6.  The applicant was born in 1975 and lives in Amsterdam. 7.  On 30 March 2000 the Amsterdam Regional Court (arrondissementsrechtbank) convicted three accused, Messrs K., Van S. and H., of arms trafficking. In the criminal investigation into the offences at issue, the Amsterdam police had stated that an arsenal of weapons had been found by chance: the caretaker of a building situated on the Nachtwachtlaan in Amsterdam had contacted the police when water was leaking from one of the flats in the building, whose occupants were absent. With the aid of two locksmiths, the police had gained entry to the flat and in the subsequent search for the source of the leak, the weapons had been found. 8.  The accused lodged an appeal against the judgment of the Regional Court. 9.  On 12 and 13 September 2000 the daily newspaper Sp!ts published two articles, written by the applicant and his colleague Ms S., in which doubts were expressed about the amount of coincidence allegedly involved in the finding of the weapons. The article of 13 September 2000, entitled “Chance Hit or Perfect Shot?” (“Toevalstreffer of loepzuiver schot?”), quotes an unnamed policeman of the Amsterdam force as commenting in respect of the flooding, “That is what we made out of it. Sometimes you just need a breakthrough in an investigation” (“Dat hebben we er maar van gemaakt. Soms heb je net even een doorbraak nodig in je onderzoek”). 10.  In the proceedings on appeal against K., Van S. and H., the applicant and Ms S. were summonsed to appear as witnesses at the request of the defence. At the first hearing before the Amsterdam Court of Appeal (gerechtshof) on 22 September 2000 in the cases against Van S. and K., the applicant – who was assisted by counsel – stated inter alia that he knew that the policeman, whom he had quoted verbatim in the article of 13 September 2000, had been involved in a previous investigation against K. When the applicant was asked whether that policeman was also involved in the investigation of the flat or was aware of that investigation, he invoked his right of non-disclosure (verschoningsrecht). Counsel for the defence argued that both the individual interest of the accused – on whom a custodial sentence had been imposed as a result of the investigation carried out by the police – and the interest of criminal justice in the Netherlands outweighed the applicant's interest in not disclosing his source. The Advocate General also expressed as his opinion that the applicant could not invoke a right of non-disclosure. He stated in addition that the source, if his name was made known, had nothing to fear from either the police or the public prosecution service. 11.  After having deliberated, the Court of Appeal considered that, if the statement made by the police officer to the applicant was correct, this might affect the conviction of the accused. It also affected the integrity of the police and judicial authorities. For these reasons, the Court of Appeal held that the applicant was to reply to the question whether his source had been involved in the investigation of the flat and had been aware of that investigation. The President of the court further reminded the applicant that the court was empowered to order his detention for failure to comply with a judicial order (gijzeling). Upon this, the applicant replied that his source had both been aware of, and involved in, the investigation of the flat. 12.  Asked by counsel for the accused to reveal the identity of his source, the applicant once again invoked his right of non-disclosure. Counsel for the applicant submitted that he was justified in so doing, given that disclosing the identity of his source would render it impossible for the applicant to work as a journalist in the future since sources would no longer approach him. The interests of the journalist and of freedom of expression outweighed other interests. Moreover, as the criminal charges at issue concerned only arms trafficking and not, for example, a multiple homicide, it was disproportionate to require the applicant to name his source. It also went against the principle of subsidiarity, since there were other ways in which the identity of the source could be discovered. 13.  In reply, the Advocate General stated that journalists exposed obvious wrongs (kennelijke misstanden) in society. Where they chose to do so, they should also face the consequences. The applicant was the only witness who could clarify whether or not the three accused had been wrongly convicted. In the present case, where official records, drawn up on oath of office (ambtseed) by police officers, and the integrity of the judicial authorities were at stake, the applicant must reveal the identity of his source. It could not be the case that, in order to trace this identity, every member of the Amsterdam police force should be heard, bearing in mind that all officers in the case against K. had already been heard by the investigating judge (rechter-commissaris). 14.  Having deliberated, the Court of Appeal decided that the applicant was to reveal the identity of his source, for the same reasons as it had held that he had to reply to the question of his source's involvement in the investigation. The applicant invoked his right to remain silent (zwijgrecht), upon which the court ordered his immediate detention for a maximum of 30 days. No legal remedy lay against the decision to detain the applicant (Article 294 § 3 of the Code of Criminal Procedure – Wetboek van Strafvordering, “CCP”). 15.  When questioned by counsel for the accused, the applicant's colleague, Ms S., stated that she was aware of the identity of the source, but that she had never met him in person. Having regard to this last fact, as well as to the fact that the journalist who had had direct contact with the source – i.e. the applicant – had already been placed in detention, the Court of Appeal considered that Ms S. was not obliged to reveal the identity of the source. 16.  The applicant was served with an unreasoned decision on 25 September 2000. On 27 September 2000 he was handed a copy of the record of the hearing of 22 September, containing the decisions made by the Court of Appeal at that hearing and the reasons for them. 17.  Late on 22 September 2000 the applicant lodged a request with the Court of Appeal to be released from detention. Prior to the examination of this request on 27 September 2000, the applicant was able to consult his lawyer only once, namely in the evening of 25 September. Requests to visit the applicant on 22, 23, 24, (the afternoon of) 25, 26 and 27 September were refused. The request for release was dealt with by the Court of Appeal in chambers (raadkamer), by the same judges who had ordered his detention. 18.  At the hearing in chambers on 27 September 2000, the Advocate General reported that, following the applicant's statements at the hearing on 22 September, a police inspector had carried out an internal investigation, which had revealed that only eight police officers had been involved in both the first and the second investigation into the accused K. All these officers had made sworn affidavits to the effect that they had never been in contact with the applicant. 19.  Informed of the outcome of the internal police investigation, the applicant insisted that he did not want to reveal the identity of his source. He stated that he was a journalist and that he might as well give up on that career if he started revealing his sources; no sources wanting to remain anonymous would any longer be willing to provide him with tip-offs. The applicant was informed by the President of the Court of Appeal that the right of non-disclosure was not absolute, and that more weighty interests could be at stake. In the present case, long prison sentences had been imposed on the three accused, partly on the basis of official records drawn up by police officers. The applicant replied that he was willing to state only that his source was not one of the police officers who had made sworn affidavits in the internal police investigation. 20.  Counsel for the applicant argued that the journalist should be the last, rather than the first, means of arriving at the truth. The witnesses, whose examination had been requested by the three accused, ought to be heard first. Those witnesses could be confronted with the articles published in Sp!ts as well as with the article which had appeared in the weekly news magazine Vrij Nederland on 8 January 2000. This latter article had also suggested that the flooding of the flat had been staged, and the author had informed counsel for the applicant that the information contained in the article had not come from the same source as the one relied on by the applicant. Counsel for the applicant further posited that the State Criminal Investigation Department (Rijksrecherche) could carry out an investigation of the police force. Finally, it was for the Court of Appeal to assess the value of the article written by the applicant – that court could also decide to disregard it. 21.  By decision of 28 September 2000, the Court of Appeal refused the applicant's request for his detention to be lifted. It repeated that the interests of the accused and of the integrity of the police and the judicial authorities outweighed the interest of the applicant in not having to disclose the identity of his source. Having regard to the outcome of the internal police investigation, as well as to the fact that an appeal made by the police commissioner for the applicant's source to come forward had not produced any results, the Court of Appeal considered it unlikely that an investigation by the State Criminal Investigation Department would clarify, within a reasonable time, the cause of the flooding, quite apart from the fact that such an investigation would seriously delay the criminal proceedings against K., Van S. and H. The Court of Appeal similarly rejected the suggestion to hear the witnesses proposed by the defence first, given that those witnesses had already been heard extensively about the point in issue. For these reasons, it could not be held that the detention of the applicant breached the principles of proportionality and subsidiarity. 22.  The Court of Appeal further considered that the applicant's objections against the order for his detention as given at the hearing of 22 September 2000 did not require examination since no appeal lay against such order. It also rejected the argument that the order had not been served on the applicant within 24 hours, since – as appeared from the record of that hearing of 22 September – he had been informed of the order orally. Finally, the Court of Appeal held that the possibilities for contact between the applicant and his counsel were laid down in penitentiary legislation. It was not for the Court of Appeal to assess the application of that legislation. 23.  The applicant lodged an appeal on points of law to the Supreme Court (Hoge Raad) against the decision of the Court of Appeal. 24.  A second hearing before the Court of Appeal in the criminal proceedings against Van S. and H. took place on 9 October 2000. The applicant once again refused to reveal the identity of his source. Upon this, the Court of Appeal decided to lift the order for the applicant's detention. It considered that no support for, or confirmation of, the applicant's statement that he had received information from a police officer who had been involved in both investigations against the accused K. could be found in statements made by other persons and/or in the contents of documents. On the contrary, the applicant's statement had been contradicted by ten police officers. Therefore, no credence could be attached to his statement. This being the case, the applicant's detention no longer served any purpose. 25.  At the same hearing on 9 October 2000, and following the Court of Appeal's decision to lift the applicant's detention, counsel for the accused K. challenged (wraken) the Court of Appeal. A different chamber of the Court of Appeal upheld that challenge, also on 9 October 2000. It held that the opinion that the applicant's statement was not credible, as expressed by the Court of Appeal in the criminal proceedings against Van S. and H., might have a bearing on decisions which that court would be called upon to take in the criminal proceedings against K. This constituted an exceptional circumstance, providing an important indication for the conclusion that the accused's fear of a judge being prejudiced against him was objectively justified. 26.  The criminal proceedings against the three accused continued on 30 October 2000 before the Court of Appeal in a new composition. The applicant was again heard as a witness, as were seven other journalists who had also published articles about the case against K. and the possibility of the flooding having been staged. The Court of Appeal also heard two plumbers and the caretaker of the building. 27.  Subsequent to the decision to lift the order for his detention, the applicant withdrew his appeal on points of law as his release had rendered that appeal devoid of interest. 28.  According to the Government, the criminal proceedings against K., Van S. and H. have been brought to a conclusion. 29.  The applicant has submitted photocopies of two cuttings from print media. 30.  The first is of a report in the mass circulation daily newspaper De Telegraaf, dated 24 September 1999. It is therein stated that following reports of flooding from a second flat in Amsterdam, police had found another large quantity of weaponry. Messrs K., Van S. and H., the accused in the applicant's case, were not at that time suspected of involvement; the weapons were thought to belong to a terrorist organisation. The report drew attention to the similarity between the Nachtwachtlaan case and this new case as regards the circumstances in which the weapons were found. It cited “police sources” as suggesting that intelligence services, possibly foreign, had engineered events in order to protect their informants. 31.  The second, which is incomplete, is of an article that appeared on 8 January 2000 in the weekly magazine Vrij Nederland. It links the two events and cites an unnamed source as stating that they had in fact been engineered by the then Netherlands National Security Service (Binnenlandse Veiligheidsdienst – “the BVD”). 32.  It appears that the report in De Telegraaf and the article in Vrij Nederland were both written by journalists other than the applicant. 33.  The applicant has also submitted a printout of a page taken from the internet web site of the Amsterdam daily newspaper Het Parool, dated 27 September 2000. It quotes the two plumbers who were called in to repair the water leak as dismissing as nonsense all allegations that the damage had been caused deliberately; in actual fact, such leaks were very common in older buildings.


