4.  The applicant was born in 1954 and lives in Kropyvna, the Cherkassy Region. 5.  On 8 April 2002 the prosecutors instituted criminal proceedings against the applicant, then the founder and director of the agricultural company K. and the director of the company Z., on suspicion of tax evasion. 6.  On 7 May 2002 the applicant’s property was seized. 7.  On 10 May 2002 the applicant gave an undertaking not to abscond. 8.  On 17 May 2002 the prosecutors instituted another criminal case against the applicant on suspicion of tax evasion. 9.  On 26 June 2002 the prosecutors instituted criminal proceedings against the applicant on suspicion of forgery. The criminal cases against the applicant were subsequently joined. 10.  On 13 July 2002 the applicant was arrested by the police. 11.  On 15 July 2002 he was released under an undertaking not to abscond. 12.   On 30 July 2002 the investigations were completed and the case was sent to the Zolotonosha Court for trial. 13.   Between May 2004 and March 2006, the case was remitted twice for additional investigations. 14.  Meanwhile, by the decisions of the Cherkassy Regional Commercial Court of 19 July 2005 and 16 March 2006, the company K. was declared insolvent and liquidated. 15.  On 4 July 2006 the additional investigations were completed and on 5 July 2006 the case was sent to the Zolotonosha Court for trial. 16.  On 10 September 2007 the Zolotonosha Court found the applicant guilty of tax evasion and forgery and sentenced him to a fine of 6,800 Ukrainian hryvnias (UAH)[1], two-year liberty restriction with a prohibition of engaging in any business activity for the same period. The applicant was exempted from the punishment for the expiry of statute of limitations. 17.  On 22 January 2008 the Cherkassy Regional Court of Appeal quashed the judgment of 10 September 2007 and sent the case for fresh examination to the first-instance court. It found that the latter had breached the procedural requirements of the criminal law. 18.  On 18 March 2009 the Zolotonosha Court found the applicant guilty of tax evasion and forgery and sentenced him to a fine of UAH 6,800[2], one‑year liberty restriction with a prohibition of engaging in any business activity for the same period. The applicant was exempted from the punishment for the expiry of statute of limitations. 19.  On 2 June 2009 the Cherkassy Regional Court of Appeal quashed the judgment of 18 March 2009 and remitted the case for additional investigations. 20.  On 10 August 2009 the prosecutors dropped part of the charges against the applicant for the absence of corpus delicti in his actions. 21.  The case is currently pending before the first-instance court. 22.  In the course of the proceedings a number of expert examinations were ordered which delayed the proceedings for about three months. There were thirty-three witnesses questioned. The hearings were adjourned thirty‑seven times mainly because of the failure of the applicant or his representative to appear which in total caused a delay of two years. The witnesses failed to attend the hearings on fourteen occasions which delayed the proceedings for about six months. The applicant and witnesses were compelled by the authorities to attend the hearings in view of their repeated failure to appear before the court. The applicant also lodged a number of requests for withdrawal of the judge from the case and for studying the case-file, some of which were allowed.