5.  The applicant was born in 1971 in Kazakhstan and currently resides in the town of Petrozavodsk in the Republic of Karelia in Russia. According to both Russian and Kazakh authorities, the applicant is a citizen of Kazakhstan. According to the applicant, the only citizenship she obtained was that of the former Soviet Union. 6.  In October 1997 the applicant moved from Kazakhstan to the Republic of Karelia. 7.  On 13 January 1998 the Kazakh police initiated criminal proceedings against the applicant on suspicion of large-scale fraud committed in 1997 in the town of Ust-Kamenogorsk. At the same time she was put on the list of fugitives from justice as her whereabouts were unknown. 8.  On 22 January 1998 the Ust-Kamenogorsk Town Prosecutor of Kazakhstan authorised the applicant’s arrest. 9.  On 7 February 2003 the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation received a request for the applicant’s extradition sent by the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan. 10.  On 7 August 2003, pursuant to the arrest warrant issued by the Ust-Kamenogorsk Town Prosecutor, the applicant was arrested in Petrozavodsk with a view to her extradition to Kazakhstan. According to the applicant, the police officers failed to explain why she had been arrested and detained. According to the Government, on the same day the applicant signed the arrest warrant issued by the Ust-Kamenogorsk Town Prosecutor and was informed of the reasons for her arrest and of the charges against her. The Government provided the Court with copies of the arrest warrant signed by the applicant on 7 and 8 August 2003. 11.  Upon the applicant’s arrest she met with her lawyer, Mr Fleganov. 12.  On 13 August 2003 the Karelia Prosecutor’s Office sent the extradition file to the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation for examination of the extradition request. 13.  On 15 August 2003 the applicant’s lawyer lodged a complaint with the Petrozavodsk Town Court contesting the grounds for his client’s detention. 14.  On 2 September 2003 the Petrozavodsk Town Court on the request lodged by the Karelia Prosecutor’s Office ordered the applicant’s detention with a view to her extradition to Kazakhstan on the basis of Article 108 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The Town Court held that the applicant was charged with a criminal offence punishable by a prison term of more than one year and that the extradition request was pending. The Town Court did not find it possible to apply a more lenient preventive measure, referring to the Convention on Legal Assistance and Legal Relations in Civil, Family and Criminal Matters (“the 1993 Minsk Convention”) and the Russian Code of Civil Procedure. No time-limit for the applicant’s detention was set. This decision was upheld on appeal on 11 September 2003 by the Supreme Court of Karelia. 15.  Later on 2 September 2003 the Petrozavodsk Town Court examined and dismissed the applicant’s lawyer’s complaint about the applicant’s detention lodged on 15 August 2003. Relying on Articles 61 and 62 of the 1993 Minsk Convention, the Town Court found that the applicant’s detention was lawful. The applicant appealed. On 9 October 2003 the Supreme Court of Karelia upheld that decision. 16.  On 13 October 2003 the Deputy Prosecutor General of Karelia dismissed the applicant’s request to change the measure of restraint, noting that the Prosecutor’s Office of Karelia was not authorised to examine this issue. 17.  On 20 October 2003 the Petrozavodsk Town Court again dismissed the complaint about the unlawfulness of the applicant’s detention. On 27 November 2003 the Supreme Court of Karelia quashed that decision due to procedural flaws and the Town Court’s failure to give reasons for its decision to dismiss the complaint. The case was remitted for fresh examination. 18.  In the meantime, on 21 October 2003 the Karelia Prosecutor’s Office dismissed the applicant’s request to inform her about the results of the examination of her extradition file. 19.  On three further occasions in October and November 2003 the applicant’s lawyer complained about the unlawfulness of the applicant’s detention to the Prosecutor’s Office. In his submissions Mr Fleganov claimed that Article 109 of the Russian Code of Criminal Procedure prescribed a maximum of two months’ detention pending trial without extension. As the detention period had not been extended following the expiry of that period on 7 October 2003, the applicant’s subsequent detention was unlawful. On 21 November and 1 and 11 December 2003 Karelia Prosecutor dismissed these complaints. The prosecutor held that the period of the applicant’s detention was not limited since the date and time for the applicant’s extradition were fixed neither by the 1993 Minsk Convention nor by the Code of Criminal Procedure. 