6.  The applicant was born in 1980. She is imprisoned in Gebze Prison. 7.  On 10 October 2001 the applicant was at a bus stop in İçerenköy in Istanbul when she was arrested by plain-clothes police officers on suspicion of being a member of the PKK. She was taken to the Anti-Terrorism Branch of the Istanbul State Security Directorate. On the same day, the police officers drafted an arrest protocol stating that the applicant had been arrested on account of her involvement in PKK-related activities. The applicant signed this protocol. 8.  The applicant's lawyer challenged the arrest before the investigating judge of the Istanbul State Security Court and requested that the applicant be released from detention. Her request was dismissed. 9.  On 11 October 2001 the public prosecutor at the Istanbul State Security Court extended the detention period until 14 October 2001. 10.  On 14 October 2001 the applicant could see her lawyer for a short period of time following the permission of the public prosecutor. 11.  On 15 October 2001 police officers from the Anti-Terrorism Branch requested that the applicant's custody period be extended for three more days. The single judge of the Istanbul State Security Court granted the request and extended the custody period until 17 October 2001 pursuant to Article 128 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The applicant's lawyer challenged this decision before a panel of three judges of the Istanbul State Security Court and requested that the applicant be brought before a judge. Her request was dismissed. 12.  On 16 October 2001 the applicant was brought before the public prosecutor, and thereafter before the investigating judge of the Istanbul State Security Court. Subsequently the judge ordered that the applicant be detained on remand. 13.  On 23 November 2001 the public prosecutor filed an indictment with the Istanbul State Security Court, accusing the applicant of being a member of an illegal armed organisation under Article 168 § 2 of the Criminal Code and Article 5 of the Anti-Terrorism Act. 14.  The Istanbul State Security Court convicted the applicant of the offence and sentenced her to twelve years and six months' imprisonment. The judgment was later upheld by the Court of Cassation on 11 November 2004.


4.  The applicant was born in 1955 and lives in Berlin. 5.  The applicant is 80 % physically disabled. On 23 July 2001 the applicant submitted a request to the Berlin Pensions and Allowances Office for an allowance on the basis of his reduced earning capacity. The Pensions and Allowances Office dismissed the request on 29 October 2001 on the grounds that the applicant was still able to work for more than six hours a day. 6.  On 26 November 2001 the applicant lodged an administrative objection, which was rejected on 26 February 2002. 7.  On 12 March 2002 the applicant brought an action before the Berlin Social Court. On 6 May 2002 the Social Court requested further documentation, which the applicant submitted on 3 June 2002. On 14 June 2002 the Social Court commissioned a socio-medical expert report. The expert report was completed on 22 July 2002. 8.  On 7 April 2003 the applicant suggested that a neurological-psychological expert report be commissioned. The Berlin Pensions and Allowances Office proposed an expert, to whom the applicant objected, for the neurological-psychological report. On 21 May 2003 the Social Court commissioned the report from a different expert. On 23 April 2003 and on 20 August 2003 the applicant submitted further medical documents. On 18 December 2003 the applicant received the neurological-psychological expert report dated 9 December 2003, and commented on it on 5 January 2004. On 19 January 2004 the applicant requested that the neurological-psychological expert amend his report. 9.  The applicant suggested commissioning an orthopaedic expert report, which the Social Court did on 14 January 2004. On 23 March 2004 the applicant received the orthopaedic expert report, dated 15 March 2004. 10.  On 3 November 2004 the Social Court asked the parties whether they agreed to a decision without a further oral hearing; on 16 November 2004 the applicant refused to agree. On 17 January 2005 a scheduled hearing could not take place as one of the lay judges had fallen ill in the morning; on the same day, the parties agreed to a decision through the written procedure. 11.  On 2 August 2005 and 1 September 2005 the applicant requested a progress report. The Social Court’s judgment of 20 June 2005 was served on the applicant on 17 October 2005. It partially granted the applicant’s action. It rejected the applicant’s request in relation to an allowance for fully or partially reduced earning capacity, but awarded an allowance for incapacity to work. 12.  On 10 November 2005 the Berlin Pensions and Allowances Office lodged an appeal with the Berlin-Brandenburg Social Court of Appeal. The Social Court of Appeal informed the applicant on 31 January 2006 that he had yet to submit his respondent’s brief in the appeal proceedings; he did so on 21 February 2006. On 18 April, 22 May, and 2 June 2006 the applicant made further submissions. 13.  On 14 July 2006 the judge rapporteur responsible for the appeals proceedings became unable to work due to illness. The president’s office assigned a different judge, who was delegated for one year from the labour court, to the chamber dealing with the case. 14.  On 26 July 2006 the Social Court of Appeal requested information from the applicant’s former employer, which it received on 1 August 2006. On 28 July 2006 the applicant submitted a medical certificate. On 1 August 2006 the Social Court of Appeal stayed the execution of the first-instance judgment. On 3 November 2006, 22 January 2007, and 29 April 2007 the Social Court of Appeal requested further documents from the applicant, which he provided. On 8 May 2007 the Social Court of Appeal asked the applicant’s former employee to provide additional information, which was submitted on 25 May 2007. 15.  In July 2007, after the one year period of the delegated judge had ended, the former judge rapporteur again took on the proceedings. However, the judge rapporteur suffered a severe relapse in September 2007, which led to her death in the following year. The president’s office reacted in reducing the chamber’s workload. The judge responsible for the case changed several times. 16.  On 16 June 2008 the applicant extended his action to include an allowance claim for fully reduced earning capacity. 17.  On 8 October 2008 the Social Court of Appeal commissioned a general-medical expert report. The applicant received the expert report, dated 31 January 2009, on 25 February 2009 and made further submissions on 27 March 2009. On 30 March 2009 the Social Court of Appeal commissioned a psychiatric expert report, which it received on 15 July 2009. 18.  On 18 November 2009 the Social Court of Appeal rendered its judgment.


