthesis fitted. The second applicant also had an eye trauma and had to follow lengthy treatment. He is now blind in left eye. The applicants’ house completely burned down.

In the evening on 31/10/2011 Ms Mezhidova, having returned home from work, received several phone calls. She left her mobile telephone home and gone out to meet someone late in the evening. According to the applicant, her daughter left the house to meet a police officer Mr I.M. from the Shali district police station and gone missing since. According to the witness statements obtained by the investigation, since 2009 Ms Mezhidova had a romantic relationship with Mr I.M. which they kept secret as the officer was afraid of retaliation from her male relatives. On 06/12/2011 the profile of Ms Mezhidova on social network “Odnoklassniki” was accessed and posts were made. According to the applicant, third parties have accessed her missing daughter’s profile.

The applicant complains under Article 2 of the Convention that his pregnant wife, Ms Saniyat Magomedova, was killed during the special operation carried out in their house on 3 November 2006 because of a disproportionate use of lethal force by the police officers involved. He further alleged that the authorities had failed to conduct an effective investigation into the killing. The applicant also complains, under Article 2 of the Convention, that he was seriously wounded during that special operation as a result of a disproportionate use of lethal force by the police officers and that the authorities had failed to conduct an effective investigation into the matter.

A perimeter set up around a residential quarter in the settlement of Ordzhenikidzevskaya. Passport spot check carried out by armed persons in camouflage uniforms without insignia who drove around in two Gazel-model minibuses. One of the buses had registration number containing digits 904 or 906 and the region indication 06.

On 23 August 2011, two men, Mr Ugurchiyev and Mr Bersanov, were abducted in front of their house by a group of about ten armed men in black and camouflage uniforms and balaclavas who drove a white GAZEL-model minibus with tinted windows and a silver Lada-Priora model car. The applicants complained under Article 2  that the State agents had been responsible for the men's abduction and subsequent disappearance and that the authorities had failed to carry out an effective investigation into the matter. They additionally alleged the violation of Article 3, as their relatives' disappearance led to a mental suffering of the applicants. Under Article 5 of the Convention, they complained that their sons' unlawful detention violated that provision in its entirety and that, in violation of Article 13 of the Convention, they had no effective domestic remedies against the alleged violations of Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention.

On 29/09/2000 Mr Kazbek Machigov, was arrestedon his way to the market by three officers: Mr A.S., Mr A.G. and Mr V.S. on suspicion of alleged drug use and taken in their UAZ vehicle to the Oktyabrskiy district police station in Grozny. He has gone missing since.

On 6 January 2005, the applicant's wife, Ms Serizha Dzhalilova, was arrested at the checkpoint during her shopping trip to Azerbaijan and taken to the headquarters of the Federal Security Service in Khankala on the following day. Subsequently, the FSB office in Khankala was closed in July 2005. All the documents were destroyed, the FSB officers who arrested the applicant’s wife never subjected to identification parade. The woman has been missing since. The applicant complained under Article 2  that the State agents had been responsible for his wife's abduction and subsequent disappearance and that the authorities had failed to carry out an effective investigation into the matter. He additionally alleged the violation of Article 3, as his wife's disappearance led to a mental suffering of the applicant. Under Article 5 of the Convention, he complained that Ms' Dzhalilova's unlawful detention violated that provision in its entirety and that, in violation of Article 13 of the Convention, he had no effective domestic remedies against the alleged violations of Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention.

On 12 April 2002, four men were taken away during a “mopping-up” operation conducted in the Alleroy settlement. More than 4 officers participated in the abduction. They were in military uniform and conducted an identity check: searched the house premises and questioned local residents. The four men have been missing since.  The applicants complained under Article 2  that the State agents had been responsible for their relatives' abduction and subsequent disappearance and that the authorities had failed to carry out an effective investigation into the matter. They additionally alleged the violation of Article 3, as the men's disappearance led to a mental suffering of the applicants. Under Article 5 of the Convention, they complained that their relatives' unlawful detention violated that provision in its entirety and that, in violation of Article 13 of the Convention, they had no effective domestic remedies against the alleged violations of Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention.

Adam Patsuyev, Ibragim Idigov and Salam Kerimov are cousins. On 21/08/2003 they went to the Sunzhenskiy district hospital where Ibragim Idigov was to have a wound bandaged. At about 2 p.m. two GAZEL-model minivans arrived at the hospital. A group of about 15 to 20 armed men in camouflage uniforms and balaclavas yelled to those present to get on the ground. They kept shooting in the air and running around, looking for someone. Six of the armed men ran into the surgery unit where they beat Mr R.S. who was undergoing wound dressing unconscious and Lom-Ali SHAIPOV who was there with him, breaking Mr Shaipov’s arm. Then they forced Mr R.S. and Mr SHAIPOV into one of their vehicles. Meanwhile, Mr. Idigov tried to escape and was shot in the shoulder. Mr Patsyev and Mr Kerimov wanted to help him, but were beaten by the armed men. Then all three of them were forced into the car and drove in an uknown direction. On the way from the hospital, the abductors drove next to the local police car who had been summoned by the hospital’s security. The policemen did not take any steps to stop the abductors. The applicants complained under Article 2  that the State agents had been responsible for their relatives' abduction and subsequent disappearance and that the authorities had failed to carry out an effective investigation into the matter. They additionally alleged the violation of Article 3, as the men's disappearance led to a mental suffering of the applicants. Under Article 5 of the Convention, they complained that their relatives' unlawful detention violated that provision in its entirety and that, in violation of Article 13 of the Convention, they had no effective domestic remedies against the alleged violations of Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention.

In 2004 Mr Salikh Saidov, the applicant's son, moved from Makhachkala (Daghestan) to Moscow. In July 2005 three friends of Mr Saidov from Dagestan informed the applicant that they had been arrested with her son in Moscow. They were released, whereas Mr. Saidov was not. The applicant then found out that upon the request of investigator E.A. from the Dagestan Prosecutor’s office, on 17 July 2005 Mr Salikh had been arrested by the police in Moscow and taken for questioning to Makhachkala. According to the applicant, in Makhachkala her son was taken to the 6th Department of Ministry of the Interior (the Organised Crime Unit) for 3 days and then transferred to ORB-2 (police operational –search bureau no. 2) in Grozny, Chechnya. Since his detention on 17 July 2005 Mr Saidov has gone missing. The applicant complained under Article 2  that the State agents had been responsible for her son's abduction and subsequent disappearance and that the authorities had failed to carry out an effective investigation into the matter. She additionally alleged the violation of Article 3, as her son's disappearance led to a mental suffering of the applicant. Under Article 5 of the Convention, she complained that her son's unlawful detention violated that provision in its entirety and that, in violation of Article 13 of the Convention, she had no effective domestic remedies against the alleged violations of Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention.

Mr M. Magomadov, the applicant's spouse, went outside his home after somebody knocked on the gate. When his brother looked outside, he only saw a white Lada-Priora model car driving off. Mr. Magomadov has been missing since. The applicant complained under Article 2  that the State agents had been responsible for her husband's abduction and subsequent disappearance and that the authorities had failed to carry out an effective investigation into the matter. She additionally alleged the violation of Article 3, as the men's disappearance led to a mental suffering of the applicant. Under Article 5 of the Convention, she complained that her husband's unlawful detention violated that provision in its entirety and that, in violation of Article 13 of the Convention, she had no effective domestic remedies against the alleged violations of Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention.

On 23 December 2006 Mr Lema Zaurayev was stopped at the market in Grozny, in his VAZ-2107 car with registration numbers V075UN 95 (“В075УН 95”), and taken away by servicemen in an APC. On 9 January 2007 the Leninskiy district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 10000. The investigation is currently pending.

On 29 May 2003 a group of armed servicemen arrested the first applicant in his house in Shalazhi, took him to unknown premises where he was detained and tortured for eleven days. On the same date, 29 May 2003, the same servicemen detained Mr Lechi Tasuyev on a street in Shalazhi, took him away in an UAZ vehicle and seized his car. On 2 June 2003 the Urus-Martan district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 34063. The investigation is still pending.

On 14 August 2002 in the course of “sweeping-up” operation in Agishty village servicemen of the 45th regiment took Mr Idris Novrzukayev, Mr Abdul-Vab Dilayev and Mr German Abuyev away. On 21 November 2002 the Shali district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 59260. The investigation is currently pending.

