4.  The applicant was born in 1968 in Kumanovo, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. 5.  On 13 May 1993 the applicant instituted civil proceedings before the Skopje I Municipal Court (Општински Суд Скопје I) for annulment of a care agreement (“the agreement”) concluded on 25 February 1993 between her sister and their late aunt (the latter had also been the applicant’s adoptive mother). The applicant claimed that her adoptive mother had lacked legal capacity to enter into the agreement, which had been signed two months before her death, as she had not been in a fit condition to make rational decisions. Under the agreement, the applicant’s sister had been granted ownership of the flat at issue in return for caring for her adoptive mother. 6.  Following enactment of the Courts Act in 1995, the Skopje I Municipal Court became the Skopje Court of First Instance (Основен Суд Скопје I). 7.  Of the seventeen hearings held between 13 May 1993 and 4 February 1998 before the Skopje Court of First Instance, five were adjourned (the proceedings were stayed for three months by the trial judge owing to the applicant’s absence from the hearing of 29 November 1993). 8.  On 4 February 1998 the Skopje Court of First Instance granted the applicant’s application and annulled the 1993 agreement. The decision was reportedly served on the parties on 11 September 1998. 9.  On 28 September 1998 the applicant’s sister appealed against the lower court’s decision before the Skopje Court of Appeal (Апелационен Суд Скопје). 10.  On 25 March 1999 the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal. 11.  On 13 May 1999 the applicant’s sister lodged an appeal on points of law (ревизија) with the Supreme Court (Врховен Суд). 12.  Оn 21 September 2000 the Supreme Court quashed the lower courts’ decisions and referred the case back to the Court of First Instance. It found that the courts had based their decisions on insufficient evidence. The Supreme Court instructed the Court of First Instance to obtain new evidence and to examine other witnesses, in order to shed light on the state of health of the applicant’s adoptive mother at the time the agreement had been concluded. 13.  Of the sixteen hearings held between 1 December 2000 and 19 March 2004 before the Skopje Court of First Instance, six were adjourned (the applicant attended all the hearings except the hearing of 1 April 2002). 14.  On 11 June 2003 the President of the Court of First Instance dismissed the trial judge’s request to be removed from the case on account of the applicant’s sister’s inappropriate behaviour during the proceedings and the doubts she had expressed concerning the judge’s impartiality. 15.  After the case had been referred back to the Court of First Instance, two expert opinions were ordered for the purpose of determining the state of the adoptive mother’s health at the time the agreement had been concluded. 16.  On 11 March 2005 the Court of First Instance upheld the applicant’s claim and declared the agreement null and void. 17.  On 1 December 2005 the Court of Appeal upheld the applicant’s sister’s appeal and referred the case back for a retrial. The case is pending before the Court of First Instance.