must be 'sufficient circumstantial evidence, based on concrete elements, on which it may be concluded beyond reasonable doubt that the person is dead' Cakici v Turkey. If these requirements are met, the burden of proof turns to the state to explain what has happened to the person. The main problem here is that there is often no record of arrest, and further no way of obtaining circumstantial evidence. Kurt v Turkey - the son of the applicant was arrested by security forces. The state claimed the person had instead left with rebel fighters. The court had little evidence to show where the son had been taken and what happened to him. he had been missing for years. the court refused to recognize that the arrest by the security forces was in its context life-threatening and thus refused to shift the burden onto the state. Timurtas v Turkey - applicant son arrest by security forces but unlike Kurt, he was taken to an identifiable location and was seen by other detainees in the facility for months. There was also an operational report shown to the court but was contested by the State. the court requested the state provide evidence to support its claims that the operational report was fake, the state refused on security grounds. thus the court turned the burden of proof on the state in order to show what had happened to the missing detainee and subsequently found a breach of article 3. The case is distinguished from Kurt because the applicant was missing for 6 years. further in the context of south east turkey, persons arrested on suspicion of having links to PKK rebels were shown in other cases such as Kaya, Yasa Kilic etc. to be life-threatening. The abducted person was suspected of these link. thus the circumstantial evidence was sufficient to turn the burden of proof. The requirement for circumstantial evidence DECREASES with the number of years the missing person is unaccounted for. Provided he was detained by the state. Cyprus v Turkey - The court was not ready to presume death for 1700 civilians that disappeared when the north was invaded. Baysayeva v Russia - This case totally discarded Kurt and went further than Timurtas in that there was NO circumstantial evidence to presume death. The Court simply relied on the fact that the abduction had been by unidentified state agents in uniform. there was