On 6 July 2006 a group of thirty armed servicemen in camouflage uniforms and balaclavas arrived at the applicant’s house in armoured UAZ vehicles, GAZEL minivans and the APCs. They beat Mr Sukhrap Makhаuri unconscious and then took him away. On 21 August 2006 the Sunzhenskiy district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 06600061. The investigation is currently pending.

On 11 January 2002 several armed men in camouflage uniforms and balaclavas arrived at the applicant’s house in Gudermes in a green UAZ minivan (“tabletka”) and a white VAZ-2106 and took Mr Ali Timerbulatov away. On 29 January 2002 several armed servicemen in balacl vas broke into the flat of Mr Saidal-Khadzhi Magomedov and Ms Sovdat Timerbulatova and took them both away in a white UAZ minivan. On 25 January 2002 and on 1 February 2002 the Gudermes District Prosecutor’s Office opened the criminal cases no.57005 into the abduction of Mr Ali Timerbulatov, and no.57006 into the abduction of Mr Saidal-Khadzhi Magomedov and Ms Sovdat Timerbulatova.The investigation is currently pending.

On 24 June 2011 in Gudermes several armed officers from the Security Service of the Chechen President arrested Mr Khalid Dushayev and his friend Mr A. A. and took them to the Tsentaroy ROVD. On 10 January 2012 the body of Mr Khalid Dushayev was found in the Grozny morgue with traces of torture. On 19 July 2011 the Gudermes district investigations committee opened criminal case no. 53050. The investigation is currently pending.

On 5 December 2014 the five men (the sons of the four applicants) were taken by the police to the Naurskiy ROVD. According to the applicants, it was done within the campaign of reprisals for the armed attack on State bodies in Grozny on 3-4 December 2014. That campaign included burning of houses of family members of persons suspected of involvement in illegal armed groups, their arrests and detentions. It was told that the men had been released on 6 December 2014, bud they have gone missing since. The applicants complained under Article 2  that the State agents had been responsible for their sons' abduction and subsequent disappearance and that the authorities had failed to carry out an effective investigation into the matter. They additionally alleged the violation of Article 3, as the men's disappearance led to a mental suffering of the applicants. Under Article 5 of the Convention, they complained that their sons' unlawful detention violated that provision in its entirety and that, in violation of Article 13 of the Convention, they had no effective domestic remedies against the alleged violations of Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention.

On 5 December 2014 a police officer arrived at one of the applicants’ houses and took Mr B.A. and Mr K. K. to the same police station to clarify some information. At about midnight of the same day the father of Mr. A. telephoned that police officer. The officer told him that his son and Mr K. would be released soon. However, the applicants’ sons did not return home. On 5 January 2015 the applicants were taken to the ROVD where they were informed them that both men had been released from on 6 December 2014 and that their whereabouts after that date were unknown. The applicants complained under Article 2  that the State agents had been responsible for the men's abduction and subsequent disappearance and that the authorities had failed to carry out an effective investigation into the matter. They additionally alleged the violation of Article 3, as the men's disappearance led to a mental suffering of the applicants. Under Article 5 of the Convention, they complained that their sons' unlawful detention violated that provision in its entirety and that, in violation of Article 13 of the Convention, they had no effective domestic remedies against the alleged violations of Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention.

On 6 June 2007 about seven-eight armed servicemen in camouflage uniforms in GAZEL minivan with registration number A783AP 95 and VAZ-2110 broke to the applicant’s house and took away Mr Arsen Izhayev to an unknown location. The applicant’s neighbour Mr A. Dzh. was also taken away but released next day. On 18 June 2007 the Leninskiy district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 10067. The investigation is currently pending.

On 25 April 2007 Mr Ramaz Dibirov disappeared in Makhachkala on the way home from a cafe. On 14 May 2007 the Leninskiy district prosecutor’s office in Makhachkala opened criminal case no. 701605. The investigation is currently pending.

On 26 April 2007 Mr Isa Isayev left his home in Makhachkala, Dagestan, and did not return. On 29 May 2007 the Sovetskiy district prosecutor’s office in Makhachkala opened criminal case no. 702839 (in the documents submitted the number was also referred to as 702819). The investigation is still pending.

On 1 October 2009 about twenty armed servicemen forced their way into the applicant’s house in A.Sheripova village and took Mr Suleyman Ilyasov away. On 9 November 2009 the Grozny inter-district investigation department of the Chechnya Investigations Committee opened criminal case no. 81010. The investigation is still pending.

At the material time, Mr Bisultanov was a resident of Grozny. However, on account of the ongoing military operation in the Chechen Republic, he and his family moved to the neighbouring Stavropol Region, where they settled temporarily in the village of Nadezhda, in the Shpakovskiy district, situated about eleven kilometres from the city of Stavropol. At about 7.30 a.m. on 21 May 2004 (the date was also referred to as 22 May 2004 in the documents submitted), Mr Bisultanov, his wife Ms P.S. and their daughter, the second applicant, were at home when a group of about twenty armed military servicemen in camouflage uniforms arrived at their house at 15 Ponizovskaya Street (also spelled as Ponizovskogo and Ponazovskaya Street in the case file) in Nadezhda. The servicemen were in a PAZ bus and a Niva car without registration numbers. They were wearing balaclavas and military helmets. Having broken into the house, they conducted an unauthorised search of the premises and then forced Mr Bisultanov outside. Meanwhile, Ms P.S. asked one of the servicemen where her husband was being taken. The servicemen replied that, she would be able to find her husband at the Shpakovskiy district department of the interior (Отдел внутренних дел Шпаковского района Ставропольского края) as soon as certain questions had been clarified. Thereafter, the servicemen put Mr Bisultanov into the PAZ bus and drove off to an unidentified destination. The whereabouts of Mr Bisultanov have remained unknown since then.

At about 10 p.m. on 5 August 2008 a group of armed servicemen in civilian clothes arrived at the applicants’ house at 1 Tsvetochnaya Street in Mesker-Yurt, Chechnya in three vehicles: a white VAZ 2107 car with the registration numbers containing the digits 327 07 RUS; a VAZ 2112; and an UAZ jeep (the Hunter model) without registration numbers. The servicemen entered the courtyard of the applicants’ house, apprehended Mr Gadayev (a former member of illegal armed groups), forced him into the VAZ 2107 car and drove off in the direction of the Shali-Argun motorway. The first applicant saw the servicemen taking his son away and tried to intervene; however, one of the perpetrators threatened him with firearms and fired several warning shots into the ground. According to the applicants, shortly after the abduction the white VAZ 2107 car was seen parked on the premises of the Argun department of the interior (Аргунский отдел внутренних дел) (hereinafter “the OVD”). The car allegedly belonged to Mr Su.I., who was also abducted on 5 August 2008 by a group of armed servicemen in camouflage uniforms. According to the applicants’ version of the event, the servicemen seized Mr Su.I.’s VAZ 2107 car, changed its registration plate and drove to Mesker-Yurt, where they carried out the abduction of Mr Gadayev. The whereabouts of Mr Gadayev have remained unknown ever since.

In 2001, as a part of the military counter-terrorist operation, the Russian military forces opened shelling of the village of Gezenchu, as a result of which the applicant’s wife, Malika Vanayeva died. The applicant’s brother, Shamkhan Banzhayev, at the time was the head of the village administration. He lodged an official complaint about the incidence, where he argued that, since the village consisted of only seven families, the federal forces could readily have ascertained that, due to its size, the village would have been unable to harbour illegal armed groups without the authorities’ knowledge. He added, that the day prior to the shelling, he and a number of other representatives of the local community had gone to the military base in Engenoy and spoken with them in an effort to prevent any bombing. The military officers had promised to keep in mind their request. No criminal case on matter was opened. On 15 November 2002 Mr Shamkhan Banzhayev was abducted, allegedly by military servicemen who wanted to stop him from pushing the authorities to investigate the shelling. After his abduction the applicant’s brother had remained missing. The applicant complains under Article 2 of the Convention that his wife’s and his brother’s right to life was violated and that the authorities failed to effectively investigate the incidents.

On 29 December 2001 the applicant’s son was drafted for military service. From 10 July 2002 he served in military unit no. 44822, based in the village of Borzoy, the Chechen Republic.  On 8 August 2002 the military unit informed the competent military prosecutor’s office that the applicant’s son had been found dead on its premises.

