5.  The applicant was born in 1963. He is currently detained in Zhytomyr Prison No. 8 in Ukraine. 6.  On 7 November 1998 according to the applicant (on 10 November 1998 according to the documents), the applicant, together with three other persons, was arrested on suspicion of two counts of aggravated murder and robbery. According to the applicant, the police ill-treated him, forcing him to confess and to waive his right to a lawyer. 7.  During initial questioning on 10 November 1998 the applicant confessed that on 19 August 1998 he and other suspects had killed Mrs C. (hereinafter “victim C.”) whilst under the influence of alcohol. He also confessed that on 2 October 1998 he and other suspects had killed Mr B. (hereinafter “victim B.”). He made similar admissions during the reconstruction of the events on 11 November 1998. On 13 November 1998 the applicant was questioned again. During the questioning he maintained his confessions. Similar confessions were made by the suspects T., U. and B. All these investigation measures were conducted without legal assistance. 8.  On 18 November 1998 the applicant was assigned a lawyer. 9.  On an unknown date the applicant's mother lodged a complaint with the Kirovograd Prosecutor's Office, seeking to institute criminal proceedings against several police officers, alleging that they had subjected the applicant to inhuman treatment. On 24 December 1998 the Prosecutor's Office refused to institute criminal proceedings owing to the lack of corpus delicti in the actions of the police officers. Neither the applicant nor his mother appealed against this decision to the court. 10.  On 29 March 1999, being questioned as an accused, the applicant denied his original confessions and claimed his innocence, stating that he had been forced to confess to crimes which he had not committed. 11.  On 2 June 1999 the preliminary investigation was completed and the case against the applicant and four other suspects – T., U., B. and I. – was referred to the Kirovogradskiy Regional Court (Кіровоградський обласний суд, “the Regional Court”). 12.  On 1 July 1999 the Regional Court remitted the case to the Prosecutor of the Kirovogradskiy Region for additional investigation, as it found that the investigation authorities had violated certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, breaches which could not be remedied during the trial. In its decision the court noted, inter alia, that the investigation authorities had violated the defence rights of the accused. The court found that the criminal charges against the applicant and the co-defendants had required their obligatory legal representation at the initial stage of the proceedings, whereas they had not been provided with any. In particular, the court underlined that the applicant's questioning on 10 and 13 November 1998 and the reconstruction of the events on 11 November 1998 had been conducted without legal assistance. The same considerations applied to the self-incriminating statements made by the co-defendants. The court also noted that the investigating authorities had failed to find the murder weapon and other physical evidence. By virtue of this decision, the Prosecutor's Office was obliged to repeat all the investigative measures in the presence of the defendants' lawyers. 13.  On 10 May 2000 the additional investigation was completed and the case was referred to the Regional Court. 14.  The applicant and the co-defendants withdrew their self-incriminating statements both during the additional investigation and during the trial, and pleaded innocent. They also stated that they had been forced to incriminate themselves. 15.  On 6 February 2001 the Regional Court, acting as a first-instance court, convicted the applicant of two counts of aggravated murder and robbery and sentenced him to fourteen years' imprisonment. The applicant's conviction was based on his self-incriminating statements obtained on 10, 11 and 13 November 1998, similar self-incriminating statements made by the co-defendants and statements by the witnesses. 16.  As regards the first count of murder, the Regional Court also took into account the testimony of Mrs V., who stated that she had seen the crime and had been warned by the co-defendant T. to keep silent. The Regional Court further considered that during the pre-trial investigation Mrs V. had identified the co-defendants T. and U. (she was shown their photos); however, she had failed to attend the trial. The Regional Court also relied on the testimony of Mr C., the son of victim C., who had identified three pieces of the handle of a mattock which had been found at the crime scene and could allegedly have been the murder weapon; and the results of the additional forensic medical examination, according to which the death of victim C. could have occurred under the circumstances described by the applicant during the reconstruction of events on 11 November 1998. 