4.  The applicants were born in 1951, 1959, 1952 and 1953 respectively. All four are Ukrainian nationals and reside in the town of Smila, in the Cherkassy region, Ukraine. 5.  On 8 February 1999 the third and fourth applicants were arrested. They were remanded in custody and charged with smuggling. 6.  On 30 March 1999 criminal proceedings were instituted against the first applicant for tax evasion. On 8 May 1999 new charges of smuggling were brought against him. On 10 May 1999 he was arrested and remanded in custody. 7.  On 14 July 1999 criminal proceedings were instituted against the second applicant for forging documents and tax evasion. The second applicant gave an undertaking not to abscond. 8.  Later, given the common factual and legal background of the above criminal cases, they were joined. 9.  The first, third and fourth applicants remained in pre-trial detention until 14 July 2000, 7 June 1999 and 5 July 2000 respectively. 10.  On 30 September pre-trial investigation was terminated and the criminal case was sent to the Smila Court. 11.  On 12 October 1999 the court started considering the case. 12.  On 21 April 2000 it remitted the case for additional investigation. 13.  On 16 May 2000 the Cherkassy Regional Court quashed that decision and remitted the case to the first-instance court. 14.  On 11 September 2000 the Smila Court acquitted the applicants. 15.  On 17 October 2000 the Cherkassy Regional Court, following an appeal by a local prosecutor’s office, quashed that judgment and remitted the case for fresh consideration by the Cherkassy District Court. The applicants were ordered not to leave their place of permanent residence. 16.  Between 14 December 2000 and 22 February 2001 the Cherkassy District Court held six hearings. No hearings were scheduled between 22 February and 2 August 2001. 17.  On 2 August 2001 the Cherkassy District Court suspended the proceedings as the fourth applicant had absconded. It ordered the prosecutor’s office to put the fourth applicant on the list of wanted persons. 18.  During this period, the first and second applicants submitted repeated requests to the Cherkassy District Court and the Cherkassy Regional Court of Appeal for their case to be examined separately from that of the fourth applicant. 19.  In a letter of 3 March 2003, the Cherkassy District Court indicated, in particular, that the authorities had failed to take necessary measures to find the fourth applicant. It ordered the Prosecutor of Smila, the Prosecutor of the Cherkassy Region and the officials of the Cherkassy Department of the Interior to issue a separate indictment concerning the first and the second applicants and to take measures to find the fourth applicant. 20.  On 23 April 2003, in the course of the court hearing, the prosecutor’s office submitted an amended indictment in respect of the first applicant and discontinued the tax evasion proceedings against him. 21.  On 14 May 2003 the fourth applicant appeared before the court. 22.  On 11 November 2003 the Cherkassy District Court acquitted the second applicant. It convicted the other applicants and gave them a three-year suspended prison sentence. The applicants were ordered not to leave their place of permanent residence. 23.  The judgment was appealed against by the third and fourth applicants and by the prosecutor. 24.  On 28 November 2003 the same court declared an appeal by the third and fourth applicants inadmissible as it had been lodged out of time. 25.  On 13 April 2004 the Cherkassy Regional Court of Appeal allowed in part the appeal by the prosecutor and rejected the objections of the first and second applicants. It slightly amended the judgment of 11 November 2003. 26.  On 22 March 2005 the Supreme Court quashed the ruling of 28 November 2003. 27.  On 6 September 2005 the Cherkassy Regional Court of Appeal dismissed appeals by the third and fourth applicants and upheld the judgment of 11 November 2003. 28.  On 17 November 2005 the first, third and fourth applicants withdrew their cassation appeals against the judgment of 11 November 2003, and on 24 January 2006 the Supreme Court terminated the cassation proceedings.