On the morning of 10 July 2012 Mr Badurgov left his home in Grozny for a 10.30 a.m. job interview at the Tyan Shin company, located in the Zavodskoy district of Grozny. After the interview, shortly after he had left the company premises, two men in camouflage uniforms were seen in the vicinity asking questions about his whereabouts. Later in the morning, between 11 a.m. and 12 noon, Khusein Badurgov was allegedly seen near the Berkat marketplace in Grozny and then, about two hours later, next to a restaurant on the corner of Mayakovskogo and Zavety Ilyicha Streets. On that corner were located CCTV cameras. At some point after the job interview, Khuseyn Badurgov telephoned his sister. According to her, as they had been speaking, someone had greeted Mr Badurgov and then the connection had been cut off. The signal of Khusein Badurgov’s mobile phone was registered later in the afternoon as emanating from the village of Nesterovskaya, Ingushetia – about 9 kilometres from Ordzhonikidzevskaya, Ingushetia and 65 kilometres from Grozny, Chechnya. That day Mr Badurgov did not return home; since then he has been missing.

The applicant and her son Adam Khayrulayev resided together in Komsomolskoye (in the documents submitted also referred to as Komsomolskaya), a village in the Kizilyurt district of Dagestan. On several occasions prior to 2012 Adam Khayrulayev was detained on suspicion of terrorist-related activities and the police searched his house. On or around 1 August 2012 a local police officer was murdered. According to the applicant, the police suspected Adam Khayrulayev of involvement in the crime. At about 2.30 a.m. on 4 August 2012 Adam Khayrulayev and four other men (among them Mr Kurban I.) were sitting on a bench in front of 31 Kavkazskaya Street in Komsomolskoye, where Mr Kurban I. resided. The men were talking after the night prayer at the local mosque, when a group of seven to nine armed men in balaclavas, camouflage uniforms and military outfits, pulled over in two cars – a silver VAZ-217030 (Lada Priora model) and a black VAZ-21114) with tinted windows and without registration numbers. Making threatening gestures with their firearms, they forced everyone to the ground and then put the applicant’s son in one of their vehicles and drove off. The incident lasted for several minutes and was witnessed by several people.

On 24 September 2001 a group of armed servicemen arrived at the applicants’ house in two APCs and took Mr Alikhan Kudusov away.
On 6 February 2004 the Argun town prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 48003 (in the documents submitted the number was also referred to as 37062 and 59185). The investigation is still pending.

On 5 October 2001 Magomed Dzhambekov’s white VAZ 2106 car with registration numbers K674XT95 was stopped at a checkpoint in Roshni-Chu for an identity check. The servicemen beat Magomed Dzhambekov, forced him into the boot of his VAZ 2106 car and drove away in the direction of the centre of Urus-Martan. On 3 November 2002 the Urus-Martan town prosecutor’s office opened criminal case number 61153. The investigation is still pending.

On 30 July 2002 a group of armed servicemen abducted Mr Ruslan Ismailov from a car repair garage in the centre of Grozny. On 8 August 2002 the Grozny town prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 50121. The investigation is still pending.

On 5 February 2000 Mr Zelimkhan Dzhamaldayev and his neighbour Mr R. were taken away by servicemen from the special police task force unit (“OMON”) from Saint Petersburg. On 12 November 2000 the Grozny prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 12255. The investigation is currently pending

On 25 August 2009 Mr Magomed Kabilov disappeared after having got into a grey VAZ-2110 car. On 14 September 2009 the Zavodskoy district investigative committee opened criminal case no. 67057 under Article 105 of the Criminal Code (murder). The investigation is currently pending.

On 8 August 2007 Mr Ibragim Gazdiyev’s car was stopped in Karabulak by five or six armed men in camouflage uniforms, balaclavas and khaki helmets. Mr Ibragim Gazdiyev has not been seen since. On 10 August 2007 the Karabulak prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 27520024. The investigation is currently pending.

On 2 June 2000 Mr Akhyad Gerimov was stopped on the way to his work at a military checkpoint in the Zavodskoy district of Grozny. The servicemen put him in an APC and took him away to an unknown destination. On an unspecified date in August 2000 the Grozny prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 12073. The investigation is still pending.

On 12 September 2000 (in the documents submitted the date was also referred to as 15 September 2000) a group of about twenty armed servicemen arrived at the applicants’ house in two APCs and a VAZ vehicle and took Mr Lema Chapanov and Mr Aslan Chapanov away. On 15 February 2001 the Urus-Martan district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 25025. The investigation is still pending.

On 23 May 2001 a group of armed servicemen arrested Mr Uvays Shaipov at the checkpoint next to the Kirov-Yurt settlement in the Chechen Republic and took him away in an APC. On 18 July 2001 the Vedeno district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 73059. The investigation is still pending.
On 31 March 2002 a group of armed servicemen arrived at the applicants’ block of flats in a URAL and UAZ-452 vehicles and took Mr Alvi Dzhankhotov away. On 31 July 2002 the Shali district prosecutors’ office opened criminal case no. 59174. The investigation is still pending.

The circumstances of the events are similar to those described in Vasilkova v. Russia, no. 16319/10 (see above). On 17 November 2000 the Grozny prosecutor’s office opened criminal cases no. 12284. The investigation is still pending.

On 15 February 2005 Mr Saitaksi Umarov went to work in Duba-Yurt, Chechnya, and never returned home. On 9 November 2005 the Shali district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 46151. The investigation is still pending.

On 2 March 2011 Mr Said Sigauri left his home in Grozny and did not return. Later on the same date, he was seen detained by the police in the course of a special operation in Grozny. On 24 June 2011 the Achkhoy-Martan investigative department of the Chechnya Investigations Committee opened criminal case no. 67002. The investigation is still pending.

On 7 July 2009 Mr Khamzat Dzeytov was allegedly abducted by State agents on his way to work. On 7 October 2009 the Achkhoy-Martan district investigative committee opened criminal case no. 85012. The investigation is currently pending.

At about 11.20 p.m. on 15 December 2009 the applicant’s son Georgiy Nakani went to see his cousin, Ms B., who lived about a hundred metres from his home. Some ten minutes later, Ms B. called the applicant and asked her if Georgiy had got back home. She also said that a neighbour had heard a gunshot and seen a man being forced into a silver VAZ car. That car together with a black Priora car, both without registration plates, had driven away at high speed.

On the night of 24 to 25 December 2009 a group of about eight armed men broke into the applicant’s house in Gubden, Dagestan, and took Mr Magomed Rashidov away. On 1 January 2010 the Kaspiyskiy inter-district investigation department of the Dagestan Investigations Committee opened criminal case no. 0295. The investigation is still pending.

On 12 December 2003 six armed servicemen in balaclavas in UAZ vehicle arrived at Mr Umar Dzhabrailov’s house and took him away to an unknown location. On 15 December 2003 the Achkhoy-Martan district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 44091. The investigation is currently pending.

On 23 May 2002 about thirty armed servicemen in camouflage uniforms arrived at the applicants’ house in Zakan-Yurt and took Mr Yusup Khamzatov away. On 25 May 2002 the Achkhoy-Martan district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 63036 into Yusup Khamzatov’s abduction. The investigation is still pending.

On 21 May 2002, while he was on the way home from his neighbour’s house in Grozny, a group of armed servicemen hit Mr Islam Gelayev in the head with a rifle butt and took him away in an UAZ car. On 3 November 2002 the Urus-Martan town prosecutor’s office opened criminal case number 61153. The investigation is still pending.

On 31 March 2002 a group of armed servicemen arrived at the applicants’ block of flats in two APCs, two UAZ (“таблетка”) and URAL vehicles and took Mr Ibragim Asabayev and Mr Alkhazur Asabayev away. On 15 July 2002 (in the documents submitted the date was also referred to as 16 September 2002) the Shali district prosecutors’ office opened criminal case no. 59153. The investigation is still pending.

On 1 March 2002 a group of armed servicemen detained Mr Gilani Asukhanov at checkpoint no. 207 at the exit from Urus-Martan and took him away in a VAZ-2106 vehicle. On 4 March 2002 the Urus-Martan district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 61054. The investigation is still pending.

On 21 May 2004 a group of armed servicemen arrived at Mr Aslan Shabazov’s acquaintance’s house in two Gazel, one UAZ, three UAZ (“таблетка”) and VAZ-21099 vehicles. Having broken into the house, they took Mr Aslan Shabazov away in a helicopter. On 9 November 2004 the Sunzhenskiy district prosecutors’ office in the Republic of Ingushetia opened criminal case no. 04600072. The investigation is still pending.

