5.  The applicant was born in 1973 and is currently detained in Łódź Remand Centre. 6.  On 25 September 2006 the Łódź District Court (Sąd Rejonowy) ordered the applicant’s detention on remand for a period of three months. He was charged with a number of offences committed with an armed organised criminal group. At the time, the applicant was serving a prison sentence imposed in another set of criminal proceedings against him. The end of that sentence fell on 7 November 2007.
In its decision, the District Court relied on a reasonable suspicion that the applicant had committed the offences in question. The court further emphasised the gravity of the offences in question, the applicant’s active role in the criminal group and the likelihood of a heavy prison sentence being imposed on him after conviction. In the domestic court’s view the fact that the applicant was at the time detained in reference to other criminal proceedings against him did not guarantee the proper course of the proceedings since the applicant could had been released at any time from the pre-trial detention without the relevant authorities, responsible for the impugned proceedings, being notified. Moreover, the necessity to obtain further evidence justified remanding the applicant in custody.
The applicant’s appeal against the decision of 25 September 2006 was dismissed by the Łódź Regional Court (Sąd Okręgowy) on 25 October 2006. 7.  On 19 December 2006 and 26 June 2007 the Łódź Regional Court extended the applicant’s pre-trial detention. Subsequently, the Łódź Court of Appeal (Sąd Apelacyjny) extended the applicant’s detention on 19 September 2007, 19 December 2007, 28 March 2008, 18 June 2008, 22 October 2008 and on 23 December 2008.
The applicant’s appeals against the decisions to extend his pre-trial detention were dismissed by the Łódź Court of Appeal on 24 January 2007, 16 April 2008, 2 July 2008, 12 November 2008 and 21 January 2009. 8.  In the period from 7 November 2007 until 7 May 2011 the applicant served a prison sentence imposed by the Łódź Regional Court in separate set of criminal proceedings against him (case no. XVIII K 28/06). 9.  During this period the Łódź Court of Appeal extended the applicant’s the applicant’s detention on remand by the decisions of 30 March 2009 (detention extended until 31 December 2009), of 21 December 2009 (detention extended until 30 September 2010), of 22 September 2010 (detention extended until 31 March 2011) and of 23 March 2011 (detention extended until 30 September 2011). The applicant lodged a number of motions to be released as well as appeals against the decisions extending his pre-trial detention, all in vain.
In their decisions the courts repeated the grounds previously given for the applicant’s detention. 10.  Meanwhile, on 18 March 2009 the State Prosecutor (Prokurator Krajowy) lodged a bill of indictment against the applicant with the Łódź Regional Court. The applicant was charged with several counts of extortion and drug-trafficking committed in an organised and armed criminal group. The bill of indictment comprised 94 charges brought against 28 defendants. The prosecution authorities requested that 318 witnesses be heard before the court. 11.  The court scheduled fifteen hearings for November and December 2009. Due to sick-leaves of the presiding judge and of some of the accused those hearings did not take place. 12.  The trial was eventually opened on 18 January 2010. Subsequent scheduled hearings were adjourned due to absences of some of the co‑accused and due to problems with sound system in the court room. 13.  In May 2010 the Regional Court gave a severance order and decided to determine charges against two co-accused separately. 14.  The bill of indictment was finally read out to the defendants at the hearing held on 27 May 2010. 15.  At the hearing of 28 May 2010 the Regional Court started taking evidence from the accused. It subsequently held fourteen hearings until the end of 2010, during which some of the accused gave evidence. Five of the scheduled hearings were adjourned due to sick-leaves of the accused. One hearing was adjourned because of the motion for disqualification of the judge lodged by one of the co-accused. 16.  In 2011 the Regional Court continued taking evidence from the defendants. Of the twenty nine hearings scheduled for this year, eleven took place. The trial court adjourned fifteen hearings due to justified absences of the parties, three hearings were cancelled due to sick-leaves of the presiding judge and the lay judges. 17.  Meanwhile, on 17 August 2011 the Łódź Regional Court decided to continue pre-trial detention unless the applicant would post bail of 20,000 Polish zlotys (PLN) within two weeks from the date of the decision.
The applicant was released on bail and police supervision on 19 August 2011. He was also prohibited from leaving the country. 18.  The Regional Court scheduled twenty hearings for 2012, of which six hearings were eventually held. At the hearing of 16 April 2012 the trial court started taking evidence from witnesses.
Of the fourteen hearings cancelled this year, two were adjourned because of a sick-leave of the presiding judge, three because of absences of witnesses, and the remaining nine hearings – because of absences of the parties 19.  Until 30 July 2013 the Regional Court scheduled nine hearings for 2013, of which seven were adjourned due to justified absences of the defendants. 20.  The criminal proceedings against the applicant are still pending before the first-instance court. 21.  On 26 January 2011 the Łódź Regional Court (Sąd Okręgowy) dismissed the applicant’s motion to take part in a funeral of his grandfather, who had been also his godfather. The applicant did not lodge an appeal against this decision. 22.  The funeral took place on 27 January 2011. 23.  On 27 April 2011 the applicant lodged a complaint with the Łódź Court of Appeal under the Law of 17 June 2004 on complaints about a breach of the right to a trial within a reasonable time (ustawa o skardze na naruszenie prawa strony do rozpoznania sprawy w postępowaniu przygotowawczym prowadzonym lub nadzorowanym przez prokuratora i postępowaniu sądowym bez nieuzasadnionej zwłoki – “the 2004 Act”). He sought a finding that the length of the criminal proceedings against him had been excessive and 20,000 PLN in compensation. 24.  On 27 July 2011 the Łódź Court of Appeal dismissed the applicant’s complaint. The court found that, considering the complexity of the case and the number of co-accused who had actively tried to obstruct the proceedings, the Łódź Regional Court had conducted the proceedings in a correct and timely manner. Consequently, the appellate court refused to award the applicant compensation.