8.  The applicant was born in 1940 and is at present imprisoned in Parma. 9.  On 2 September 1999, after a fight with his two sons, the applicant killed his wife and injured one of his sons. He was arrested on 3 September. 10.  At the end of the preliminary investigation the Rome prosecution service asked for the applicant to be committed to stand trial for murder, attempted murder, ill-treatment of his family and unauthorised possession of a firearm 11.  At a hearing on 18 February 2000 before the Rome preliminary hearings judge (giudice dell'udienza preliminare – “the GUP”) the applicant asked to be tried under the summary procedure, a simplified process which entailed a reduction of sentence in the event of conviction. In the version in force at that time Article 442 § 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (“the CCP”) provided that, if the crime committed by the defendant was punishable by life imprisonment, the appropriate sentence should be thirty years. (see paragraph 29 below). 12.  The GUP agreed to follow the summary procedure. Further hearings were held on 22 September and 24 November 2000. The last-mentioned hearing began at 10.19 a.m. 13.  On 24 November 2000 the GUP found the applicant guilty and noted that he was liable to a sentence of life imprisonment; however, as the applicant had elected to stand trial under the summary procedure, the judge sentenced him to a term of 30 years. 14.  On 12 January 2001 the Public Prosecutor's Office at the Rome Court of Appeal appealed on points of law against the Rome GUP's judgment of 24 November 2000. The prosecution argued that the GUP should have applied Article 7 of Legislative Decree no. 341 of 24 November 2000, which entered into force on the very day when the applicant was convicted. After being amended by parliament, Legislative Decree no. 341 was converted into Law no. 4 of 19 January 2001. 15.  The prosecution contended in particular that Article 7 of Legislative Decree no. 341 had amended Article 442 of the CCP and now provided that, in the event of trial under the summary procedure, life imprisonment was to be substituted for life imprisonment with daytime isolation if there were “cumulative offences” (concorso di reati) or a “continuous offence” (reato continuato – see paragraph 31 below). The GUP's failure to apply Legislative Decree no. 341 amounted to “a manifest error of law” (evidente errore di diritto). 16.  On 5 and 22 February 2001 the applicant appealed. His chief submission was that he should be acquitted on the ground that his conduct had not been intentional or that, at the time when the offences were committed, he was incapable of understanding the wrongful nature of his acts and of forming the intent to commit them (incapacità de intendere e volere). In the alternative, he requested a reduction of his sentence. 17.  As there were now two appeals, at two different levels of jurisdiction, the Public Prosecutor's appeal on points of law was changed to an appeal on both facts and law and the Rome Assize Court of Appeal was declared to have jurisdiction to hear the case (Article 580 of the CCP). 18.  The hearing in private before the Rome Assize Court of Appeal was held on 10 January 2002. The applicant was not present and was tried in absentia. He alleged that, as he had difficulty in walking, he had asked to be taken to the courtroom by ambulance or some other suitably adapted vehicle but that, as the prison management had refused his request, he had been deprived of the possibility of participating in the appeal proceedings. 19.  In a judgment of 10 January 2002, deposited with the registry on 23 January 2002, the Assize Court of Appeal sentenced the applicant to life imprisonment. 20.  It observed that before the entry into force of Legislative Decree no. 341 Article 442 § 2 of the CCP had been interpreted to mean that life imprisonment was to be replaced by a term of thirty years, whether or not it was to be accompanied by daytime isolation on account of an accumulation of offences with the most serious one. In following that approach, the GUP had fixed the sentence in relation to the most serious offence, without considering whether to order the applicant's daytime isolation on account of his conviction on the other charges against him. 21.  However, Legislative Decree no. 341 of 24 November 2000 had entered into force on the very day of the GUP's decision. As its provisions were classed as procedural rules, it was applicable to pending proceedings, according to the tempus regit actum principle. The Assize Court of Appeal further observed that under the terms of Article 8 of Legislative Decree no. 341 the applicant could have withdrawn his request to be tried under the summary procedure and have stood trial under the ordinary procedure. As he had not done so, the first-instance decision ought to have taken account of the change in the rules on penalties which had taken place in the meantime. 22.  On 18 February 2002 the applicant appealed on points of law. He argued in the first place that the appeal proceedings should be declared null and void because he had not been able to participate, as defendant, in the appeal hearing on 10 January 2002. In his second and third grounds of appeal the applicant asserted that the trial courts had not given sufficient reasons either for ruling that he had intended to commit murder or for their finding that he knew what he was doing and had acted intentionally when committing the offences. Lastly, he contested the finding of an aggravating circumstance (that he had acted for futile reasons) and complained of the refusal to grant him extenuating circumstances. 23.  On 31 July 2002 the applicant submitted further grounds of appeal. He contended that a fresh expert opinion should have been produced on his mental state at the time when the offences were committed and presented new arguments on the question of aggravating and extenuating circumstances. Lastly, he submitted that the penalty deemed to be applicable in his case (life imprisonment with isolation) was excessive. 24.  In a judgment deposited with its registry on 20 January 2003, the Court of Cassation dismissed the applicant's appeal. 25.  On 18 July 2003 the applicant lodged an extraordinary appeal on the ground of a factual error (Article 625a of the CCP). He asserted in the first place that the domestic courts' finding that he could have been taken to the appeal hearing by an ordinary means of transport and did not need an ambulance had been the result of an erroneous reading of the documents in the file. In addition, his absence, as the defendant, from that hearing had breached Article 6 of the Convention. The applicant further alleged that the sentence of life imprisonment imposed on him following the changes made by Legislative Decree no. 341 of 2000, and thus through a retrospective criminal-law provision, had breached Article 7 of the Convention and the principles of fair trial. He submitted that his waiver of procedural safeguards as a result of electing to stand trial under the summary procedure had not been compensated for by the reduction of his sentence promised by the State at the time when he made that choice. Lastly, he maintained that life imprisonment was an inhuman and degrading punishment and as such contrary to Article 3 of the Convention. 26.  In a judgment of 14 May 2004, deposited with its registry on 28 October 2004, the Court of Cassation declared the applicant's extraordinary appeal inadmissible. It observed that he was not complaining of factual errors committed by the domestic courts but essentially attempting to challenge the Court of Cassation's assessment on points of law.


4.  The applicant was born in 1954 and lives in Bytom, Poland. 5.  The applicant worked as the head of the sales department in a coal mine “Rozbark” in Bytom. On 24 August 1994 she was dismissed from her job. 6.  On 2 September 1994 she lodged a claim for compensation and reinstatement with the Bytom District Court of Labour (Sąd Rejonowy Wydział Pracy). Before 26 January 1995 the trial court held four hearings and heard evidence from one witness. 7.  On 2 March 1995 the parties reached a friendly settlement and the District Court discontinued the proceedings. On 16 March 1995 the applicant’s lawyer asked the court to resume the proceedings, as the defendant company had failed to comply with the terms of the settlement. On 27 June 1995 the Katowice Regional Court (Sąd Wojewódzki) quashed the decision of 2 March and resumed the proceedings. 8.  On 21 September 1995 the District Court held a hearing. On 23 October 1995 it stayed the proceedings until the conclusion of criminal proceedings against the applicant (referred to below). The applicant’s further appeal against that decision was dismissed by the Katowice Regional Court of Labour on 28 December 1995. 9.  On 28 January 1999 the applicant asked the court to resume the proceedings. On 25 March 1999 the court held a hearing. On 29 October 1999 it dismissed her application. On 29 December 1999, on the applicant’s appeal, the Katowice Regional Court resumed the proceedings. 10.  Between 9 March and 5 December 2000 the court held five hearings and heard evidence from five witnesses. On 5 December 2000 the Bytom District Court gave judgment. The court granted the applicant compensation and dismissed her claim for reinstatement. Both parties appealed. 11.  On 8 May and 5 June 2001 the Regional Court held hearings. On 15 October 2001 the applicant sent a letter to the President of the Katowice Regional Court asking for a hearing date to be set. 12.  On 21 November 2001 the Regional Court dismissed the defendant’s appeal. 20 December 2001 the Regional Court gave judgment and dismissed the applicant’s appeal. The judgment is final. 13.  On 30 December 1995 the Bytom District Prosecutor (Prokurator Rejonowy) submitted to the Bytom District Court (Sąd Rejonowy) a bill of indictment against the applicant and three other employees of the “Rozbark” coal mine. The applicant was charged with carrying out fraudulent financial operations. On 14 March 1996 the Bytom District Court returned the case-file to the District Prosecutor instructing him to complete the investigation. The District Prosecutor appealed. On 3 April 1996 the Katowice Regional Court (Sąd Wojewódzki) ordered the District Court to proceed with the case. 14.  During the proceedings the District Court held fifteen hearings and heard evidence from several witnesses. 15.  On 23 September 1998 the Bytom District Court delivered a judgment and acquitted the applicant. The District Prosecutor appealed. 16.  On 8 February 1999 the Katowice Regional Court quashed the first-instance judgment and remitted the case to the prosecution authorities for a further investigation. 17.  On 10 July 1999 the District Prosecutor ordered an expert opinion to be obtained.  The expert submitted his opinion on 22 October 1999. On 2 August 1999 the Bytom District Prosecutor decided to stay the investigation until an expert on management prepared an opinion. 18.  On 15 December 1999 the applicant sent a letter to the Regional Prosecutor complaining about the slow progress of the proceedings. On 20 March 2000 she sent another letter to the Minister of Justice (Minister Sprawiedliwości) asking about the progress of the investigation proceedings. In a letter of 14 March 2000 the Bytom District Prosecutor informed the applicant that there were difficulties in finding an expert competent to prepare an opinion. 19.  On 30 April 2001 the expert on management submitted his opinion to the Prosecutor. The investigation was resumed on 2 July 2001. 20.  On 28 December 2001 the District Prosecutor submitted to the Bytom District Court a bill of indictment against the applicant and three other persons. 21.  On 28 August 2003 the Bytom District Court discontinued the criminal proceedings against the applicant.


4.  The applicant was born in 1940 and lives in Kirovograd. 5.  In March 1996 Mr. D. instituted proceedings against the applicant seeking compensation for expenses of the funeral of his brother, the applicant's husband. On 24 July 1996 the Leninsky District Court of Kirovograd (hereinafter “the Leninsky Court”) allowed this claim in part. On 12 September 1996 the Kirovograd Regional Court upheld this decision. 6.  On 1 October 1997 the Presidium of the Kirovograd Regional Court, following the protest of the Deputy President of the Supreme Court, quashed all previous decisions in the case and remitted it for a fresh consideration. 7.  On 22 November 1997 the applicant lodged a counterclaim against D., claiming that she was entitled to property and compensation in connection with the administration of her late husband's estate. 8.  On 11 December 1997 the Leninsky Court declined to consider the counterclaim because the applicant had failed to pay the court fee. 9.  On 18 December 1997 the applicant re-lodged her counterclaim. 10.  On 29 September 1998, on the applicant's request, the case was transferred to the Kirovograd District Court. 11.  On 20 May 1999 the proceedings were resumed. 12.  On 10 October 2000, following Mr D.'s modification of his claim, the hearings were postponed until 14 November 2000. 13.  On 14 November 2000, following the applicant's modification of her claim, the hearings were postponed until 11 December 2000. 14.  On 21 June 2001 the Kirovograd District Court allowed in part both the original claim and the counterclaim. 15.  On 17 October 2001 the Kirovograd Regional Court of Appeal (hereinafter “the Regional Court”) modified the judgment as to D.'s claim. It also quashed the judgment in the part concerning the applicant's counterclaim and remitted the case for a fresh consideration. 16.  On 27 December 2001 the Regional Court assigned the case to the Kirovsky District Court of Kirovograd (hereinafter “the Kirovsky Court”). 17.  On 22 March 2002 the Supreme Court rejected the applicant's cassation appeal and upheld the ruling of 17 October 2001. 18.  The proceedings were resumed in the Kirovsky Court in June 2002. 19.  On 23 March 2003 the proceedings were suspended until examination by the Leninsky Court of the criminal case instituted upon the applicant's request against Mr D. as to the alleged forgery of his brother's (the applicant's husband's) will. 20.  In April 2003 the applicant lodged with the Kirovsky Court a request to review the judgment of 21 June 2001 in the light of newly disclosed circumstances. 21.  On 22 December 2003 this request was rejected. 22.  In April 2004 the applicant lodged a request with the Supreme Court seeking to review the decision of 21 June 2001 in the light of newly disclosed circumstances. 23.  On 24 March 2004 the Leninsky Court terminated the criminal proceedings against Mr D. as prosecution had become time-barred. On 1 June and 7 December 2004 the Regional Court and the Supreme Court, respectively, upheld this ruling. 24.  On 15 April 2004 the Kirovsky Court requested the Leninsky Court about the outcome of criminal proceedings against Mr D. 25.  On 25 May 2004 the civil proceedings were resumed. 26.  On 10 December 2004 the case-file was transferred to the Supreme Court for examination of the applicant's request to review the judgment of 21 June 2001 in the light of newly disclosed circumstances. 27.  On 31 October 2005 the Supreme Court rejected this request. 28.  Since January 2006 the proceedings are pending before the Kirovsky Court.