On 27 July 2003 a group of armed servicemen arrived at the applicants’ village in an APC and two UAZ (“таблетка”) vehicles. Having broken into the applicants’ house, they took Mr Abdul-Mezhid Israilov away. On 10 September 2003 the Urus Martan district prosecutors’ office opened criminal case no. 34092. The investigation is still pending.

At about 8 p.m. on 27 September 2004 a group of about ten armed servicemen in camouflage uniforms arrived at Mr Taysumov’s house at 23 Arsanova Street in Novyye Atagi, Chechnya, in a KAVS bus with registration numbers containing the digits 448 95. The servicemen were of Slavic appearance and spoke unaccented Russian. They checked Mr Taysumov’s passport, then forced him into the bus and drove off in the direction of Grozny. The whereabouts of Mr Taysumov have remained unknown ever since. His abduction took place in the presence of several witnesses, including his parents (Ms T.T. and Mr I.T.), his wife and neighbours.

At about 6 p.m. on 5 June 2004 Mr Taysumov was on a street in Vedeno, Chechnya, when armed servicemen in balaclavas arrested him, forced him into an UAZ minivan (tabletka) without registration numbers and drove off to an unknown destination. The whereabouts of Mr Taysumov have remained unknown ever since.

At about 4 a.m. on 6 October 2004 a group of about ten armed servicemen in camouflage uniforms arrived at the applicants’ house at 31 Lugovaya Street in Vedeno in an UAZ (tabletka) minivan and an UAZ car without registration numbers. The servicemen spoke unaccented Russian and were wearing balaclavas. They made a forced entry into the house, arrested Ms Bariyat Akhyadova and took her away in one of the vehicles to an unknown destination. At about 12 noon on 8 October 2004 presumably the same group of armed servicemen in camouflage uniforms and balaclavas again arrived at the applicants’ house. They searched for Ms Bariyat Akhyadova’s children (the sixth and seventh applicants) and left having not found them in the house. The whereabouts of Ms Bariyat Akhyadova have remained unknown since the date of her abduction. The abduction took place in the presence of the applicants.

On 6 July 2003 the applicant’s relatives, Mr Khizir Magomadov and Mr Muslim Abzailov, were stopped by military servicemen while driving from Shali to Noviye Agati and taken away in a Ural lorry. On 4 August 2003 the Shali prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 22122. The investigation is still pending.

On 7 July 2003 a large group of military servicemen broke into the applicants’ house in Belgatoy and took Rustam Alyiev away. On 2 August 2003 the Shali district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 22120. The investigation is still pending.

On 14 July 2003 a group of around ten armed servicemen arrived at the applicants’ house in two UAZ (“таблетка”) vehicles and took Mr Adam Novruzov away. On 23 July 2003 the Zavodskoy district prosecutors’ office in Grozny opened criminal case no. 30119. The investigation is still pending.

On 21 August 2003 a group of armed servicemen in masks and camouflage uniforms with armoured shields arrived at the hospital in Ordzhonikidzevskaya in Ingushetia. They beat up Mr Rasmbek Saydulayev and Mr Lom‑Ali Shoipov and took them away. On 21 August 2003 the Sunzhenskiy district prosecutor’s office in Ingushetia opened criminal case no. 23600052. The investigation is currently pending.

Isa Kukayev lived at 42 Gogolya Street in the Zavodskoy district of Grozny. At about 6 a.m. on 29 August 2003 unidentified men wearing masks and armed with automatic weapons burst into his house, apprehended him and took him to unknown direction. In the application of 4 April 2005 to the “Vozvraschenie” Foundation, a non-governmental organisation which at the material time was creating a database of missing persons in Chechnya, the applicant submitted that the abductors had been of Chechen ethnic origin and she believed they could have taken her son to Sovkhoz (State farm) no.15. The applicant has had no news of her son ever since.

On 30 December 2001 and 1 January 2002 a group of armed servicemen arrived at the applicants’ houses in a large number of military vehicles and took the applicants’ relatives away. On 7 February 2002 and 1 April 2002 the Argun inter-district prosecutor’s office opened criminal cases no. 75014, 75015 and 75031. The investigation is still pending.

On 16 July 2001 a group of armed servicemen in camouflage uniforms and masks broke into the applicants’ house in Selmentauzen and took Mr Ruslan Adamov and Mr Supyan Adamov away to an unknown destination. On 25 November 2001 the Vedenskiy district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 37062. The investigation is still pending.

On the night of 27-28 July 2002 Mr Dangiriyev and his family members were at home at 22 Nuradilova Street in Geldagan, Chechnya, when between midnight and 1 a.m. a group of about ten armed servicemen wearing camouflage uniforms and balaclavas broke into their house. The servicemen spoke unaccented Russian; one of them was not wearing a balaclava and had a Slavic appearance. The servicemen searched the premises, then forced Mr Dangiriyev outside and took him away to an unknown destination.
In June 2005 an unidentified person contacted the applicants’ relative, Mr S.D., and gave him a list of seven persons who had allegedly been abducted by federal forces and who were still alive but being held in detention in Grozny. Mr Dangiriyev’s name was on the list. The applicants submitted this information to the investigators (see below).
The whereabouts of Mr Dangiriyev have remained unknown since the date of his abduction. His abduction took place in the presence of members of his family.

At about 3.00 a.m. on 21 March 2002 a group of ten to fifteen armed servicemen in camouflage uniforms and balaclavas arrived at the applicants’ house at 18 Sportivnyy Lane in Achkhoy-Martan in an UAZ car and an UAZ minivan (tabletka). Having broken into the house, the servicemen checked Mr Ibragimov’s passport, then forced him outside, put him into the UAZ minivan and drove off in the direction of Katyr-Yurt. The whereabouts of Mr Ibragimov have remained unknown ever since. His abduction took place in the presence of the applicants and their neighbours.

At about 3 a.m. on 1 March 2003 a group of ten armed servicemen in camouflage uniforms arrived at the applicants’ house at 36 Chkalova Street in Katyr-Yurt, Chechnya, in two UAZ cars without registration numbers. The servicemen wore balaclavas and spoke unaccented Russian. They searched the premises, checked the identities of all those present in the house, then forced Mr Lom Israilov outside and took him away to an unknown destination.
The whereabouts of Mr Israilov have remained unknown ever since. His abduction took place in the presence of the applicants, other family members and neighbours.

The applicants complain under Article 2, 3 and 14 of the Convention of the Russian authorities’ failure to prevent and to carry out an effective investigation into Marem Yevloyeva’s presumed death and previous incidents of domestic violence. The first applicant Yelizaveta Aliyeva also complains under Articles 3 and 8 of the Convention of an ineffective investigation into her abduction.

On 23 April 2004 (in the documents submitted the date was also referred to as 23 March 2005) a group of men in camouflage uniforms seized Mr Isa Gaydakov on a street in Grozny and took him away. On 1 August 2005 the Leninskiy district prosecutor’s office in Grozny opened criminal case no. 40157 (in the documents submitted the number was also referred to as 44064). The investigation is still pending.

On 11 September 2002 a group of armed servicemen arrived at the applicant’s house in three APCs and three UAZ vehicles and took Mr Khamzat Larsanov away. On 26 September 2002 the Grozny town prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 48162. The investigation is still pending.

On 5 February 2003 a group of armed servicemen arrived at the applicants’ house in an UAZ minivan and a Gazel minivan and took Mr Magomed Azizov away. On 8 February 2003 the Shali district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 22026. The investigation is still pending.

On 10 August 2005 a group of armed servicemen in two UAZ vehicles arrested Mr Sayd-Eli Garbulatov in Grozny and took him away. On 8 May 2006 the Zavodskoy district prosecutor’s office in Grozny opened criminal case no. 51072. The investigation is still pending.

On 20 November 2000 a group of armed servicemen arrived at the applicants’ house in an APC and an Ural lorry and took Mr Musa Tashayev away. On 17 May 2001 the Urus-Martan district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 25052. The investigation is still pending.

On 4 June 2002 Mr Tapa Tagirov left his home in Yandare and disappeared. A few hours later his brother Mr Apti Tagirov left to search for him and also disappeared. On 7 June 2002 fifteen armed men in two white GAZelle minivans without registration numbers arrived at the applicants’ house with Mr Tapa Tagirov, searched the premises and left with Mr Tapa Tagirov. On 3 October 2004 the Nazran district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 045000023. The investigation is still pending.

