4.  The applicant was born in 1946 and currently lives in New Portland, the United States. 5.  In March 1996 a third person on the applicant’s behalf sold his car to another third person. The sale was carried out on the basis of a power of attorney issued by the applicant to the third person in 1993. 6.  On 11 November 1996 the applicant asked the Syktyvkar Town Court to declare null and void the sale of his car claiming that it had been performed contrary to his will and on the basis of a revoked and thus invalid power of attorney. 7.  On 14 May 1998 the Town Court held the first hearing of the case. It appears that the proceedings were adjourned at least on five occasions: on 18 September 1998, 12 July and 2 November 1999, on 27 June 2001 and on 26 August 2002, when on the latter date, the case was, according to the Government, adjourned as the judge was busy in unrelated proceedings. 8.  On 30 January 2003 the Town Court examined and dismissed the applicant’s claim in absentia. The applicant received a copy of the reasoned version of the judgment on 12 February 2003 and introduced a notice of appeal. Since the applicant failed to pay the court fee and to make the relevant number of copies of his statement of appeal, the court twice refused to examine his appeal and set new time-limits for lodging it. The applicant was requested to comply with the procedural requirements. 9.  On 25 March 2003 the applicant’s appeal was disallowed due to his failure to comply with the procedural requirements and to pay the court fee. 10.  The applicant unsuccessfully attempted to contest this decision. His further appeals were disallowed as they were introduced outside the time-limit. The requests to extend the time-limit were rejected as unsubstantiated.