4.  The applicant was born in 1960 and lives in Pskov, the Pskov Region. 5.  In 1986 he took part in the emergency operations at the site of the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster. As a result he suffered from the extensive exposure to radioactive emissions. On unspecified dates the applicant underwent medical examinations which established the link between his poor health and his involvement in the Chernobyl events. The applicant was awarded social benefits, to be paid monthly. 6.  On 13 August 2002 the Pskov Town Court of the Pskov Region granted the applicant's claim against the Welfare Office of the administration of Pskov (Управление Социальной защиты населения администрации г. Пскова) for increase of food allowance. The court awarded the applicant 1,089.60 Russian roubles (RUR) to be paid monthly and ordered the defendant to adjust the forthcoming payments proportionally to the increase of the minimum subsistence level. 7.  On 24 September 2002 the judgment of 13 August 2002 acquired legal force, after it had been upheld on appeal by the Pskov Regional Court. 8.  In December 2003 the defendant filed an application for supervisory review of the judgment of 13 August 2002, as upheld on 24 September 2002, with the Pskov Regional Court. 9.  On 24 May 2004 the Presidium of the Pskov Regional Court quashed the judgment of 13 August 2002 in part concerning the future adjustments of the allowance and upheld the remainder of the judgment. 10.  By a judgment of 23 December 2003 the Pskov Town Court of the Pskov Region granted another of the applicant's actions against the Welfare Office of the administration of Pskov for adjustment of the food allowance. The court increased the monthly payments to RUR 1,231. The judgment was not appealed against and entered into force on 5 January 2004. 11.  The Welfare Office of the administration of Pskov failed to execute the judgments of 13 August 2002 and 23 December 2003. 12.  In February 2006 the local authorities contacted the applicant with a view of reaching an agreement in the matter. However, the applicant refused to accept the terms of the agreement.


4.  The applicant was born in 1935 and lives in Mendeleyevo, a town in the Moscow Region. 5.  In 1995 the applicant brought a court action against a housing maintenance service. Throughout the proceedings she represented herself. She claimed compensation for damages sustained as a result of poor quality repairs carried out by the respondent in her flat and requested that the works be done again. She also claimed penalties for the delays in the reparation of her flat. In course of the proceedings the applicant amended her claims. 6.  On 27 November 1995 the Solnechnogorskiy Town Court of the Moscow Region (“the Town Court”) dismissed her claim. On 6 February 1996 the Moscow Regional Court (“the Regional Court”) upheld that judgment. 7.  On 28 May 1996 the Presidium of the Regional Court quashed the judgment of 27 November 1995 and remitted the case for a fresh examination to the first-instance court. 8.  In the meantime the administration of the Solnechnogorskiy District transferred the municipal housing into the authority of a municipal enterprise, Mendeleyevo Service. 9.  On 10 October 1997 the Town Court granted the applicant’s claim in part. On 18 February 1998 the Regional Court upheld that judgment. 10.  On 13 January 1999 the Presidium of the Regional Court quashed the judgment of 10 October 1997 and remitted the case for a new examination to the Town Court. It held in particular that the lower courts had failed to establish the proper defendant in the case. It also indicated that in order to decide on the penalties the first-instance court had to establish whether the parties had previously set any deadlines for the repairs. 11.  On 5 March 1999 the Town Court set the examination of the case for 9 April 1999. Between April and October 1999 six hearings were scheduled, however they were adjourned mainly because the respondent and the third party failed to appear. 12.  On 26 October 1999 the Town Court established that the municipal enterprise Mendeleyevo Service was the proper respondent in the case and ordered it to repair the applicant’s flat. It awarded the applicant penalties for the delays in the repair of her flat and compensation for non-pecuniary damage. Furthermore, it held that the respondent had been in bad faith in opposing a correct and quick examination of the case and ordered it to pay the applicant compensation for the lost time. 13.  On 2 February 2000 the Regional Court quashed the judgment of 26 October 1999 and remitted the case to the first-instance court for a fresh examination. It found that the Town Court had not indicated in its decision which repairs had to be done in the applicant’s flat, it had not followed the Presidium’s decision of 13 January 1999 and it had not given reasons for its conclusions as regards the respondent’s bad faith in delaying the proceedings. 14.  On 3 May 2000 the Town Court set the examination of the case for 29 June 2000. Between June and December 2000 nine hearings were scheduled. Three of them did not take place because the respondent failed to appear, one hearing was postponed because the applicant did not appear and three hearings were adjourned either because the applicant asked for additional time to amend her claims or because the respondent asked for additional time to submit evidence. One hearing was postponed in order to call an expert to trial. 15.  On 19 December 2000 the Town Court held that since the maintenance service no longer existed it was impossible for it to repair the applicant’s flat. Therefore, it awarded the applicant the money necessary for such repairs and compensation for non-pecuniary damage. It also ordered the respondent to replace some equipment in the applicant’s flat. It further established that the parties had not concluded any written contract in respect of the repairs in the flat and had not set any time-limits; therefore there was no call to award the applicant any penalties in that respect. On the same date the Town Court decided to examine the applicant’s claim for payment of penalties for the delayed replacement of sanitary equipment and for compensation for loss of time in separate proceedings. 16.  On 18 April 2001 the Regional Court quashed the judgment of 19 December 2000 and referred the case to the first-instance court for a new examination on the ground that the first-instance court had failed to follow its decision of 2 February 2000. 17.  On 6 August 2001 the case was adjourned until 26 September 2001 because the parties failed to appear. 18.  According to the Government, on 26 September 2001 the proceedings were discontinued at the applicant’s request, however on 16 January 2002 the Presidium of the Regional Court quashed that decision in supervisory review on the prosecutor’s application. The Government did not provide the Court with copies of those decisions. 19.  On 15 February 2002 the Town Court set the examination of the case for 13 March 2002. On that date the case was adjourned until 11 April 2002 because the parties failed to appear. 20.  On 11 April 2002 the Town Court left the applicant’s claim unexamined on the ground that she had failed to appear at two hearings. 21.  On 16 January 2003 the applicant requested the Town Court to reinstate the time-limit for lodging an appeal against the decision of 11 April 2002. In her appeal she claimed that she had failed to appear at two hearings because she had not been duly notified of them and that she had not received a copy of the decision of 11 April 2002. On 21 January 2003 the Town Court granted her appeal, quashed the decision of 11 April 2002 and scheduled the examination of the case for 12 March 2003. On that date the case was again adjourned because the parties failed to appear. 22.  On 29 May 2003 the case was adjourned until 23 July 2003 because the judge was on sick leave. On that date the applicant amended her claims. She submitted that since the examination of the case was very lengthy, she had repaired her flat at her own expense and she requested the court to reimburse her those expenses. On the same date the case was adjourned until 25 August 2003. The next three hearings were adjourned either because the respondent company did not appear or because it asked for additional time to submit evidence and comments on the applicant’s claims. 23.  On 24 November 2003 the Town Court ordered the municipal enterprise Mendeleyevo Service to reimburse the applicant for the repair expenses and pay her non-pecuniary damage sustained as a result of poor-quality repair works. Furthermore, it ordered the defendant to replace the sanitary installations in the applicant’s flat. It dismissed the remainder of the applicant’s claims. 24.  On 16 March 2004 the Regional Court upheld the judgment of 24 November 2003.


