4.  The applicant was born in 1970 and is currently detained in the prison of Zhovti Vody, Ukraine. 5.  On 8 June 1997 the applicant killed Mr R. and Mr Sh. and inflicted grievous bodily harm on Mr S. and Mr Sch. after a quarrel in a pub with a number of youths. The applicant received minor injuries. The applicant alleged that he had confronted the above persons with a knife after the quarrel in a pub since he and his friend, Mrs M., had been attacked. 6.  On 8 June 1997 the applicant was arrested on suspicion of aggravated murder. He was suspected of having killed Mr R. and Mr Sh. and inflicted grievous bodily harm on Mr S. and Mr Sch. 7.  On 11 June 1997 the applicant was formally charged with two counts of aggravated intentional murder. On the same day the prosecutor authorised his detention on remand. 8.  On 1 August 1997 the prosecutor extended the applicant’s detention on remand and the term of pre-trial investigation up to three months. 9.  On 1 September 1997 the charges against the applicant were amended: he was accused of exceeding the limits of necessary defence which resulted in killing two persons and in inflicting grievous bodily harm on two others. 10.  On 3 October 1997 the investigation was completed and the case was referred to the Kyivskiy District Court of Kharkiv. 11.  On 3 November 1997 the case was referred from the Kyivskiy District Court of Kharkiv to the Kominternovskiy District Court of Kharkiv for examination on the merits. 12.  On 11 June 1999 a judge of the Kominternovskiy District Court of Kharkiv remitted the case to the Kyivskiy District Prosecutor’s Office of Kharkiv for additional investigation. The court ordered the investigative authorities to find all witnesses in the case and question them, hold a confrontation between them, find the persons who participated in the quarrel and inflicted minor bodily injuries on the applicant and Mrs M. The court also requested a reconstruction of the events and additional forensic examination if the latter appeared to be necessary. The court also requested to check whether the charges against the applicant should be re-qualified under Article 93 of the Criminal Code. 13.  On 30 August 1999 the investigation in the case was reopened. 14.  On 28 September 1999 the applicant was charged with exceeding the limits of necessary defence which resulted in killing two persons and in inflicting grievous bodily harm on two others. 15.  On 1 November 1999 the case was referred to the Kominternovskiy District Court of Kharkiv. 16.  On 26 November 1999 a judge of the Kominternovskiy District Court of Kharkiv remitted the case to the Kyivskiy District Prosecutor’s Office of Kharkiv for additional investigation. The court ordered that a reconstruction of events be held and then a forensic examination be conducted if it appeared to be necessary. 17.  On 7 April 2000 the investigation in the case was reopened. 18.  On 6 May 2000 the applicant was again charged with exceeding the limits of necessary defence which resulted in killing two persons and in inflicting grievous bodily harm on two others. 19.  On 6 May 2000 the case was referred to the Kominternovskiy District Court of Kharkiv. 20.  On 18 May 2000 a judge of the Kominternovskiy District Court of Kharkiv remitted the case for additional investigation on the ground that the investigative authorities had failed to comply with the requirements contained in the ruling of 26 November 1999. 21.  On 30 May 2000 the investigation in the case was officially renewed. 22.  On the same day the Kharkiv City Prosecutor set a term for additional investigation until 30 June 2000 and extended the applicant’s detention on remand until the same date. 23.  On 7 June 2000 the investigator of the Kharkiv City Prosecutor’s Office instituted criminal proceedings against the applicant charging him with two counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder. 24.  On 20 June 2000 the same investigator re-qualified the charges against the applicant and instituted criminal proceedings against him on two counts of murder connected to the victims’ performance of their public duty to prevent a crime; and two counts of an attempted murder connected to the victims’ performance of their public duty to prevent a crime. 25.  On 20 June 2000 the same investigator instituted criminal proceedings against the applicant for extremely malicious hooliganism. 26.  On the same day the above criminal proceedings against the applicant were joined. 27.  On 29 June 2000 the applicant was officially charged with the above offences. 28.  On the same day the pre-trial investigation was completed. 29.  On 3 August 2000 the applicant consulted the case-file. 30.  On 4 August 2000 the bill of indictment was completed and the case was referred to the Kharkiv Regional Court. 31.  On 17 May 2001 the Kharkiv Regional Court found that the applicant had intentionally killed Mr R. and Mr Sh. and attempted to kill Mr S. and Mr Sch. following a quarrel in the pub. Therefore, the court convicted the applicant of two counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder and sentenced him to fifteen years’ imprisonment. 32.  On 18 December 2001 the Supreme Court upheld the judgment.