4.  The applicant was born in 1950 and lives in Bucharest. 5.  On 1 October 1993 G.G.C. and I.S. founded a company G. in Focşani to run a mutual aid scheme of the Caritas-type, which promised eight to ten times the money invested in seventy-five to eighty-five working days. 6.  On 11 January 1994 the applicant became the sole shareholder of the company and on 17 February 1994 he withdrew by transferring all the shares of the capital to P.I. The transfer was registered at the Office of Commerce Registry attached to the Vrancea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and it was stated that the applicant continued to act as general director of the company. 7.  On 11 March 1994, following some written notifications, the police, the public prosecution and the Financial Guard (Garda Financiară) started investigating the company’s activity and found several illegalities. 8.  On 23 March, 15 April, 20 September and 19 October 1994 the public prosecutor ordered the sequestration of the movable and fixed assets belonging to the applicant, to his wife and to three companies involved in business with him in his capacity as the sole shareholder of the company G., and the freezing of his personal bank accounts until the resolution of the case, with a view to recovering the damage. 9.  On 24 March 1994 the public prosecutor initiated a criminal action against the applicant for fraudulent bankruptcy, fraud, forgeries and use of forgery, and issued a provisional detention order against him, mentioning these offences in the order. 10.  At least on 18 April, 17 May, 15 June and 14 July 1994 the Focşani Court of First Instance, on successive applications by the prosecutor, repeatedly extended the applicant’s pre-trial detention by thirty days. The applicant remained in pre-trial detention until 13 October 1995. 11.  The applicant contested his detention pending trial. At least on 17 May, 8 and 29 June, and 26 July 1994 the Vrancea Regional Court rejected his demands as groundless. 12.  On 2 November 1994 the prosecutor showed the applicant the investigation file and told him about the classification of the offences as fraud and fraudulent bankruptcy. 13.  On 7 November 1994, on an application by the public prosecutor, the applicant was committed for trial before the Focşani Court of First Instance for fraud and fraudulent bankruptcy, together with four other persons. The prosecutor’s indictment mentioned that the applicant had misled thousands of people and had illegally appropriated the amount of 555,528,448 Old Romanian Lei (ROL).
It further revealed that during investigations 4,927 depositors had requested to participate in the proceedings as injured parties and formed themselves into an association. The indictment also recorded a company and the liquidation commission as injured parties and three companies as parties bearing civil responsibility. 14.  On 27 December 1994 the public prosecutor committed the applicant for trial for mismanagement. 15.  On 8 February 1995 the Focşani Court of First Instance considered that the case was within the jurisdiction of the Bucharest Court of First Instance and remitted the case to that court. 16.  Of the twenty-two hearings held between 22 June 1995 and 28 June 2001, eighteen minutes mentioned that the court had failed to properly summon different parties in the proceedings, including two when the applicant also requested an adjournment for his and his lawyer’s absence. In particular, ten hearings held between 25 January 1996 and 14 December 2000, when I.S., one of the co-accused, had to be summoned in the United States, were adjourned at intervals ranging from three to almost eight months.
During the hearing of 14 December 2000 the Bucharest Court of First Instance eventually considered, inter alia, that I.S. was evading the proceedings and therefore his lawyer’s request that he continue to be summoned in the United States was to be considered abuse of procedural law. 17.  On 29 April 1999 the applicant contested before both the prosecutor and the court, under Article 168 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the sequestration of one of his fixed assets. 18.  On 13 July 2001 the Court of First Instance convicted the applicant of fraud and sentenced him to one year, six months and twenty-four days’ imprisonment, considering the sentence to have been executed during his provisional detention between 24 March 1994 and 14 October 1995. It further acquitted the applicant of fraudulent bankruptcy and terminated the criminal proceedings in respect of mismanagement because of the prescription of criminal liability. It also held him personally liable for ROL 555,528,448 towards the association of the injured depositors. The court maintained the preventive measures taken during pre-trial investigations.