17.  As regards the second count of murder, the Regional Court considered in particular the results of forensic biological and medical examinations, which concluded that the blood on the jacket seized from the applicant possibly belonged to victim B; statements by Mr P. that in October 1998 the applicant and the accused T. had sold him a cooking appliance belonging to victim B., for one litre of alcohol, and statements by Mrs N., the mother of victim B., who had found that a cooking appliance and money (35 Ukrainian hryvnias – UAH) were missing from her son's flat. Neither Mr P. nor Mrs N. had attended the trial. 18.  The Regional Court doubted the credibility of the testimonies of Mr M. and Mr C.V. According to Mr M.'s statements in court, on 19 August 1998 the applicant had helped him to repair the house of his partner from 8 a.m. until 7 p.m. According to Mr C.V.'s statements in court, from 25 September until 6 October 1998 the applicant had been repairing his barn. 19.  A request by the lawyer for an examination of Mrs Ma., Mrs Ch.V. and Mrs Ch., who could allegedly confirm the applicant's alibi, was dismissed as irrelevant. 20.  In their appeals to the Supreme Court of Ukraine (Верховний Суд України), the applicant and his lawyer challenged the judgment on a number of points. First, they contested the admissibility of the evidence obtained in breach of the law – the applicant's and the co-defendants' self-incriminating statements, as well as witness statements made during the first pre-trial investigation. The lawyer mentioned that on 1 July 1999 the Regional Court had referred the case for additional investigation precisely because the applicant's and the co-defendants' statements had been obtained in breach of the law, which rendered them inadmissible. The appeal also stated that the Regional Court had relied on statements of witnesses who had not been questioned at the trial, had ignored the statements of witnesses M. and C.V., who had confirmed the applicant's alibi, and had refused to call other witnesses requested by the defence. The applicant also complained that he had been forced to incriminate himself and had been allowed to see his lawyer for the first time only on 29 March 1999. 21.  On 10 May 2001 the Supreme Court of Ukraine upheld the judgment of 6 February 2001. As to the applicant's complaints, it found as follows:
 “... There is no cause to doubt the credibility of witnesses V. and C.
Mrs V.'s depositions were examined by the court in accordance with Article 306 of the Code of Criminal Procedure...
... There is no cause to doubt the credibility of witness P.
... The complaints by the convicted persons alleging unlawful methods of investigation are unsubstantiated. During the pre-trial investigation a review was ordered following the convicted persons' complaints and no decision to institute criminal proceedings was taken on account of the lack of corpus delicti in the actions of the police officers of the Kirovsky District Department of the Ministry of the Interior...
... The arguments of the convicted person Kolesnik and his lawyer that the court disregarded the statements of witnesses M. and C.V., who proved his alibi, are unsubstantiated. These witnesses' statements were thoroughly examined and the court reasonably doubted their veracity, because the convicted person Kolesnik did not mention these witnesses during the pre-trial investigation and they could not explain to the court the reason why they had remembered exact dates and factual circumstances after a considerable lapse of time...
... The submissions of the convicted persons Kolesnik and B. about an alleged violation of their defence rights are unsubstantiated. The convicted persons failed to specify in what way their defence rights were violated. It follows from the case file that during the pre-trial investigation they were represented by lawyers who were present during the most significant investigative measures.” 22.  The Supreme Court reaffirmed that the applicant's and the co-defendants' guilt was proved by the statements they had made during the first pre-trial investigation, by the statements of Mrs V., Mr C., Mrs N. and Mr P. during the pre-trial investigation and by the physical evidence – three pieces of the handle of the mattock which had been found at the crime scene and belonged to the victim C., the jacket seized from the applicant's house and the cooking appliance seized from Mr P. The court also relied on the results of the forensic biological and medical examinations. 23.  Neither the applicant nor his lawyer was present before the Supreme Court during the hearings.