On 29 April 2000 Mr Isa Tovdayev went to a rubbish dump in Petropavlovskaya, Chechnya, and never returned home. On 12 February 2001 the Chechnya prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 19016. The investigation is still pending.

On 12 May 2002 (in the documents submitted the date was also referred to as 17 May 2002) a group of men seized Mr Said-Magomed Abdulazimov in the centre of Chiri-Yurt, Chechnya, and took him away in a Gazel minivan. On 1 August 2002 the Shali district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 59177. The investigation is still pending.

On the morning of 29 December 2004 Mr Ibragim Altyyev, who was a taxi driver in Grozny at the material time, left his home and went to work. He did not return. On the following day, two unidentified men contacted the applicant and gave her the passport of Mr Ibragim Altyyev and some documents from his car. On the same date the car was found abandoned on a street in the Zavodskoy district of Grozny. According to the applicant, she learned from an eyewitness, Mr R.B., that Mr Ibragim Altyyev had been abducted by a group of armed men in camouflage uniforms who had been in a Gazel minivan and a VAZ-21099 car. The men had stopped Mr Ibragim Altyyev’s car on a street in Grozny, apprehended him and driven off. Mr R.B. was subsequently questioned by the investigators. The whereabouts of Mr Ibragim Altyyev have remained unknown ever since.

On 14 July 2000 (in the documents submitted the date was also referred to as 15 July 2000) Mr Ibragim Nurkayev left his home in Grozny and never returned. On 4 September 2006 the Staropromyslovskiy district prosecutor’s office in Grozny opened criminal case no. 53121. The investigation is still pending.

On 8 January 2002 Mr Khamzat Beldurov left his home in Sernovodskaya, Chechnya, and did not come back. On 14 November 2002 the Sunzhenskiy district department of the interior in Chechnya opened search file no. 23005. On 26 December 2005 the Achkhoy-Martan inter-district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 59023. The investigation is still pending.

On 28 November 2002 a group of armed servicemen arrived at the applicant’s house and took Mr Akhmed Abdulkerimov and Mr Abu-Shakhid Abdulkerimov away. On 6 December 2002 the Vedeno district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 73124. The investigation is still pending.

On 8 August 2002 a group of armed servicemen in an APC and an UAZ (“tabletka”) minivan apprehended Mr Makhran Tayubov on the Rostov-Baku motorway next to Gudermes and took him away. On 9 August 2002 the Gudermes district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 57063. The investigation is still pending.

The circumstances of the abduction are similar to those described above in Makayeva v. Russia (no. 56577/11). On 18 February 2003 the Urus‑Martan prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 34024. The investigation is currently pending.

On 23 May 2005 Mr Alash Elmurzayev was taken by servicemen to the Vostok battalion’s headquarters in Gudermes. His whereabouts have remained unknown ever since. On 4 July 2008 the Gudermes inter-district investigative department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation opened criminal case no. 44028. The investigation is still pending.

At about 3 a.m. on 25 January 2003 a group of armed men in camouflage military uniforms and masks broke into the house at 16 Kluchevaya Street in Goy-Chu and took Mr Mokhadi Makayev and Mr Isa Dzhabrailov away to an unknown destination. On 20 March 2003 the Urus-Martan district prosecutors’ office opened criminal case no. 34031. The investigation is currently pending.

On 2 November 2002 Mr Alaudi Tutkhanov was abducted from his work in Achkhoy-Martan by servicemen in camouflage uniforms who drove in two UAZ vehicles. On 29 November 2002 the Achkhoy-Martan district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 63095. The investigation is currently pending.

On 5 October 2000 a group of about ten armed servicemen arrived at the applicants’ house in a military Ural lorry and a UAZ vehicle and took Mr Abdallakh Zanziyev away. On 31 October 2000 the Grozny city prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 12203. The investigation is still pending.

On 3 May 2000 a group of armed servicemen arrived at the applicant’s house in Avtury in two UAZ minivans (“tabletka”) without identification numbers, four APCs and a URAL lorry and took Mr Mukhadi Maltsagov away. On 25 December 2000 the Shali district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 22087. The investigation is currently pending.

At about 10 p.m. on 11 March 2004 Mr Rasukhan Yevloyev and Mr Ibragim Izmaylov were driving in their white VAZ 2107 car on the
motorway from the direction of the town of Malgobek towards the Volga-14 stationary traffic checkpoint located at the intersection of the
Malgobek-Mayskoye and Nazran-Kantyshevo motorways in Ingushetia (also known as the Kantyshevkiy intersection). When they reached the checkpoint, a dark-grey metallic (цвет «мокрый асфальт») VAZ 21099 car without registration numbers overtook them at high speed and blocked the road. At the same time a white Niva car without registration numbers approached them from behind and bumped into their car’s rear end. Ten armed men in camouflage uniforms and balaclavas jumped out of the two cars, surrounded Mr Rasukhan Yevloyev and Mr Ibragim Izmaylov and opened fire; the armed men then handcuffed them, forced them into their vehicles and drove off in the direction of Nazran.

On the evening of 11 March 2004 Mr Rashid Ozdoyev and Mr Tamerlan Tsechoyev were driving together from the town of Nazran to the town of Malgobek, Ingushetia in Mr Tamerlan Tsechoyev’s dark-green VAZ 21099 car. In the vicinity of the village of Verkhniye Achaluki, a white Niva car without registration plates collided with their car and blocked the road. A group of eight to ten armed men in camouflage uniforms got out of the Niva car and two more vehicles (a Gazel minivan and a silver VAZ 21099 car) that had pulled over nearby. The men opened fire, apprehended Mr Ozdoyev and Mr Tsechoyev, put them in the minivan and drove them away. Mr Rashid Ozdoyev’s car was also taken away.

The applicant complains under Article 3 of the Convention that he was subjected to ill-treatment by the police officers and that no effective investigation has been carried out in this respect.

On 7 September 2002 several armed servicemen in balaclavas broke into the applicant’s house and took Mr Khamit Dzhambulatov away in an APC. On 12 October 2002 the Grozny town prosecutor office opened criminal case no. 54087. The investigation is currently pending.

On 1 November 2003 a group of armed servicemen apprehended Mr Sharpudi Mukhtarov and Mr Zaurbek Umarov on the outskirts of the village of Nesterovskaya, Ingushetia, and took them away in UAZ and VAZ vehicles without registration numbers to an unknown destination. On 18 November 2003 the Sunzhenskiy district prosecutor’s office in Ingushetia opened criminal case no. 23600076. The investigation is still pending.

On 6 January 2005 (in the documents submitted the date was also referred to as 28 January 2005) the applicant and Mr Bekmagomed Daniyev were at home in their flat at 109 Shosseynaya Street in Argun when at about 6 a.m. a group of armed men in camouflage uniforms arrived at their block of flats in three cars, one of which was a white Gazel minivan. The men spoke Chechen and Russian; some of them were wearing balaclavas. They broke into the applicant’s flat, forced Mr Bekmagomed Daniyev outside, put him in one of their vehicles and drove off to an unknown destination. The white Gazel minivan was subsequently seen exiting from the premises of the office of the Argun military commander (комендатура г. Аргун). It is unclear whether the applicant provided this information to the investigators. The whereabouts of Mr Bekmagomed Daniyev have remained unknown ever since.

At about 12 noon (in the documents submitted the time of the event was also referred to as 2 p.m.) on 24 July 2005 Mr Magomed Mezhiyev, who was an officer of the Chechnya Ministry of the Interior at the material time, and his acquaintance, Mr A.M. (in the documents submitted also referred to as Mr A.Kh.), were on Pobedy Avenue in Grozny when a group of armed men in camouflage trousers and black T-shirts forced them out of their car. The men apprehended Mr Magomed Mezhiyev and loaded him into the trunk of a car which was parked nearby. Shortly afterwards several VAZ 2107 cars without registration numbers arrived on the scene. The men forced Mr A.M. into one of those cars and drove off in the direction of Minutka Square, Grozny. According to the applicants, several days after the abduction an unidentified armed man in a black uniform contacted them and offered a video recording depicting Mr Magomed Mezhiyev and Mr A.M. detained on the premises of the Grozny district department of the interior (Грозненский районный отдел внутренних дел (РОВД)) (hereinafter “the Grozny ROVD”) in exchange for money (1,000 United States dollars (USD)). The applicants paid the requested sum for the video recording and submitted it to the investigators (see below). The whereabouts of Mr Magomed Mezhiyev have remained unknown ever since.

