6.  The applicant was born in 1979. In October 2006, using an assumed name, he left Belarus and entered the Czech Republic, where he currently resides. He was a party to numerous proceedings in the Czech Republic, of which the relevant ones are described below. 7.  The applicant’s true name was revealed in December 2009 when the Czech police sent his fingerprints to the Belarus police for identification. 8.  On 28 October 2006 the applicant, using an assumed name, requested asylum in the Czech Republic. He explained that he had left Belarus in October 2006 because of pressure from the State authorities in connection with the fact that he had imported advertisements in support of the opposition candidate in the presidential elections, Aliaxandr Milinkevich. The applicant asserted that he had been detained for forty-five days and fined, and that his car and passport had been confiscated. Moreover, several searches had been carried out at his house. Following his departure from the country, police had repeatedly visited his home and warned his mother and sister that criminal proceedings would be initiated against him. Thus, he feared imprisonment in Belarus for cooperation with an illegal political party. 9.  On 6 September 2007 the applicant’s asylum request was rejected by the Czech Ministry of the Interior. The Ministry had carried out a detailed analysis of the applicant’s situation and come to the conclusion that his allegations were contradictory and not credible. It noted, inter alia, that although the applicant might have originally been prosecuted and convicted for importing advertisements in support of the opposition candidate in the presidential election, this had only been a one-off activity carried out for a financial reward and the applicant had not been politically active in Belarus. Moreover, he had not made any attempt to lodge a criminal complaint against the persons who had allegedly pressurised him, or to move to another part of the country. Further, the applicant had already been punished on that account and did not have any political engagement in his country. There was nothing to indicate that he would face any new risk if he returned to Belarus. 10.  On 22 May 2008, the Hradec Králové Regional Court upheld that decision. It found, inter alia, that the events referred to by the applicant were not serious enough to amount to “persecution for upholding political rights and freedoms” since the applicant had also had problems with the police in connection with the importing of other goods. 11.  On 10 June 2009 the Supreme Administrative Court dismissed a cassation appeal by the applicant on the ground that he had failed to specify the reasons for his appeal. This was because the applicant could not be reached by his lawyer, who stated that he could not complete the grounds of appeal without discussing them with the applicant. The Supreme Administrative Court considered that the applicant had been obliged to duly cooperate with his lawyer or to bear the consequences of his passivity. 12.  On 21 January 2010 the applicant lodged another asylum request on the ground that if returned to Belarus he would be prosecuted by the police and punished for having sought asylum in the Czech Republic. During his interview on 21 January 2010 he declared that he was not aware of any on-going criminal proceedings against him in Belarus. The proceedings were terminated by the Ministry of the Interior on 3 February 2010 on the ground that it was a repeated request and there were no new circumstances. 13.  The decision was upheld by the Plzeň Regional Court on 13 September 2010. The court rejected the applicant’s argument that the Ministry had known about a pending extradition request concerning the applicant in connection with an allegedly fabricated criminal prosecution in Belarus but had failed to take it into account. The court held, inter alia, as follows:
 “...only during the examination of the applicant’s renewed asylum request was the Ministry of the Interior informed of the fact that the applicant was being sought on the national level in Belarus for drug trafficking ... and that a preliminary examination was being carried out into an extradition request in connection with criminal proceedings in Belarus.