8.  The applicant left Czechoslovakia for Germany in 1968. After his judicial rehabilitation in 1990 he started living partly in Czechoslovakia and partly in Germany. According to the applicant, he spent the major part of the year 1992 in Czechoslovakia. On 25 September 1992 he registered his permanent residence at his friend’s address in Krompachy. He remained registered at this address until 22 June 1994. 9.  On 28 September 1992 the applicant lodged a claim for restitution of his father’s and uncle’s property under the Land Ownership Act of 1991. 10.  On 15 May 1996 the Spišská Nová Ves Land Office dismissed the applicant’s claim on the ground that at the relevant time he had not permanently resided within the territory of the former Czech and Slovak Federal Republic as required by Section 4(1) of the Land Ownership Act. 11.  The Land Office established that a registered letter sent on 8 April 1993 could not be delivered as at that time nobody had lived at the applicant’s address in Krompachy. The Land Office had before it also a certificate in which the competent German authority confirmed that the applicant had registered his main abode (Hauptwohnung) in Wendelstein since 1973. The accompanying letter by the Slovakian vice-consul to Munich explained that, unlike in Slovakia, no distinction was made between permanent and temporary residence in Germany. The letter further stated that under German law the main abode was the place of residence preponderantly used by the person concerned in Germany, and that there was no obligation under German law to terminate its registration when a person spent the major part of a year abroad. The vice-consul expressed the view that in case that the applicant’s stay in Slovakia exceeded 183 days a year, his residence there could, theoretically, be regarded as permanent within the meaning of the Citizens’ Residence Registration Act of 1982. 12.  In its decision the Land Office referred also to a police report according to which the applicant had not effectively established his permanent residence in Krompachy. The Land Office concluded, with reference to Section 3(2) and (5) and Section 4(1) of the Citizens’ Residence Registration Act of 1982 and to the relevant case-law and administrative practice, that the applicant did not meet the permanent residence requirement. 13.  On 19 June 1996 the applicant requested the Košice Regional Court to review the Land Office’s decision. He alleged that since the beginning of 1992 he had resided at various places in Slovakia and submitted witness statements to this effect. The applicant further explained that several times a year he went to Germany where he was undergoing cancer therapy. 14.  On 29 November 1996 the Košice Regional Court upheld the administrative decision challenged by the applicant. It noted that by the date of expiry of the deadline for lodging his claim on 31 December 1992 the applicant had not permanently resided within the former Czech and Slovak Federal Republic as required by Section 4(1) of the Land Ownership Act. 15.  The Regional Court recalled, in particular, that under Section 4(1) of the Citizens’ Residence Registration Act of 1982 citizens cannot permanently reside at more than one address at the same time. As the applicant failed to terminate the registration of his main abode in Germany prior to the registration of his permanent residence in Krompachy, his stay in the then Czechoslovakia was to be regarded as temporary. Reference was made to the relevant case-law and to the practice of the Ministry of the Interior. 16.  The Regional Court further held that the applicant had submitted no evidence indicating that his abode in Krompachy met the requirements of a permanent residence within the meaning of Section 3(2) of the Citizens’ Residence Registration Act. Moreover, a police report before the court indicated that the applicant’s registration in Krompachy had been of a formal nature. 17.  On 30 July 1999 the Supreme Court refused to re-examine the case as there was no remedy available against the Regional Court’s judgment of 29 November 1996.


7.  The applicants are:
1)  Ms Malika Dzhamayeva, born in 1957
2)  Ms Kheda Mamayeva, born in 1978,
3)  Mr Imam Mukayev, born in 2002, and
4)  Mr Ovkhad Mukayev, born in 2004. 8.  The applicants live in Katyr-Yurt, in the Chechen Republic. 9.  The first applicant is the mother of Khamid Mukayev, born in 1978. The second applicant is Khamid Mukayev's wife and the third and fourth applicants are their children. 10.  At the material time the first applicant lived with her son Khamid Mukayev, the second to fourth applicants and other relatives at 10 Pervogo Maya Street (in the submitted documents the address is also referred to as 10 Pervogo Maya Lane and 25 Pervomayskaya Street), Katyr-Yurt, in the Achkhoy-Martanovskiy district of the Chechen Republic. 11.  On the night of 15 September 2004 the above-mentioned persons and P.B. were staying at the applicants' house. 12.  Between 4 and 5 a.m. on 16 September 2004 a convoy of military vehicles, including an armoured personnel carrier (APC) and Gazel and UAZ vehicles, arrived at the applicants' gate. The vehicles had no registration numbers. A group of about twenty-five to thirty armed masked men in camouflage uniforms got out of the vehicles. Some of them stayed outside, securing the perimeter of the applicants' house. 13.  At about 4 a.m. on 16 September 2004 the first applicant was woken up by the barking of her dog. Shortly afterwards seven or eight armed masked men in camouflage uniforms and bullet-proof jackets burst into the house. 14.  The intruders did not introduce themselves or explain the reason for their actions. They pointed their guns at the first applicant and her relatives and ordered them in unaccented Russian to get outside. The applicants inferred that the intruders were servicemen. In the courtyard the first applicant saw a large group of armed servicemen in camouflage uniforms and masks. The servicemen tied the first applicant's and her relatives' hands with adhesive tape. They also tied the first applicant and her other son, Kh.M., to a shed post. The first applicant's eighty-four-year-old mother‑in‑law, Ms M. M., stayed in the house. In a state of stress, Ms M. M. started shouting and the servicemen hit her several times with their rifle butts. 15.  Meanwhile some of the servicemen who were in the house started searching it and some burst into the room where the second to fourth applicants and Khamid Mukayev were staying. They pointed their guns at the second applicant and ordered her in unaccented Russian to stay quiet. The servicemen then ordered Khamid Mukayev to lie down. After a quick search of the room they took Khamid Mukayev, who was in his underwear, to the yard. The second applicant tried to follow them but was forced back into the room under the threat of being shot dead. In the yard one of the servicemen took the tape off the first applicant's mouth and asked her where her husband was. She replied that she did not know and that he had left the family in 1992. 16.  Having checked the house and attic, the servicemen started beating Khamid Mukayev up, requesting him to give them his passport. He replied that the first applicant had it. The servicemen untied her hands and brought her into the house. In the house she saw her mother-in-law Ms M. M., who was leaning against the wall and coughing up blood. The first applicant gave Khamid Mukayev's passport to the servicemen. At that moment one of the servicemen in the yard ordered the others to retreat. While the first applicant looked back to where Ms M. M. was standing, she saw that the latter had fallen to the ground. Shortly after this the first applicant heard military vehicles. She realised that the servicemen were taking Khamid Mukayev away and asked them not to. They ordered her to remain silent and then two servicemen took the first applicant and her other son into the passageway, tied their hands and legs with adhesive tape and put them on to the floor. After asking the first applicant “What is wrong with your granny?” and received the reply that she was Category 1 disabled, the servicemen closed the door and left, taking Khamid Mukayev with them. 17.  The abduction of Khamid Mukayev was witnessed by a number of the applicants' neighbours. 18.  At about 4 a.m. on 16 September 2004 the applicants' neighbour A.Kh., who lived in Pervogo Maya Street, was woken up by the noise of military vehicles. When he went outside he saw a convoy consisting of an APC with a large number of servicemen on it and Gazel and UAZ vehicles on the Pervogo Maya Street. He immediately went back into his house. Some fifteen to twenty minutes later he again heard the noise of the vehicles coming from the street. When he looked outside his window, he saw the same vehicles reversing. Shortly after this his nephew I.M. came to his house and told him that Russian servicemen had taken away Khamid Mukayev and that they had killed Ms M. M. 19.  During the night of 15-16 September 2004 M.F., who lived at 12 Pervogo Maya Street, was woken up by the noise of vehicles. When she looked outside the window, she saw an APC, a white Gazel vehicle, a light‑coloured UAZ vehicle and a large group of armed masked men going towards the applicants' house. The vehicles had no licence plates. A group of servicemen secured the perimeter of the house. M.F. went home to get dressed but when she got outside, the APC was already driving back and the servicemen sitting on it pointed their guns at her. Once the APC had moved away, M.F. went to the applicants' house and was told about the abduction of Khamid Mukayev and the murder of Ms M. M. 20.  On the night of 15-16 September 2004 A.M. was woken up by noise coming from the applicants' house. When he came closer to the applicants' house through his vegetable garden he saw Gazel and UAZ vehicles parked at the applicants' gate. Afraid to approach closer, he returned home. Some twenty minutes later I.M. came to his house and told him that servicemen had abducted Khamid Mukayev and killed Ms M. M. 21.  The description of the events of 16 September 2004 is based on the first applicant's submissions in her application forms of 21 May and 25 July 2006 and the applicants' account given in the application form of 11 March 2008; accounts given to the applicants' representatives by the following witnesses: an account by P.B. given on 5 March 2008; an account by A.Kh. given on 14 February 2008; an account by M.F. given on 12 February 2008; an account by A.M. given on 15 February 2008; an account by the first applicant made on 11 March 2008, and an account made by the second applicant on 20 February 2008. 22.  The applicants have had no news of Khamid Mukayev since 16 September 2004. 23.  The Government did not dispute most of the applicants' submissions but claimed that the domestic investigation had established neither the implication of servicemen in the abduction of Khamid Mukayev nor that the abductors had used military vehicles. 24.  After the departure of the servicemen on 16 September 2004 with Khamid Mukayev a number of neighbours gathered at the applicants' place. Meanwhile the first applicant's other son, I.M., untied her. Immediately thereafter the first applicant and M.F. ran after the military vehicles, which they saw going into Pervomayskaya Street. On their way the women alerted the local police inspector, M.A., who lived 100 metres from the applicants' house, about the abduction of Khamid Mukayev. M.A. did not say anything to the women and went back into his house. 25.  Shortly after this the first applicant asked her neighbour, D.M., for help. He promised her to follow the servicemen in his private car and told her to go home, which she did. 26.  When she arrived home the first applicant discovered that her mother-in-law was dead. 27.  At about 9 a.m. on 16 September 2004 police officers of the Achkhoy-Martanovskiy Department of the Interior (ROVD), including local police inspector M.A., came to the applicants' house. They interviewed the applicants and some of their neighbours and left. 28.  On 18 or 19 September 2004 a group of police officers visited the first applicant and told her to come to the ROVD. 29.  At the ROVD an officer brought the first applicant to the head of the criminal police department, Mr K. He told her that Khamid Mukayev was in good health, that he was not under the control of the ROVD but that the ROVD was in contact with the “structures which were holding the first applicant's son”. He then asked the first applicant about the whereabouts of her husband, who had participated in illegal armed groups during the first Chechen campaign, and explained her that it was in her interest to provide that information. He also asked her if she knew any Wahhabis in her village. 30.  Subsequently, the local police officer frequently questioned the first applicant about her husband, from which she inferred that the authorities had abducted Khamid Mukayev, because they were still looking for her husband, despite the fact that the latter had been amnestied meanwhile.