At about 2.30 p.m. on 7 December 2004 Mr Usam Reshidov was at the intersection of Zavodskaya and A. Sheripova Streets in Argun, Chechnya, when a group of armed servicemen in military camouflage uniforms arrived in an armoured personnel carrier (APC), an UAZ car and a Niva car. The servicemen arrested Mr Usam Reshidov and took him away to an unknown destination. At about 7 p.m. on the same date presumably the same group of armed servicemen in military vehicles (among which were APCs an UAZ car and a Niva car) carried out a special operation in Sakhzavodskaya Street in Argun. The servicemen surrounded building no. 34 on that street, broke into flat no. 54 – where Mr Islam Reshidov was with his friends, Mr A.Kh. and Ms I.D. – arrested them and took them to the Argun military commander’s office. Ms I.D. was subsequently released and returned home. The whereabouts of the Reshidov brothers have remained unknown ever since.

On 25 November 2004 a group of armed servicemen in two UAZ (“tabletka”) minivans and three URAL lorries arrested Mr Alikhan Golbatsov on a street in Avtury and took him away. On 10 January 2005 the Shali district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 46002. The investigation is still pending.

The applicants are close relatives of of Ruslanbek Boltiyev  who was allegedly abducted in 2003 by servicemen from home in Chechnya. The event took place in the area under full control of the military forces. The applicants have had no news of their missing relative thereafter. The proceedings, after having been suspended and resumed on several occasions, have been pending for several years without attaining any tangible results. Referring to Article 2 of the Convention, the applicants complain of the violation of the right to life of their relative and submit that the circumstances of his abduction and ensuing disappearance indicate that he had been abducted by State agents. The applicants further complain that no effective investigation was carried out into the incident.

On 4 May 2003 (in the documents submitted the date was also referred to as 5 May 2003) a group of about thirty armed servicemen arrived at the applicants’ house in APCs and UAZ minivans and took Mr Lema Khamzatov away. On 15 May 2003 the Zavodskoy district prosecutor’s office in Grozny opened criminal case no. 30069. The investigation is still pending.

On 7 October 2003 a group of armed servicemen arrived at the applicant’s relatives’ house in Ingushetia in a military UAZ vehicle, a Niva car and a Gazel minivan and took Mr Ruslan Pareulidze away. On 20 October 2003 the Sunzhenskiy district prosecutor’s office in Ingushetia opened criminal case no. 23600067 (in the documents submitted the number was also referred to as 036600067). The investigation is still pending.

On 18 September 2002 seven to eight armed servicemen in camouflage uniforms broke into the applicants’ house and took Mr Said-Emin Magaziyev to the Samashki military commander’s office. A few hours later he was transferred from there to an unknown destination. On 28 September 2002 the Achkhoy-Martan district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 63072. The investigation is currently pending.

On 14 October 2004 a group of armed servicemen arrived at the applicant’s house in two APCs and two URAL vehicles and took Mr Aslan Abubakarov away. On 1 November 2004 the Achkhoy-Martan inter-district prosecutors’ office opened criminal case no. 38050. The investigation is still pending.

On 29 September 2004 Mr Arbi Isiyev was abducted from Gudermesskaya Street in Argun by several servicemen in camouflage uniforms and balaclavas. On 23 October 2004 the Argun town prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 48042. The investigation is currently pending.

On 12 May 2002 a group of eight to nine armed servicemen in camouflage uniforms and balaclavas took Mr Alvi Lorsnukayev from his brother’s flat in Grozny to an unknown destination. On 24 July 2002 the Grozny prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 48116. The investigation is currently pending.

On 17 July 2002 several armed servicemen in camouflage uniforms and balaclavas broke into the applicant’s house in Shali and took away Mr Khamzat Chapsurkayev. On 29 November 2002 the Shali district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 59267. The investigation is currently pending.

On 11 July 2002 federal servicemen conducted a special operation in Chechen Aul during which Mr Said-Magomed Vatsayev was shot and wounded by the servicemen on the bank of the Argun river and then taken away to an unknown destination. On 24 January 2006 the Grozny district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 54006 under Article 105 of the Criminal Code. The investigation is currently pending.

On 28 May 2000 Mr Shamil Amirkhadzhiyev was detained by servicemen at the checkpoint near the canning factory in Grozny, forced into the APC and driven away. On 29 July 2005 the Leninskiy district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 40147. The investigation is currently pending.

Rustam Khaybulayev was arrested on 20/07/2013 at the applicant’s apartment by police officers of the district department of the interior in Buynaksk (ОМВД по г. Буйнакск), taken to police department in Buynaksk (ГОВД г. Буйнакс), then to an undisclosed place. Arrest record drawn up on 21/07/2013 (at 10.00 a.m.). The applicant complains under Article 3 of the Convention that he was ill-treated by the law-enforcement officers and the inquiries into his allegations of ill-treatment were ineffective.

Temirkan Ashabokov and Artur Tanov were arrested on 13/02/2012 at 1.30 p.m. on the road between Nalchik and Baksan by officers of the anti-extremism centre (Центр “Э” ГУ МВД России по СКФО), taken to an undisclosed location. No information about arrest records. Temirkan Ashabokov was released. Artur Tanov was taken to IVS then SIZO on 15/02/2012. The applicants complain under Article 3 of the Convention that they were ill-treated by the law-enforcement officers and the inquiries into their allegations of ill-treatment were ineffective.

On 13 October 2001 a group of armed servicemen arrested Mr Ayub Bakhayev on a street in Argun and took him away. On 20 January 2002 the Argun inter-district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 78009. The investigation is still pending.

On 15 March 2006 a group of armed servicemen arrested Ms Tumisha Sadykova at a car wash station in Grozny and took her away in UAZ (“таблетка”) vehicle. On 30 September 2006 the Leninskiy district prosecutor’s office in Grozny opened criminal case no. 50176. The investigation is still pending.

On 5 April 2003 a group of armed servicemen arrested Mr Alikhan Mazhiyev in a forest next to Ulus-Kert, Chechnya, and took him away. On 29 July 2003 (in the documents submitted the date was also referred to as 26 July 2003) the Vedeno district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 24058. The investigation is still pending.

On 19 January 2000 a group of armed servicemen arrested Mr Said-Emin Ocherkhadzhiyev on a street in Grozny and took him away in an APC. On 19 June 2001 the Grozny town prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 17073. The investigation is still pending.

On 14 August 2002 a group of armed servicemen arrested Mr Sharudi Obrugov on a street in Argun and took him away to an unknown destination. On 1 October 2002 the Argun town prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 78094. The investigation is still pending.

On 20 December 2000 (in the documents submitted the date was also referred to as 20 February 2001) Mr Rizvan Bashayev left his sister’s home in Grozny and never returned. On 31 October 2005 the Zavodskoy district prosecutor’s office in Grozny opened criminal case no. 41209. The investigation is still pending.

On 9 December 2003 a group of armed servicemen arrested Mr Magomed Dadulagov at a market in Nazran, Ingushetia, and took him away in an UAZ (“таблетка”) vehicle without registration numbers. On 31 December 2003 the Nazran town prosecutor’s office in Ingushetia opened criminal case no. 03560091. The investigation is still pending.

On 27 January 2002 servicemen from the Shali temporary department of the interior arrested Mr Ibragim Idrisov in Shali and placed him in a temporary detention ward. His whereabouts remain unknown ever since. On 13 February 2002 the Shali district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 59053. The investigation is still pending.

On 29 September 2005 a group of armed servicemen arrived at a construction site in Nazran, Ingushetia, where Mr Ilez Khamkhoyev was working, and took him away to an unknown destination. On 9 October 2005 the Nazran town prosecutor’s office in Ingushetia opened criminal case no. 05560115. The investigation is still pending.

On 14 May 2002 a group of armed servicemen arrived at the applicants’ house in an APC and an armored infantry carrier and took Mr Khanpasha Kakhiyev away. On 28 September 2002 the Shali district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 59240. The investigation is still pending.

On 8 February 2002 a group of armed servicemen detained the applicants’ relatives at checkpoint no. 111 (also known as “Otvaga”) in Argun and took them away in a URAL lorry. On 18 February 2002 the Argun inter-district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 78021. The investigation is still pending.