20.  The applicant and her lawyer complained to the Petrozavodsk Town Court about the unlawfulness of the applicant’s detention and the refusal of the Karelia Prosecutor’s Office to authorise her release. They claimed, in particular, that the applicant was not a citizen of Kazakhstan, that she had moved to Russia over six years earlier and that she could thus not be extradited to Kazakhstan. 21.  On 17 December 2003 the Petrozavodsk Town Court dismissed the complaint. That decision was upheld on appeal on 16 February 2004 by the Supreme Court of Karelia. The domestic courts found that the applicant’s detention was in conformity with the provisions of the 1993 Minsk Convention. The request for the applicant’s extradition was under examination by the Prosecutor General of Russia and no final decision was taken. The courts further held that the applicant was to be detained until the final decision on her extradition had been taken, as neither the Minsk Convention, nor the Code of Criminal Procedure set any time-limit for the examination of an extradition request. The Town and Supreme courts found accordingly that the applicant’s detention and the actions of the Prosecutor’s Office were in accordance with law. 22.  On 10 September 2004 the Petrozavodsk Town Court dismissed the applicant’s complaint about the unlawfulness of her detention, relying on the same grounds as in its decision of 17 December 2003. 23.  On 14 October 2004 the Supreme Court of Karelia amended the decision of the Petrozavodsk Town Court of 10 September 2004 and ordered the applicant’s release. The Supreme Court found as follows:
“According to Article 109 § 3 of the Code of Criminal Procedure detention over twelve months may be extended only in exceptional circumstances if the person is charged with a serious or particularly serious criminal offence. This extension is to be granted following a request filed by an investigator with the consent of the Prosecutor General of Russia or his Deputy.
Taking into consideration Article 466 § 1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure the issue of subsequent extension of detention may be decided by a court only in exceptional circumstances prescribed by law and on a request lodged by a prosecutor.
It appears from the material of the case-file that the prosecutor has not lodged such a request.
The offence of which the applicant has been accused does not relate to particularly serious offences ...” 24.  The Supreme Court concluded as follows:
“The reasonable time for the applicant’s detention (fourteen months) had expired ...
The Town Court’s referral to the fact that no time-limit was set, either by the 1993 Minsk Convention or by the Code of Criminal Procedure, for the examination of an extradition request was of no relevance to the rights and freedoms of the applicant, who had been held in detention without being charged and without any decision on her extradition for more than one year.” 25.  According to the applicant, she was released on 18 October 2004. The Government did not comment on this issue. 26.  On 8 September 2005 the Office of the Prosecutor General of Russia informed the Deputy Prosecutor General of Kazakhstan that it was not possible to grant the extradition request in respect of the applicant, since the time-limit for criminal prosecution for the offence (two years) had expired. 27.  On 16 December 2003 the applicant and her son, a minor, sought refugee status and interim asylum at the Migration Department of Karelia. On 20 February 2004 the Migration Department dismissed the applicant’s request as unsubstantiated. On 15 June 2004 the applicant’s appeal was rejected by the Head of the Migration Department. 28.  On 22 October 2004 the Petrozavodsk Town Court dismissed a complaint lodged by the applicant about the refusal to grant her refugee status and interim asylum. 29.  Meanwhile the applicant asked the Petrozavodsk Town Court to establish as a legal fact that she had lived on the territory of Russia since November 1997. On 28 October 2004 the Town Court dismissed the application, having found that establishing that fact would not have any effect on the applicant’s rights and freedoms. 30.  On 29 July 2003 the Petrozavodsk police initiated criminal proceedings on suspicion of burglary. 31.  On 10 September 2003 the applicant, being detained pending extradition, confessed to the burglary and sent her self-incriminating statement to the police. She was subsequently questioned by the police in the presence of her lawyer. 32.  On 29 October 2003 the case investigator terminated the proceedings against the applicant for lack of corpus delicti. The investigator found that the applicant had confessed to the crime in order to hinder her extradition to Kazakhstan.