(b)  Investigation of the abduction of Khamid Mukayev 31.  On 16 September 2004 the prosecutor's office of the Achkhoy‑Martanovskiy District (“the district prosecutor's office”) instituted a criminal investigation into the abduction of Khamid Mukayev and the causing of M.M.'s death under Articles 126 § 2 (aggravated kidnapping) and 111 § 4 of the Criminal Code, respectively. The case file was given the number 38041. 32.  On 17 September 2004 the district prosecutor's office granted the second applicant victim status in connection with the proceedings in case no. 38041. 33.  On 11 November 2004 the district prosecutor's office informed the Mukayev family that the time-limits for the investigation in criminal case no. 38041 had been extended to 16 December 2004. 34.  On 11 July 2005 the military commander of the Chechen Republic forwarded the first applicant's complaint about her son's abduction to the Achkhoy-Martanovskiy district military commander's office (the district military commander's office) for examination, and ordered the latter body to search for Khamid Mukayev. 35.  On 15 July 2005 the district prosecutor's office replied to the first applicant's complaint about her son's abduction and informed her that the complaint had been appended to case file no. 38041; that on an unspecified date the investigation of the abduction had been suspended, and unspecified operational and search measures aimed at solving the crime were under way. 36.  On 18 July 2005 the district military commander's office informed the first applicant that on 16 September 2004 they had not been conducting any special operations in Katyr-Yurt. The letter also stated that the authorities had forwarded information requests concerning the whereabouts of Khamid Mukayev to various law-enforcement agencies in the Chechen Republic. 37.  On 14 March 2006, in reply to the second applicant's request for information, the district prosecutor's office wrote to her that they had been undertaking unspecified operational and search measures aimed at establishing the whereabouts of Khamid Mukayev, but that those measures had failed to produce any results. The letter also stated that the investigation in the criminal case could be resumed upon receipt of new relevant information. 38.  On 18 April 2006 the district prosecutor's office informed the first applicant that they had undertaken the following investigative steps in criminal case no. 38041: examination of the crime scene; forensic examination of the body of M.M.; granting victim status in the criminal case to relatives of the disappeared Khamid Mukayev; questioning of a number of local residents about the abduction; collaboration with a number of other law-enforcement bodies to establish the whereabouts of the applicants' relative. In addition, the supervising prosecutor had issued unspecified instructions aimed at solving the crime and these instructions had been complied with by the investigation. According to the letter, the investigation was examining the theory of the possible involvement of Russian servicemen in the crime, as well as the theory that Khamid Mukayev had been kidnapped for ransom. Finally, the document stated that the investigation in criminal case no. 38041 had been suspended on 16 January 2005; however, the operational and search measures aimed at solving the crime were under way. 39.  On 10 July 2006 the second applicant wrote to the district prosecutor's office, requesting information on the progress of the investigation and seeking information on the outcome of her previous enquiries, to which she had received no replies. She submitted that, in the absence of information, she was prevented from challenging the investigation omissions before other authorities. She also sought access to the case file and permission to make copies from it. Lastly, she requested that the investigation be reopened if it had been suspended. 40.  On 1 November 2006 the deputy prosecutor of the Achkhoy‑Martanovskiy district quashed the decision of 16 January 2005 to suspend the investigation in case no. 38041 as premature and unfounded, finding that the investigation had failed to take all steps necessary to establish the applicants' relative's whereabouts and to identify the perpetrators. In particular, the investigation had failed to interview officers A. T., A. M., T.Sh., I.Dzh., and R.B. of the ROVD, who had been on duty on 15-16 September 2004 at checkpoint no. 1, located at the entry to Achkhoy-Martan; it also had not interviewed as witnesses five residents of Achkhoy-Martan, whose testimony could have had an important bearing on the establishment of the circumstances of the case. The investigation also failed to take all measures to identify other witnesses and eyewitnesses to the abduction and the perpetrators. No measures aimed at identifying the owners of the APC and the Gazel vehicles were taken. The deputy prosecutor ordered the district prosecutor's office to enlarge the circle of eventual witnesses to the abduction, to take all relevant investigative steps and to coordinate its efforts with other State authorities. It is not entirely clear whether the deputy prosecutor's instructions have been complied with. 41.  On 1 December 2006 the district prosecutor's office suspended the investigation in case no. 38041 for failure to identify the perpetrators. The decision noted that the investigation had taken a number of investigative steps. In particular, the crime scene had been inspected; a forensic examination of the body of Ms M.M. had been carried out; a plan of operational and search measures had been compiled; the second applicant had been granted victim status and interviewed; relatives and neighbours of the kidnapped person, as well as residents of Katyr-Yurt and unspecified police officers of the ROVD had been interviewed; servicemen from checkpoint no. 186 had been interviewed; registration logs from checkpoints located in the Achkhoy-Martanovskiy District had been examined; character references in respect of Khamid Mukayev had been collected; and unspecified requests had been sent to various law-enforcement authorities in the Chechen Republic. 42.  By a letter of 12 February 2008 investigator K. of the Achkhoy‑Martanovskiy Interdistrict investigating department of the Investigating Department with the Prosecutor's office of the Chechen Republic (the investigating department) replied to the second applicant's request for information that, until the termination of the investigation, she was only entitled to have access to the documents from case file no. 38041 which pertained to the investigative actions taken with her participation, and that she could be provided with access to the entire file only upon the termination of the investigation. 43.  On 11 March 2008 the second applicant complained to the Achkhoy‑Martanovskiy District Court (the District Court) that the investigating authorities had taken no action in case no. 38041. She submitted, in particular, that the investigator's refusal to grant her access to the case file had prevented her from getting information on the progress of the investigation into the abduction of her husband and from effectively challenging its omissions before the domestic authorities. 44.  By a decision of 26 March 2008 the District Court granted the second applicant's claims in part. It held that the investigator's permission to the applicant to have access only to the records of investigative steps taken with her participation was unlawful and in breach of the Criminal Procedure Code and the practice of the Constitutional Court. In particular, it referred to the Constitutional Court's finding that a victim could have access to decisions to charge particular persons with a crime, to the information on the composition of the investigating group, decisions to order various expert examinations and their conclusions and complaints of other participants to the criminal proceedings, if those documents and that information pertained to the victim's rights and legal interests. It was for the investigator to determine the manner and conditions of a victim's access to the relevant information, regard being had to the requirements of the interests of the investigation. At the same time, the second applicant's request for access to all the materials in the case file could not be granted until the investigation had been concluded. 45.  On 14 May 2008 the Supreme Court of the Chechen Republic dismissed the second applicant's appeal against the decision of 26 March 2008. 46.  The Government did not make detailed submissions on the course of the investigation. 47.  They stated that the investigation had interviewed eyewitnesses to the abduction and over forty residents of the village; had inspected the crime scene; had carried out a forensic examination of the fingerprints left presumably by the abductors; had examined the body of M. M., and had sent numerous requests to various State authorities in connection with the abduction of the applicants' relative. 48.  Despite specific requests by the Court, the Government did not disclose most of the contents of criminal case no. 38041, providing only copies of the following documents: the decision to institute the investigation; the record of examination of the body of M. M. and its photographs; the crime scene inspection report and a copy of the sketch of the premises; the decision to grant the second applicant victim status; the decision to order a fingerprint examination; the fingerprint expert's report; the forensic report of examination of M. M., and replies from the authorities mentioned in paragraph 63 below. The Government also submitted interview records in respect of the first and second applicants, D.M., Z.M., M.F., L.M., R.A. and M.A. and another thirty residents of Katyr-Yurt (see paragraph 59 below). The Government claimed that the documents furnished by them were the only case file materials they could submit to the Court without prejudice to the interests of the parties to the criminal proceedings. 49.   Some of the documents submitted by the Government were illegible and some documents were legible only in part. 50.  The information contained in the documents submitted by the Government may be summarised as follows. 51.  On 16 September 2004 officers of the ROVD examined the body of M. M. and photographed it. 52.  On the same date they inspected the crime scene. According to the crime scene inspection report, the entry door to Khamid Mukayev's room was broken and there were tracks described as “presumably those of an APC” in the courtyard of the applicants' house. It further emerges from the report that some fingerprints were taken during the inspection. 53.  On 16 September 2004 the ROVD officers interviewed as a witness D.M., who lived at 21, Pervogo Maya Street. D.M. stated that on the night of 15-16 September 2004 he went outside to relieve himself. At that moment he heard the noise of an APC. Immediately thereafter he saw a light-coloured Gazel vehicle without registration plates come into Pervogo Maya Street. It was followed by a UAZ vehicle and an APC. Shortly after this the first applicant came to D.M.'s house and told him that her mother‑in-law had been killed and her son abducted, upon which D.M. got into his car and followed the military convoy he had seen before. He caught up with it and saw that it was moving in the direction of Achkhoy-Martan. On its way the convoy passed checkpoint no. 186 without being stopped there. When D. M. approached that checkpoint, police officers stationed there stopped him and told him that he could not go any further and that the movement of vehicles was prohibited because of the curfew. 54.  On 17 September 2004 the investigation interviewed the second applicant as a witness. She submitted that at about 4 a.m. on 16 September 2004 she had been woken up by M.M. shouting for help. Immediately thereafter several armed masked men in camouflage uniforms burst into the room she was sharing with Khamid Mukayev and ordered him in unaccented Russian to lie down and not to move. The intruders then took him outside in his underwear. When the second applicant tried to follow, the intruders threatened her with their guns and ordered to stay inside. When she managed to get outside, she saw I.M., who was untying the first applicant, and Ms M.M., who was lying on the floor covered in blood. The intruders had arrived on an APC and in two Gazel vehicles without registration plates. 55.  