On an unspecified date in the beginning of February (in certain documents submitted the date was referred to as 2 February 2000) a group of armed servicemen detained Mr Imran Inalkayev at the stationary checkpoint next to the junction of villages Valerik, Shalazhi and Gekhi and took him into the checkpoint building. On 28 August 2003 the Urus-Martan district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 34089. The investigation is still pending.

On 24 April 2001 a group of around one hundred armed servicemen arrived at the refugee camp where the applicants were residing in four APCs, four UAZ and UAZ (“таблетка”) vehicles and took Mr Arbi Umarov, Mr Aslanbek Umarov, Mr Andarbek Abubakarov and Mr Mayrbek Murtazaliyev away. On 12 July 2001 the Shali district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 2313. The investigation is still pending.

On 18 February 2001 a group of armed servicemen detained Mr Mayr-Ali Shavanov and Mr Lyoma Shavanov at the checkpoint in Prigorodnoye village, Chechnya, and took them away in an APC.  On 1 April 2001 the Grozny district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 19044. The investigation is still pending.

On 2 April 2001 (in certain documents of the case file the date of the events is also referred to as 2 August 2001) a group of armed servicemen arrived at the applicants’ house in two APCs and took Mr Sayd-Khuseyn Tembulatov away. On 13 April 2001 the Argun inter-district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 45038. The investigation is still pending.

On 15 March 2005 a group of men seized Mr Musa Bamatgiriyev on a street in Grozny and took him away in a Zhiguli car. On 9 August 2005 the Oktyabrskiy district prosecutor’s office in Grozny opened criminal case no. 42095. The investigation is still pending.

On 2 April 2005 a group of seven or eight armed men in camouflage uniforms broke into the applicant’s house in Gekhi and took away Mr Vakha Dadakhayev. On 7 April 2005 the Groznenskiy district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 44024 under Article 105 (murder) of the Criminal Code. The investigation is still pending.

On 17 January 2000 Mr Sergey Vasilkov was taken away from his house in Grozny by armed servicemen in camouflage uniforms driving URAL vehicles. On 15 April 2001 and 11 July 2001 the Grozny prosecutor’s office opened criminal cases nos. 13064 and 13103 into Mr Sergey Vasilkov’s abduction. The investigation is still pending.

On 7 April 2001 Mr Rumid Isayev was detained by servicemen at the checkpoint on the road between Kulary and Lermontovo villages in Chechnya. On 4 October 2003 a group of about twenty armed servicemen in camouflage uniforms arrived at the applicants’ houses in one UAZ and three VAS vehicles and took Mr Suliman Isayev and Mr Ramzan Isayev away. The investigation is still pending.

On 11 December 2000 a group of armed servicemen arrested Mr Aslanbek Chatuyev on a street in Zakan-Yurt and took him away in a military Kamaz vehicle. On 23 February 2001 the Achkhoy-Martan district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 27007. Subsequently, the case was transferred for investigation to the military prosecutor’s office and given the number 34/33/0210-01Д. The investigation is still pending.

On 4 September 2002 the applicants were at home at 20 Chapayeva Street in Gudermes when a group of about ten armed servicemen in camouflage uniforms broke into their house. The servicemen were in balaclavas, and some of them were wearing helmets. Speaking unaccented Russian, they forced all those present to the ground, tied their hands behind their backs, and searched the premises. They seized the applicants’ passports, the title documents to the house, and then took Mr Aslanbek Saydal-Aliyev to an unknown destination. The whereabouts of Mr Saydal-Aliyev have remained unknown ever since.

On 10 April 2003 Mr Ramzan Shakhgiriyev and his acquaintance, A.A., were in the courtyard of school no. 2 at 8a Titova Street in Argun when a group of armed servicemen in camouflage uniforms and balaclavas approached them. Speaking Chechen, the servicemen handcuffed A.A. and started pulling Mr Ramzan Shakhgiriyev towards a white VAZ-2106 car which was parked nearby. The car’s registration number contained the digits 640 95, and it had a label reading “Soni” on its rear window. Mr Ramzan Shakhgiriyev resisted, therefore the servicemen opened fire, forced him into the car, and drove off to an unknown location. The whereabouts of Mr Ramzan Shakhgiriyev have remained unknown ever since.

At about 2 a.m. on 1 August 2002 the applicants and Mr Magomed Salmaniyev were at home when a group of about thirty armed servicemen in camouflage uniforms arrived at their house in Bachi-Yurt in an armoured personnel carrier (an APC), a Ural lorry and a UAZ van. The servicemen, who spoke Russian without an accent, were equipped with portable radio sets, and some of them were wearing balaclavas. They broke into the house, forced all those present onto the floor, checked their passports, and thereafter took Mr Magomed Salmaniyev to the outskirts of the village, where he spent the night lying on the ground with two other abducted villagers, R.S. and A.D. At about 5 a.m. on the same date four VAZ‑2107 vans without registration numbers arrived. The servicemen loaded the three men into the back of the vans and drove off in the direction of Kurchaloy. Somewhere on the way R.S. and A.D. were released, and they returned home. The whereabouts of Mr Magomed Salmaniyev have remained unknown ever since.

At about 2 p.m. on 30 July 2002 Mr Aliyev was at the bus stop located at the intersection of Revolutsii Avenue and Chernyshevskogo Street in Grozny when a group of about twenty armed servicemen in military camouflage uniforms arrived in a Gazel minivan, a Barguzin vehicle and a Zhiguli car with registration numbers C 671 XH, 971, and X 194 XH respectively. The servicemen spoke unaccented Russian, and some of them were in balaclavas. They opened fire and shot Mr Aliyev in the leg, then arrested him, put him into one of the vehicles, and drove off to an unknown location. The whereabouts of Mr Aliyev have remained unknown ever since. His abduction took place in the presence of numerous witnesses – passers-by and customers at nearby cafés. According to the applicants, at least ten other Grozny residents were abducted at the same time and place under similar circumstances (see also Ozdamirova and Bakriyeva v. Russia no. 59117/11; Ismailovy v. Russia no. 2664/12; Magomadova v. Russia 67274/13; and Sambiyeva and Eskiyev v. Russia no. 49097/15).

In the morning of 30 July 2002 (in the documents submitted the time of the event was also indicated as noon) Mr Adam Eskiyev was heading to the central market in Grozny when a group of armed servicemen in military camouflage uniforms and balaclavas arrested him at the intersection of Revolutsii Avenue and Chernyshevskogo Street and took him away to an unknown location. The servicemen spoke unaccented Russian. They were in a Gazel minivan, a Barguzin vehicle and a Zhiguli car with registration numbers C 671 XH, 971, and X 194 XH respectively. The whereabouts of Mr Adam Eskiyev have remained unknown ever since. His abduction took place in the presence of numerous witnesses – passers-by and customers at nearby cafés. According to the applicants, at least nine other Grozny residents were abducted at the same time and place under similar circumstances (see also Ozdamirova and Bakriyeva v. Russia no. 59117/11; Ismailovy v. Russia no. 2664/12; Magomadova v. Russia 67274/13; and Aliyevy v. Russia no. 49112/15).

At the material time Mr Zayndi Sadulayev worked as an artillery attendant at the Russian military base in Khankala, Chechnya.
At about 4 p.m. on 24 January 2003 (in the documents submitted the date was also referred to as 23 and 21 January 2003) Mr Sadulayev and his colleagues Sh.I., S.M. and R.M. were passing through checkpoint no. 2 (КПП №2), located at the Khankala exit, when military servicemen manning the checkpoint stopped them for an identity check. Having checked Mr Zayndi Sadulayev’s passport, the servicemen arrested him and escorted him onto the premises of the checkpoint for further questioning. The whereabouts of Mr Zayndi Sadulayev have remained unknown ever since.

On 22 October 2000 Bekkhan Dzhanaliyev, together with his cousin, Mr M. D., was stopped in his VAZ 2199 car with the registration number “A186XA 05Rus in the vicinity of Mesker-Yurt by Russian servicemen in camouflage uniforms and taken away to an unknown destination. On 22 November 2000 the Shali district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 22069. The investigation is still pending.

On 6 February 2000 (in the documents submitted the date was also referred to as 5 February 2000 and 8 November 2000) a group of armed servicemen arrived at the applicants’ house in an APC and took Mr Bislan Dzhabrailov away. On 8 November 2000 the Achkhoy‑Martan district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 26053. The investigation is still pending.

