4.  The applicant was born in 1935 and lives in Kyiv, Ukraine.
First set of proceedings 5.  In April 1994 the applicant instituted proceedings in the Irpin Town Court (Ірпінський міський суд Київської області) against her former husband seeking to divide their property. The latter lodged a counterclaim. On 18 August 1995 the court divided the property between the applicant and her former husband. 6.  On 6 February 1996 the Kyiv Regional Court (Київський обласний суд)[1] quashed this judgment and remitted the case for a fresh consideration. 7.  On 23 December 1997 the Irpin Town Court adopted another judgment on the division of property between the applicant and her former husband. The court further rejected the remainder of principal and counter claims. 8.  On 10 March 1998 the Kyiv Regional Court quashed this judgment and, because of the complexity of the issues involved, took over the case. In its ruling the court stated inter alia that by partially rejecting the principal and counter claims the Irpin Town Court in fact had left unsettled the matter of property right over the house which was a part of the disputed property. 9.  In the course of the aforesaid proceedings a number of forensic examinations have been ordered by the courts. In particular, in their rulings of 22 October 1996 and 22 April 1999 the courts, ordering additional examinations, noted inter alia that “inasmuch as long period of time ha[d] lapsed since the previous forensic examination[s]” they, accordingly, were out-of-date and did not correspond to the actual state of things. 10.  By its letter of 16 July 2001 the Kyiv Regional Court of Appeal remitted the case back to the first instance court for examination. The court did not provide any reasoning for this remittal except for a general reference to Article 31 of the Judiciary Law, which, at the material time, set forth the competence of a court of appeal. 11.  On 19 February 2002 the Irpin Town Court divided the property between the applicant and her former husband. In particular, the court held that the applicant did not have any property rights regarding the house, in which she lived with her former husband. 12.  On 2 July 2002 the Kyiv Regional Court of Appeal upheld this judgment. 13.  On 20 January 2003 the Supreme Court of Ukraine rejected the applicant's appeal in cassation.
Second set of proceedings 14.  In April 2003 the applicant instituted proceedings in the Irpin Town Court against her former husband complaining that he had evicted her from the house in which they lived. She also sought to move in the house in question. On 26 June 2003 the court found against the applicant and held that the house in question was owned by the applicant's former husband and a certain M. Moreover, in March 2003 the applicant's former husband had sold his part of the house to D. Therefore, the applicant had no property rights over the house in question and there were no legal grounds to move her in. On 21 October 2003 the Kyiv Regional Court of Appeal upheld this judgment. On 29 August 2005 the Supreme Court of Ukraine rejected the applicant's appeal in cassation.