The court considered, inter alia, that the proceedings had been delayed for a long time by the fact that on 25 January 1996 it was decided to summon I.S. in the United States. It also noted that on 9 December 1999 it was decided to summon G.G.C., another co-accused, in the United States as well and that the court reconsidered those measures on 14 December 2000. 19.  On 10 May 2002 the Bucharest Regional Court allowed the appeals lodged by the applicant, by the public prosecutor and by G.G.C., quashed the previous judgment and sent the case back to the first-instance court for a fresh examination. It considered that the civil limb of the case had not been correctly assessed. 20.  During the retrial, twenty-six hearings were held between 4 October 2002 and 11 March 2005, none of which was adjourned as a result of requests by the applicant. 21.  On 14 March 2005 the Bucharest Court of First Instance noted in a judgment that the prescription of the applicant’s criminal liability had occurred on 16 August 2001 and that he had requested, together with two other co-accused, that the criminal proceedings be continued under Article 13 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The court ordered that the case be severed, fixing a hearing for 22 April 2005. 22.  Of the eighteen hearings held between 22 April 2005 and 25 May 2007, one was adjourned at the applicant’s request. 23.  On 11 November 2005 the Bucharest Regional Court upheld the appeals introduced by both the public prosecutor and the applicant, quashed the judgment of the first-instance court on the grounds that it had not examined some objections raised by the parties, including the provisional measures taken during criminal investigations, and that the procedure had been vitiated, and sent the case back for retrial.
During the retrial, on 17 March 2006 the Bucharest Court of First Instance decided to rejoin the various claims in the case, considering that by quashing the judgment of 14 March 2005 in its entirety, the order to sever the case had also been quashed. 24.  The proceedings are still pending and the Government did not inform the Court of the course of proceedings following the hearing of 25 May 2007.
On 8 July 2008 the applicant informed the Court that a new hearing will take place on 21 October 2008. 25.  On 16 March 1994 the applicant allegedly behaved violently in the presence of a journalist who had come to gather information in respect of the mutual aid scheme, and destroyed the latter’s microcassette recorder. 26.  On 21 April 1994 the public prosecutor issued a provisional detention order against the applicant for a period of thirty days. His detention lasted until 20 July 1994. 27.  On 22 April 1994, on an application by the public prosecutor, the applicant was committed for trial before the Focşani Court of First Instance for criminal damage, abusive conduct and slanderous defamation. 28.  On 27 November 1997 the Court of First Instance acquitted the applicant of criminal damage and abusive conduct and convicted him of slanderous defamation. The court further noted that the applicant, in accordance with Law no. 137/1997, had been pardoned as regards his sentence. 29.  On 16 April 1999 the Harghita Regional Court upheld the public prosecutor’s appeal and rejected that of the applicant, quashed the judgment of the first-instance court in part and also convicted the applicant of criminal damage and abusive conduct, noting that under Law no. 137/1997 he had been pardoned as regards his sentence. 30.  On 30 November 1999 the Târgu Mureş Court of Appeal, in a final decision, allowed the applicant’s appeal and quashed the previous judgments in part. The court changed the classification of the offences from abusive conduct to assault or other forms of violence, convicted the applicant of the latter and noted that he had been pardoned as regards the sentence under Law no. 137/1997. It also removed the provision regarding the dismissal of the applicant’s appeal by the Regional Court. 31.  On 19 April 1994 the public prosecutor started criminal proceedings against the applicant for fraudulent bankruptcy, fraud, forgery of official documents and forgery, and issued a provisional detention order for a period of thirty days. The prosecutor found that the applicant had falsified receipts and had made anticipated payments to several persons. 32.  The Focşani Court of First Instance, on successive applications by the public prosecutor, repeatedly extended the applicant’s pre-trial detention by thirty days until 14 August 1994, when he was released. 33.  The applicant contested his detention pending trial and at least on 8 June 1994 the Vrancea Regional Court rejected his demand as groundless. 34.  On 22 February 1995, on an application by the public prosecutor and together with four other persons, the applicant was committed for trial before the Focşani Court of First Instance for fraudulent bankruptcy, forgery of official documents and forgery in respect of falsification of eight receipts for anticipated payment to some depositors. 35.  On 30 October 1996 the Giurgiu Court of First Instance acquitted the applicant. That decision was upheld on 8 July 1997 by the Giurgiu Regional Court and on 1 June 1998 by a final decision of the Bucharest Court of Appeal. 36.  On 4 January 2001 the General Inspectorate of Police issued the applicant with his criminal record, which stated that he had been convicted of criminal damage and abusive conduct, and sentenced to six months and one year’s imprisonment respectively by the judgment of 27 November 1997 of the Focşani Court of First Instance, which became final by the judgment of 30 November 1999 of the Târgu Mureş Court of Appeal. The sentences were pardoned under Law no. 137/1997. It further stated that on 7 November 1994 and 27 December 1994 criminal proceedings had been initiated against the applicant for fraud and mismanagement. 37.  On 5 January 2006 the General Inspectorate of Police issued the applicant with his criminal record, mentioning that he had been convicted of destruction and slanderous defamation and sentenced to six months and one year’s imprisonment respectively by the judgment of 27 November 1997 of the Focşani Court of First Instance, which became final by the judgment of 30 November 1999 of the Târgu Mureş Court of Appeal. The sentences were pardoned under Law no. 137/1997.