On 3 March 2011, about ninety armed men driving APC, several minibuses, and cars circled the house at Nasyr-Kort, where family of Zarema Tazhieva (applicants) lived. The military searched the house looking for fugitive suspect, member of applicants’ family. After that two of the applicants were ordered to go to a minibus, where they were interrogated by men in civil close. The applicants were forced to admit that they had been in contact with the suspect and that he had provided them with money. When the applicants refused to sign the minutes of interrogation without reading, they were threatened that they could not leave the car alive. One of the applicants then signed the minutes. Later on the house of the applicants was blown up by the military and all their belongings disappeared. Also, two cars in the courtyards were damaged. Despite numerous complaints, the investigation has not been started.

On 1 April 2006 Mr Vakhid Magamedov went fishing with his fellow villagers, Mr Z., Mr D. and Mr Yu., near the village of Sary-Su in the Shelkovskiy district of Chechnya. The four men arrived at the fishing spot in the VAZ-2107 car of Mr Z. Three of them then went to the other side of the pond (in the documents submitted also referred to as a “lake”), while the applicant’s husband fished near the car. Mr Z., Mr D. and Mr Yu. fished about 40 to 60 metres from each other and about two hundred metres or so from Mr Magamedov. 7. At about 9 p.m. Mr Z., Mr D. and Mr Yu. heard gunfire coming from the direction of the car. They went in that direction and saw six or seven men in military camouflage uniforms next to their car and heard them speaking Russian. Those men had arrived in armoured personnel carriers (“APCs”) and were using flashlights. Mr Z., Mr D. and Mr Yu. hid in the bulrushes. Then they saw the servicemen trying to push the car into the pond and, when their attempt failed, set it on fire. Then the perpetrators noticed the three men hiding in the bulrushes and opened gunfire in their direction. Mr Z., Mr D. and Mr Yu. ran to the village of Sary-Su to warn the police. On the way they got lost in the dark and only arrived at the village at about 4 a.m. on 2 April 2006. They knocked at the door of the house of a local resident, Mr Kh.V., and told him about the incident. Mr Kh.V. took them by car to the local police station. Then Mr Z., Mr D. and Mr Yu. returned to the pond, accompanied by the police. They found Vakhid Magamedov’s burnt body in the car. At about the same time three cars and two APCs belonging to the federal military forces arrived at the scene. The servicemen told the police that they were carrying out a special operation in the area. Mr Yu. told to the policemen that he would be able to identify the servicemen who had killed Vakhid Magomedov.

The applicants are close relatives of of Islam Asukhanov  who was allegedly abducted in 2003 by servicemen from home in Chechnya. The event took place in the area under full control of the military forces. The applicants have had no news of their missing relative thereafter. The proceedings, after having been suspended and resumed on several occasions, have been pending for several years without attaining any tangible results. Referring to Article 2 of the Convention, the applicants complain of the violation of the right to life of their relative and submit that the circumstances of his abduction and ensuing disappearance indicate that he had been abducted by State agents. The applicants further complain that no effective investigation was carried out into the incident.

On 13 February 2003 a group of about forty armed servicemen arrived at Mr Zelimkhan Dutayev’s acquaintances’ block of flats in Grozny in two APCs and took Mr Zelimkhan Dutayev away. On 17 February 2003 the Grozny town prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 20039. The investigation is still pending.

On the night of 13-14 November 2002 a large group of about one hundred armed servicemen arrived at the applicant’s house and took Mr Lema Magomadov away. On 15 November 2002 the Grozny town prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 48212. The investigation is still pending.

The applicants are close relatives of of Vakhab Abubakarov  who was allegedly abducted in 2002 by servicemen from home in Chechnya. The event took place in the area under full control of the military forces. The applicants have had no news of their missing relative thereafter. The proceedings, after having been suspended and resumed on several occasions, have been pending for several years without attaining any tangible results. Referring to Article 2 of the Convention, the applicants complain of the violation of the right to life of their relative and submit that the circumstances of his abduction and ensuing disappearance indicate that he had been abducted by State agents. The applicants further complain that no effective investigation was carried out into the incident.

On 14 June 2003 twelve to fifteen armed servicemen in balaclavas and camouflage uniforms in white Niva car and in armoured UAZ vehicles without registration numbers arrived at the flat of Mr Alikhan Satuyev in Grozny and took him away to an unknown location. On 24 June 2003 the Zavodskoy district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 30097. The investigation is currently pending.

On 8 November 2006 a group of armed servicemen arrested Mr Rustam Gaysumov and Mr Khuseyn Elderkhanov on a street in Grozny and took them away. On 27 January 2007 the Zavodskoy district prosecutor’s office in Grozny opened criminal case no. 11006. The investigation is still pending.

On 15 March 2005 a group of armed servicemen arrested Mr Supyan Mukayev on a street in Shali and took him away. On 7 July 2005 the Shali district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 46073. The investigation is still pending.

On 20 June 2003 Mr Vakha Nauzov was stopped at checkpoint no. 75 near Druzhba village on the highway Rostov-Baku and taken away. On 31 November 2005 the Gudermes prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 45129. The investigation is currently pending.

On 4 January 2003 Mr Ismail Makhmudov was forced by ten armed servicemen in camouflage uniforms into grey UAZ minivan (“tabletka”), and taken away. On 21 January 2003 the Gudermes district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 32004. The investigation is currently pending.

On 30 January 2002 Mr Ismail Dashtayev was stopped on the highway at the entrance to Noviye Atagi by servicemen who had blocked the road in APCs. Then Mr Ismail Dashtayev was forced into a grey UAZ minivan without registration number and taken away. On 31 May 2002 the Shali district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no.59116. The investigation is currently pending.

Ruslan Yunusov killed on 4 January 2002, in Grozny. Criminal case no. 54001 (in the documents submitted also stated as no. 5 ПР-01) opened on 4 January 2002 by the Grozny prosecutor’s office. The proceedings are pending. The applicants complain under Article 2 of the Convention that Ruslan was killed by State agents and that the ensuing investigation was ineffective.

Dzhabrail Atabayev and Alkhazur Atabayev were killed on 26 January 2005 in Grozny. On 26 January 2005 the Staropromyslovskiy district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 43015. The proceedings are pending.

In the afternoon of 28 March 2004 Mr Demelkhanov was at the junction of P. Musorova Street and 8 Marta Street in Grozny, Chechnya, when a group of armed servicemen in camouflage uniforms arrived in armoured personnel carriers (APCs), arrested him and took him away to an unknown destination. The whereabouts of Mr Abdula Demelkhanov have remained unknown ever since.

On 16 March 2003 a group of armed servicemen detained Mr Rizvan Isayev and Mr Anzor Isayev at checkpoint “Kavkaz” located at the administrative border between the Chechen Republic and the Republic of Ingushetia and took them away in a UAZ vehicle. On 12 June 2003 the Achkhoy-Martan inter-district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 44046. Subsequently, the case was given the number 04600053. The investigation is still pending.

On 2 October 2004 a group of armed servicemen arrested Mr Mayr-Khadzhi Gerikhanov on a motorway between Noviye Atagi and Shali, Chechnya, and took him away in an UAZ (“таблетка”) vehicle. On 24 December 2004 the Shai district prosecutor’s office in Chechnya opened criminal case no. 36149. The investigation is still pending.

On 30 July 2002 a group of armed servicemen arrested Mr Umar Ozdamirov in the centre of Grozny and took him away. On 8 August 2002 the Grozny town prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 50116. The investigation is still pending.

During the early hours of 31 March 2004 a group of armed servicemen in camouflage uniforms arrived in the village of Elistanzhi, Chechnya, in armoured personnel carriers (APCs) without registration numbers. The servicemen spoke unaccented Russian and were of Slavic appearance. Between midnight and 1.15 a.m. on that date they made a forced entry into the applicants’ houses, arrested Mr Bashkuyev and Mr Arsayev, put them in the military vehicles, and drove off to an unknown destination. The whereabouts of Mr Bashkuyev and Mr Arsayev have remained unknown ever since. Their abduction took place in the presence of the applicants and several of their neighbours.

On 11 March 2002 a group of armed servicemen arrived at the applicants’ house in an APC and a UAZ vehicle and took Mr Adlan Moltayev away. On 12 April 2002 the Achkhoy-Martan inter-district prosecutor’s office opened criminal case no. 63027. The investigation is still pending.