4.  The applicant was born in 1949 and lives in Bucharest. 5.  In a final decision of 28 June 1993, the Bucharest County Court convicted the applicant of fraud, sentenced her to six years’ imprisonment and awarded damages to the victim. The court did not address the argument that the offence had been pardoned by Decree no. 11/1988. 6.  On 5 August 1993 the applicant was placed in detention, where she remained until 22 July 1994. 7.  In a final decision of 3 October 1995, the Supreme Court of Justice acting on an application of the Procurator General (recurs în anulare), quashed the final decision of 28 June 1993 and ended the criminal trial against the applicant on the ground that the offences committed had been pardoned. It upheld the remainder of the decision. 8.  On 6 March 1998 the applicant lodged an action with the Bucharest County Court, under Articles 998-999 of the Civil Code, seeking compensation from the State for the damage caused by the “severe miscarriage of justice which had led to her illegal detention for almost one year”. She claimed 200,000,000 Romanian lei (ROL). 9.  The case was tried by ten courts, corresponding to three levels of jurisdiction. The courts examined the case either under Article 504 of the Code of Criminal Proceedings (“CCP”) or under the Civil Code. In her pleas the applicant invoked the Civil Code supplemented by the CCP provisions above. 10.  In a final decision of 28 January 2003 the Supreme Court of Justice rejected the applicant’s action. It considered that the facts of the case allowed for the application of Article 504 of the CCP as interpreted by the Constitutional Court’s decision no. 45 of 10 March 1998 (see paragraph 18 below). However, it considered, for the first time, that the applicant should have brought her claims within one year from the date on which her conviction had been quashed (Article 505 of the CCP). As she failed to do so, her action was time-barred. 11.  On 17 February 2003 the Supreme Court of Justice delivered an attestation informing the applicant that her action had been rejected as time‑barred. 12.  On 7 November 2003 the applicant obtained a copy of the final decision of 28 January 2003, after several unsuccessful attempts and complaints lodged with the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Court of Justice concerning the unreasonable delay in the drafting of the court decision.