The court is of the opinion that under such circumstances the Ministry did not proceed erroneously given that it only asked the applicant whether he was aware that he was being prosecuted in Belarus (response: “No, I do not know anything about that.”) and left any other steps to the competent authorities in the Czech Republic. Indeed, a repeated asylum request is ... inadmissible when the foreigner does not provide any new facts or findings which were not, for reasons for which the foreigner is not to blame, examined in previous proceedings which have already ended, but not when the administrative authority does not of its own motion re-examine any potential indication which would justify the granting of asylum. Therefore, the argument regarding the extradition request of Belarus cannot be regarded as well-founded.” 14.  In his cassation appeal the applicant stated that he had not been aware of the new prosecution in Belarus for drug-related offences either during the first asylum proceedings or when he lodged his second asylum request. Indeed, he had become aware of it only when the Plzeň Regional Prosecutor informed him of the extradition request lodged by the Belarusian authorities (see below). He stressed, however, that the Ministry had been aware of his new prosecution in Belarus when it examined his second asylum request, as was demonstrated by the Plzeň Regional Court’s decision quoted above. 15.  On 28 February 2011 the Supreme Administrative Court quashed the Plzeň Regional Court’s decision of 13 September 2010. It considered that the Ministry - which had known about the extradition request lodged by the Belarusian authorities when it examined the second asylum request - should have informed the applicant about it and not merely asked him whether he was aware of it. The Ministry’s decision had been insufficiently reasoned since it had not examined the question whether the new criminal prosecution and the extradition request constituted a new circumstance rendering a new examination of the merits of the asylum request necessary. 16.  On 18 May 2011 the Plzeň Regional Court, in application of the Supreme Administrative Court’s decision, quashed the Ministry’s decision of 3 February 2010 and remitted the case to the Ministry. 17.  On 22 December 2011 the Ministry of the Interior, referring to its decision of 17 October 2011 in the fourth set of asylum proceedings (see below), terminated the proceedings. It stated that the same right, that is international protection, could not be granted twice. It further stated that the applicant had not lodged an action against the decision of 17 October 2011, which had become final on 19 November 2011 (see below). It was, however, not aware that the applicant had in fact challenged that decision. 18.  On 14 December 2012 the appeals commission of the Ministry of the Interior quashed the decision to terminate the proceedings. 19.  On 1 February 2013 the proceedings were again terminated on the ground of litispendence on account of the ongoing proceedings concerning the applicant’s fourth request for asylum. The applicant did not challenge that decision. 20.  On 29 September 2010 the applicant lodged another asylum request, in which he mentioned that a fabricated criminal prosecution had been brought against him in Belarus in 2006. 21.  The Ministry of the Interior rejected the request on 30 September 2010 pursuant to Section 10a(e) of the Asylum Act, on the ground that it was a repeated request and that there were no new circumstances. The Ministry noted that the applicant had not previously alleged that charges against him had been fabricated or that criminal proceedings had been initiated against him in Belarus. These circumstances had, however, been known to the applicant during the previous asylum proceedings since he had stated that he had left Belarus precisely because of the fabricated charges against him. According to the Ministry, these circumstances should have been raised by the applicant in his previous requests and therefore could not be examined at this stage. 22.   An attempt was made to serve the decision on the applicant in person on 1 October 2010. However, he refused to take receipt of it because his lawyer was not present and nor was an interpreter. 23.  On 21 October 2010 the applicant requested judicial review of the decision. He maintained that the decision had not been validly delivered to him. 24.  On 13 January 2011, the Prague Municipal Court rejected the applicant’s action in respect of that decision as belated. The court held that the Ministry’s decision had been validly served on the applicant on 1 October 2010, despite the latter’s refusal to take receipt of it. According to the court, the case-file had not contained any power of attorney; consequently, it had been possible to validly deliver the decision directly to the applicant instead of to his lawyer. Nor had the presence of an interpreter been necessary since the applicant had submitted his asylum request in the Czech language and he had informed the Ministry that he was able to communicate in that language. 25.  On 2 February 2011 the applicant lodged a cassation appeal. 26.  On 31 May 2011 the Supreme Administrative Court found that the Ministry’s decision had not been validly served upon the applicant because it should have been served also on his lawyer. Accordingly, it quashed the Municipal Court’s decision. 27.  On 1 February 2013 the proceedings were terminated on the ground of litispendence on account of the ongoing proceedings concerning the applicant’s fourth request for asylum. The applicant did not challenge that decision. 28.  On 22 November 2010 the applicant lodged a fourth asylum request referring to the reasons given in his previous asylum applications. 29.  