4.  The applicants were born in 1925 and 1937 respectively and live in Limassol. 5.  On 30 April 1990 a civil action was lodged against the applicants before the District Court of Nicosia, in their capacity as administrators of the estate of Mr K. Kynigos, concerning a contract of sale of property the latter had concluded with the plaintiffs. 6.  The pleadings were completed by 7 December 1990. 7.  Between the above date and 12 May 1997, the case was continuously adjourned. Two adjournments were at the applicants’ request; four took place due to the failure of the applicants’ lawyer to appear before the court and six at the request of both parties. Further, within this period the case was adjourned five times by the court itself, namely in 26 March 1993 until 6 April 1993, on 19 November 1993 until 11 April 1994 and then again to 13 October 1994; on 11 October 1995 the court adjourned the case until 4 March 1996 and then again until 30 September 1996. 8.  The hearing commenced on 12 May 1997 and was completed after several sessions on 6 July 1999, with two adjournments at the plaintiffs’ request and three at the applicants’. 9.  On 30 November 1999 the district court delivered its judgment finding in favour of the plaintiffs. 10.  On 11 January 2000 the applicants filed an appeal against the judgment. 11.   The file of the case was transmitted to the Supreme Court on 8 February 2001. 12.  The appeal was dismissed on 8 June 2001 by the Supreme Court for failure of the applicants to submit their outline address within the required time-limit. 13.  On 17 July 2001 the applicants lodged an application for the reinstatement of the appeal. 14.  The appeal was heard on 1 February 2002 following one adjournment by the court and on 21 May 2002 the Supreme Court dismissed the applicants’ application.