Kh.M., interviewed as a witness on 17 September 2004, submitted that he had stayed in the applicants' house on the night of 15-16 September 2004. At about 5 a.m. on 16 September 2004 he had been woken up by the dog barking. Shortly after this a group of twenty-five to thirty armed masked men in camouflage uniforms burst into the applicants' property. They tied Kh.M.'s and the first applicant's hands with adhesive tape and put both of them on the floor. Then the intruders took Khamid Mukayev, who was in his underwear, outside. From the neighbours Kh.M. learnt that the intruders had arrived in an APC and two Gazel vehicles. 56.  Z.M., residing at 1, Pervogo Maya Street and interviewed as a witness on an unspecified date in September 2004, stated that at about 5 a.m. on 16 September 2004 she had been woken up by the noise of military vehicles. When she went outside she saw an APC with a large group of armed masked men in camouflage uniforms. Shortly afterwards she heard shouting coming from the applicants' house and subsequently, when she arrived there, she learnt about the killing of Ms M.M. and the abduction of Khamit Mukayev. 57.  On 5 October 2004 the investigator in charge of the case ordered a forensic examination of the three fingerprints taken in Khamid Mukayev's room during the crime scene inspection. On the same date the expert found that the fingerprints collected were not suitable for identification. 58.  On 6 October 2004 the investigation interviewed the first applicant as a witness. She stated that at about 5 a.m. on 16 September 2004 she had been woken up by the barking of her dog. Shortly afterwards a group of armed masked men in camouflage uniforms had burst into the house. Some of the armed men had stayed in the yard. There were in total about twenty‑five to thirty of them. The intruders took Khamid Mukayev outside in his underwear and beat up M. M., who died as a result of the beatings. According to the neighbours, the armed men had arrived in an APC and two Gazel vehicles. They spoke unaccented Russian. 59.  Between 13 October and 28 December 2004 and on 16 November 2006 the investigation interviewed as witnesses thirty residents of Katyr‑Yurt. According to their interview records, those persons submitted that they had learnt from the applicants or from other residents of Katyr‑Yurt that between 4 and 5 a.m. on 16 September 2004 a large group of armed masked men in camouflage uniforms, who had arrived in an APC and Gazel and UAZ vehicles, had burst into the applicants' house, had kidnapped Khamid Mukayev and beaten Ms M.M. to death. 60.  On 14 November 2006 the investigation interviewed M.F., who lived at 26 Pervomayskaya Street, as a witness. She submitted that at about 4 a.m. on 16 September 2004 she had been woken up by the noise of several vehicles. When she got outside she saw two light-coloured Gazel vehicles without registration plates. M.F. heard a walkie-talkie in one of the vehicles but could not catch what the people were saying over it. A man in a camouflage uniform with a sub-machine gun was standing near the vehicles. Suddenly another armed man in camouflage ran to him and ordered him in Russian to get the vehicles to the applicants' house. When the vehicles arrived there, about ten armed camouflaged men got into them. Shortly thereafter the two vehicles started taking off. They were followed by an APC with several servicemen on it. Once the convoy had left, M.F. ran to the applicants' house, where she was told that the servicemen had taken away Khamid Mukayev and killed Ms M.M. 61.  L.M., interviewed as a witness on 6 November 2006, stated that at about 4 a.m. on 16 September 2004 he had been woken up by the noise of an APC. He looked out of the window and saw that an APC had entered Katyr-Yurt from the direction of Achkhoy-Martan and that it was in Pervomayskaya Street. 62.  R.A., interviewed as a witness on 7 November 2006, and M.A., interviewed on 17 November 2006, who both lived in Pervomayskaya Street, stated that at about 4 a.m. on 16 September 2004 they had been woken up by the noise of military vehicles and, looking out of their windows, saw an APC near the applicants' house. 63.  According to replies from SIZOs no. 1 of the Chechen Republic and the Dagestan Republic, the Zavodskoy, Leninskiy, Shalinskiy, Achkhoy‑Martanovskiy and Gudermesskiy interdistrict investigating departments and the Achkhoy-Martanovskiy department of the FSB, those State authorities had no information on Khamid Mukayev's eventual arrest or detention, his whereabouts or on any criminal proceedings against him. The above-mentioned documents were dated between 4 and 10 September 2008 and were sent to the investigating authority in case no. 38041 in reply to its requests for information made in September 2008. 64.  The Government submitted that the investigation in case no. 38041 was pending. 65.  On 18 April 2006 the Achkhoy-Martanovskiy District Court granted the second applicant's request and declared Khamid Mukayev a missing person.


8.  The applicant was born in 1934 and lives in Königstein, Germany. 9.  On 23 October 1990 a criminal charge was laid against the applicant, accusing him of tax evasion. On 8 January 1991 the Frankfurt/Main Tax Office instituted criminal proceedings against the applicant and informed him accordingly on 10 January 1991. These proceedings were eventually extended to the suspicion of fraud to the detriment of the joint owners of a plot of land and fraudulent breach of trust (Untreue) to the detriment of the city of Königstein by the Frankfurt/Main Public Prosecutor’s Office. The applicant, a civil servant, was subsequently suspended from office, and his salary was reduced. 10.  On 5 March 1991 the competent public prosecutor at Königstein applied for a search warrant concerning the office of a notary at the Königstein District Court. A (modified) search warrant was issued by the Königstein District Court on 24 April 1991 and the warrant was executed on 14 June 1991, when two documents were seized. 11.  Between 23 August 1991 and 26 March 1992 the Public Prosecutor’s Office granted access to the case files to the city of Königstein and the applicant’s counsel. 12.  From 26 March 1992 until 23 November 1992 the investigations were stayed by the Public Prosecutor’s Office in order to await the outcome of the disciplinary proceedings instituted by the city of Königstein against the applicant. The latter proceedings were then themselves stayed awaiting the outcome of the criminal proceedings. 13.  The hearing of the applicant as an accused by the Public Prosecutor’s Office was postponed from 10 February 1993 to 25 June 1993 upon the request of the applicant’s counsel. 14.  On 3 January 1994 the Frankfurt/Main Tax Office, after hearing two witnesses, made their closing comments regarding the investigations against the applicant. On 12 December 1994 the Prosecutor’s Office, after having ordered further investigations by the Frankfurt/Main Tax Office, issued an indictment charging the applicant with fraud, tax evasion and fraudulent breach of trust. 15.  On 10 October 1995, following three hearings in September and October 1995, the Frankfurt/Main District Court convicted the applicant of fraud, fraudulent breach of trust and tax evasion in accordance with the indictment. It sentenced him to two years and six months’ imprisonment. The District Court found that the applicant had, in his position as head of the municipal building office, deceived the joint owners of real estate as to the value of their property in order to induce them to sell it at a low price to a front man (Strohmann) working for him. He had enriched himself by, again via the front man, offering a part of this property to the municipality for an expansion of the local cemetery. The rest of the property had been sold on the open market. 16.  On 20 May 1996 the Frankfurt/Main Regional Court, following the applicant’s appeal and eight trial hearings in April and May 1996, in which some ten witnesses were heard, amended the District Court’s decision to the effect that it convicted the applicant of fraud and tax evasion, whereas it acquitted him of fraudulent breach of trust, and sentenced him to one year and nine months’ imprisonment suspended on probation. In its judgment comprising 30 pages, the Regional Court rejected the applicant’s request that an expert opinion be prepared on the actual value of the real estate involved, finding that such an opinion was unnecessary, as the Regional Court itself had sufficient knowledge of the matters before it. 17.  On 21 May 1996 the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and on 23 May 1996, the applicant appealed against this decision on points of law. On 6 December 1996 the Frankfurt/Main Court of Appeal received the case files together with the substantiation of the appeal by the Prosecutor’s Office and the defence counsel. 18.  On 28 November 1997 the Frankfurt/Main Court of Appeal, following a hearing, set aside the Regional Court’s decision. It found that the Regional Court should have ordered that an expert opinion be prepared on the value of the property concerned. The case was remitted to a different chamber of the Frankfurt/Main Regional Court. 19.  On 13 March 1998 the Regional Court ordered that an expert opinion on the value of the real estate concerned be prepared by the architect A. On 1 October 1998 the Regional Court received the expert opinion. On 5 May 1999 the applicant, in the first rehearing by the Frankfurt/Main Regional Court, requested that the proceedings be discontinued on account of their excessive length. 20.  On 15 June 1999 the Frankfurt/Main Regional Court, following nine hearings in May and June 1999, again convicted the applicant of fraud and tax evasion and sentenced him to one year and nine months’ imprisonment suspended on probation. In its judgment comprising 20 pages, it found that the length of proceedings did not warrant their discontinuance, as proceedings dealing with economic or tax-related offences were always time-consuming. Considering the complexity of the issues involved, the Regional Court did not find the phase of preliminary investigations or the overall length of proceedings excessively long, in particular as the applicant had not been detained at any time. It also noted that the applicant had himself prolonged the proceedings by lodging an appeal and insisting on an expert opinion. It found that the loss caused by the applicant’s fraud, following the expert opinion, had to be assessed to be even higher than presumed by the Regional Court in its first judgment on 20 May 1996. Therefore, the Regional Court considered that, despite the time which had elapsed since then, the sentence imposed by the Regional Court in its first judgment was not to be reduced. 21.  On 17 June 1999 the applicant appealed against this judgment on points of law, again requesting that the proceedings be discontinued because of their excessive length. On 18 January 2000 the Frankfurt/Main Court of Appeal received the case files together with the applicant’s substantiation of the appeal and the observations of the Public Prosecutor’s Office. 22.  On 24 March 2000 the Frankfurt/Main Court of Appeal confirmed the Regional Court’s decision and dismissed the applicant’s request to discontinue the proceedings on account of their allegedly excessive length. 23.  On 2 May 2000 the applicant lodged a constitutional complaint consisting of eight pages with the Federal Constitutional Court in which he complained about the allegedly excessive length of the proceedings before the German criminal courts, referring in particular to the delays caused by the Prosecutor’s Office and the Frankfurt/Main Regional Court and Court of Appeal. The applicant asserted that due to the delays in the proceedings, he had been suspended from office and his pension benefits had been reduced. He also complained about a loss of reputation. 24.  On 5 June 2000 (decision served on 15 June 2000) the Federal Constitutional Court refused to admit the applicant’s constitutional complaint. It found that the applicant had failed sufficiently to substantiate his complaint. He failed to produce the written submissions of the Public Prosecutor’s Office to the Court of Appeal, substantiating their appeal on points of law, from which the Federal Constitutional Court could have drawn further conclusions as to whether the applicant had himself sufficiently substantiated his appeal before the Court of Appeal. Furthermore, insofar as the applicant complained about the delays in the proceedings, he had in particular not specified which delays he considered to be attributable to the judicial organs and had not placed such delays in relation to the overall length of the proceedings. The Federal Constitutional Court also found that the applicant had failed to assess the seriousness of the criminal offences concerned, the complexity of the object of the proceedings, and the extent to which he has suffered damage on account of the length of the proceedings.