On 17 October 2011 the Ministry of the Interior rejected the request for asylum, considering that the applicant did not face any persecution in Belarus within the meaning of section 12 of the Asylum Act. It considered, however, that in the light of the developments in Belarus following President Lukashenko’s re-election, it could not exclude that the applicant would face a real risk of inhuman or degrading treatment upon his return. Therefore, the applicant was granted subsidiary protection under section 14a of the Asylum Act for one year from the date the decision became final (19 October 2011). 30.  The applicant requested judicial review of that decision before the Hradec Králové Regional Court, arguing that he should have been granted asylum and not only subsidiary protection. 31.  On 27 February 2013 the Regional Court rejected the action, endorsing the assessment of the applicant’s situation by the Ministry. 32.  In the meantime, on 9 August 2012 the applicant applied for an extension of his subsidiary protection granted on 17 October 2011. 33.  On 3 June 2013 the Ministry granted that extension for twenty-four months because the situation in Belarus had not improved. The decision took effect on 11 June 2013 when it was delivered to the applicant. 34.  On 14 February 2008 the Prague 10 District Court found the applicant guilty of the attempted theft of a mobile phone from a shop. He was sentenced to four months’ imprisonment, suspended for eighteen months. 35.  On 5 November 2008 the Prague 10 District Court found the applicant guilty of the theft of three pairs of shoes and sentenced him to expulsion from the territory of the Czech Republic for a period of thirty months. The applicant did not appeal against that decision. 36.  On 9 September 2010 the applicant requested the suspension of the execution of the above expulsion on the ground that he would face prosecution for a fabricated criminal offence and risked a violation of his rights under Articles 3 and 6 of the Convention. He also referred to the Plzeň Regional Court’s refusal to authorise his extradition (see extradition proceedings below), and informed the District Court that he had lodged another asylum request. 37.  On 23 September 2010 the District Court granted the applicant’s request for his expulsion to be stayed pending the decision on his asylum request. 38.  According to the applicant he should have been expelled on 4 October 2010. The removal did not take place because before boarding the plane the applicant unsuccessfully attempted to commit suicide by cutting his neck. 39.  On 25 October 2010 the District Court cancelled the suspension of the applicant’s expulsion, referring to the dismissal of his asylum request by the Ministry of the Interior on 30 September 2010 which had terminated the third asylum proceedings. The decision was delivered to the applicant on 5 November 2010. 40.  On 9 November 2010 the applicant appealed to the Prague Municipal Court. 41.  On 10 November 2010 the District Court again stayed the expulsion, in compliance with the Court’s request under Rule 39 not to proceed with the expulsion until further notice. The District Court did not give any time-limit for the duration of the suspension. 42.  On 13 January 2011, the Prague Municipal Court rejected the applicant’s appeal of 9 November 2010 as belated. That decision was served on the applicant in April 2011. The court found that the applicant had received the challenged decision on 5 November 2010 and thus the last day to lodge an appeal had been 8 November 2010. 43.  On 3 October 2008 the Prague 5 District Court found the applicant guilty of the theft of a jacket. It sentenced him to ten months’ imprisonment, suspended for three years. 44.  On 13 March 2009 the Prague 8 District Court found the applicant guilty of another theft of an electronic device. The previous sentence given on 14 February 2008 by the Prague 10 District Court was quashed and superseded by a sentence of one year’s imprisonment and expulsion from the territory for five years. The court took into account that the applicant’s first asylum request had been rejected. During the proceedings the applicant admitted that he had been a regular drug user. In particular, he had been using heroin for the past seven years. 45.  The applicant served his prison sentence from December 2008 to 4 October 2010. 46.  The execution of the sentence of expulsion was stayed on 11 November 2010 in accordance with the interim measure issued by the Court. According to the Government, this sentence cannot be executed prior to the execution of the previous sentence of expulsion of 5 November 2008 issued by the Prague 10 District Court (see paragraph 35 above). 47.  On 26 November 2009 Belarus requested the applicant’s extradition for the purpose of his prosecution for drug-related offences. In early December 2009 the Plzeň Regional Prosecutor informed the applicant of the request, a fact which the applicant disclosed in his interview in the context of the fourth asylum proceedings. 48.  On 28 January 2010 the prosecutor officially notified the applicant of the initiation of the extradition proceedings. 49.  On 23 April 2010 the Plzeň Regional Court found the request for the applicant’s extradition to Belarus inadmissible because there existed reasonable fears that the criminal proceedings brought against him in Belarus would violate his rights under Articles 3 and 6 of the Convention. It relied on a report by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic and two reports by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International provided by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. These reports attested, with regard to Belarus, to the continuing persecution and short-term detention of persons for political reasons; lack of independence on the part of the judiciary; inhuman conditions of detention; ill-treatment by police; and regular violations of the right to a fair trial.