5.  The applicant was born in 1978 and lives in Ankara. 6.  On 6 March 2000 the applicant was arrested by the gendarmerie in the border city of Edirne on her return from Bulgaria. She was detained in a gendarmerie station. According to an arrest report prepared by the gendarmerie the same day, the applicant was informed of her right to be represented by a lawyer and to inform her family about her arrest. Nevertheless, it was also stated in the same document that, if the offence in respect of which she was arrested fell within the jurisdiction of State Security Courts, she could consult a lawyer only if her detention period was extended by a judge or if a judge ordered her detention in a prison. The applicant signed the report and wrote on it that she had “no requests”. 7.  The applicant was interrogated during her detention at the gendarmerie station, and an eight-page statement was taken from her between 7 and 9 March 2000. In her statement the applicant admitted to having engaged in activities on behalf of the PKK[1]. 8.  On 9 March 2000 the applicant was examined by a doctor at the Edirne branch of the Forensic Medicine Directorate. According to the medical report drawn up the same day, there were “no injuries or signs of ill-treatment on her body”. 9.  The same day she was brought before the prosecutor and then before the Edirne Magistrates' Court, which ordered her pre-trial detention in prison. In two statements made during meetings with the prosecutor and the judge the applicant admitted to being a member of the PKK. 10.  According to the three statements referred to above, the applicant did not want to be represented by a lawyer during the questioning. 11.  On 3 April 2000 the prosecutor at the Istanbul State Security Court filed an indictment against the applicant with that court for the offence of membership of an illegal organisation, namely the PKK. The prosecutor, referring to the above-mentioned statements made by the applicant, alleged that the applicant had left Turkey in 1996 and had been taken to the PKK's training camp in Lavrion, Greece, where she had received training. Following her training she had obtained a false German passport in order to enter the Netherlands. During her time in Europe she had engaged in activities on behalf of the PKK in Germany and the Netherlands. 12.  Criminal proceedings against the applicant commenced before the Istanbul State Security Court (hereafter “the trial court”). During the proceedings the applicant was represented by a lawyer. 13.  During the first hearing, which was held on 22 June 2000, the applicant rejected the allegations against her and alleged that, before she was brought before the prosecutor and the judge on 9 March 2000, she had been told by the gendarmes that if she did not accept the accusations before the judge and the prosecutor she would be taken back to the gendarmerie station and tortured again. That had been the reason she had accepted the accusations before the prosecutor and the judge. When asked by the trial court what she had to say about the medical report of 9 March 2000 in which it was stated that her body bore no signs of ill-treatment, the applicant replied that the medical report had been prepared before she was beaten up by gendarme officers and threatened with rape. She also alleged that she had been stripped naked by the gendarmes during her detention. The applicant further informed the trial court that the gendarmes had not asked her whether she wanted to be represented by a lawyer during the questioning. 14.  During the second hearing, which was held on 29 August 2000, the applicant submitted a handwritten letter to the trial court. In the letter she alleged, in particular, that while she was being detained in the gendarmerie station she had been insulted by gendarme officers, blindfolded, beaten up and drenched with water. Before being questioned she had been undressed and “they” had touched various parts of her body. Threats of rape and death, directed at her and her mother, had also been made. 15.  The lawyer representing the applicant told the trial court that his client's questioning had been in breach of the applicable procedure and legislation and, as such, the statements taken from her constituted unlawfully obtained evidence which was not admissible in a court of law. Other than the statements taken from his client by the gendarmerie and then by the prosecutor and the judge on 9 March 2000, there was no evidence against her. The lawyer drew the trial court's attention to a Court of Cassation decision according to which confessions not supported by further evidence were not admissible as evidence. 16.  The lawyer further asked the trial court to hear a “cassette of the questioning” of the applicant which had apparently been mentioned in a document drawn up by the gendarmerie. This request was rejected by the trial court which noted that the cassette was not in its possession. 17.  The lawyer also pointed out that there was no mention of his client's name in the statements taken from E.Ş. who, according to the indictment, had helped his client to go to Greece. 18.  On 9 October 2001 the applicant was found guilty as charged and sentenced to twelve years and six months' imprisonment. In convicting the applicant the trial court had regard to the statements taken from her at the gendarmerie station and then by the prosecutor and the judge on 9 March 2000, as well as to the statements made by E.Ş. in the course of his trial in 1998. 19.  The applicant appealed against her conviction and argued, in particular, that the decision of the trial court had not been adequately reasoned. In the grounds of appeal the applicant's lawyer also repeated his earlier defence submissions concerning the allegedly unlawful nature of the evidence used in convicting his client, and referred to various Articles of the Convention. 20.  On 8 July 2002 the Court of Cassation upheld the applicant's conviction. 21.  At the time notice of the application was given to the respondent Government, the Government were requested to submit to the Court a copy of the “cassette of questioning” referred to above (see paragraph 16 above). It appears from the documents submitted to the Court by the applicant that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs requested the Ministry of Justice to obtain the cassette so that it could be submitted to the Court. The gendarmerie, who were requested by the domestic judicial authorities to produce the cassette, stated in their letter of 21 May 2008 that they had “no records of the cassette being handed over to the Edirne prosecutor”.


4.  The applicant was born in 1929 and lives in Białystok, Poland. 5.  In 1940 the applicant's father had been arrested by NKVD (Soviet People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs) and was sent with his family to Kazakhstan. The applicant's mother died in 1940 and her father died in London in 1967. In 1946 the applicant and her siblings returned to Poland. 6.  On 6 October 1948 the property belonging to the applicant's parents was taken over by the State. 7.  In 1990 the applicant and her sister were designated jointly as their father's heirs. 8.  On 29 November 2001 the applicant applied to the Podlaski Governor (Wojewoda Podlaski) to have the 1948 decision annulled and her parents' property returned to her. The case was transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture for consideration. 9.  Subsequently, the applicant wrote to the Minister and other authorities complaining that the property had not been returned to her. 10.  On 28 November 2003 she complained to the Minister about his inactivity. As she received no reply to her complaint, on 5 December 2003 the applicant, represented by a lawyer, lodged a complaint about the Minister's inactivity with the Supreme Administrative Court (Naczelny Sąd Administracyjny). 11.  Following her complaint, on 5 January 2004 the Supreme Administrative Court requested the Minister to provide it with the case file within thirty days. It appears that the Minister did not comply with this order. However, the Minister started examining the merits of the applicant's case and made several requests to various authorities asking them for documents. 12.  On 20 May 2004 the Warsaw Regional Administrative Court (Wojewódzki Sąd Administracyjny), to which the case was transferred, informed the applicant that despite its repeated requests the Minister had not complied with the order to provide the case file. The applicant was advised that she could therefore apply for a fine to be imposed on the Minister. 13.  On 4 June 2004 the Minister gave a decision in which he stayed the proceedings. The applicant lodged an appeal in which she asked for the decision to be reconsidered and the proceedings to be resumed. 14.  On 23 June 2004 the applicant followed the Regional Administrative Court's advice and applied to have a fine imposed on the Minister. 15.  On 3 August 2004 the Warsaw Regional Administrative Court dismissed the applicant's complaint about the Minister's inactivity. The court found that since the Minister had stayed the proceedings the inactivity had ceased to exist. The applicant's lawyer lodged a cassation appeal against this decision with the Supreme Administrative Court. However, it was rejected on 8 October 2004 as the applicant's lawyer failed to pay court fees for the appeal. 16.  After the decision of 3 August 2004, the applicant withdrew her application for the imposition of a fine, and on 17 September 2004 the Warsaw Regional Administrative Court discontinued the relevant proceedings. 17.  On 6 April 2005 the Minister resumed the proceedings. 18.  On 18 November 2005 the Minister of Agriculture gave a decision. He annulled the 1948 decision and returned a part of the property to the applicant. 19.  On 7 December 2005 the Doroszki Agriculture Co-operative, which has been using the land in question, joined the proceedings as a party and lodged an appeal against the decision. 20.  On 22 May 2006 the Minister upheld its decision of 18 November 2005. The Doroszki Agriculture Co-operative lodged an appeal against the decision. 21.  On 11 October 2006 the Regional Administrative Court gave a judgment. It quashed the impugned decision of 22 May 2006 finding that the co-operative had no standing in the proceedings. The Doroszki Agriculture Co-operative appealed. 22.  The proceedings are pending before the Supreme Administrative Court.