6.  The applicant was born in 1963 and lives in Piteşti. 7.  While a student at a private law school, he unlawfully practised the profession of lawyer from 1998 to 2000. He presented himself to his clients as a lawyer, pretending that he was entitled to represent them before the courts and public authorities. Although he was not registered with the Bucharest Bar, he forged and used false powers of attorney and contracts of legal assistance. He was paid by his clients for the legal services provided. 8.  On 20 February 2001 he was arrested for unlawfully practising the profession of lawyer from 1998 to 2000 and sent to Jilava Prison. 9.  By a bill of indictment of 12 April 2001 of the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Bucharest Fourth District Court (Judecătoria Sectorului 4‑Bucureşti), he was formally indicted for a part of the aforesaid charges. The case was severed and the part concerning the rest of the charges against him and his former wife was remitted to the police for further investigation. 10.  On 30 May 2001, the Bucharest Fourth District Court sentenced the applicant to four years’ imprisonment for fraud under Article 215 of the Criminal Code, forgery of official documents under Article 288 § 1 of the Criminal Code, use of forged documents under Article 291 of the Criminal Code, and unlawful exercise of the profession of lawyer under Article 281 of the Criminal Code, taken in conjunction with Article 22 of Law no. 51/1995 on the status of lawyer. 11.  The judgment was upheld by a final decision of the Bucharest Court of Appeal on 13 December 2001. 12.  While he was serving his prison sentence, on 17 November 2002 the applicant had a brain haemorrhage due to a double aneurysm and was hospitalised in the Emergency Hospital of Bucharest until 25 November 2002. 13.  On 3 December 2002 he underwent a surgical operation. Following the operation, the applicant became infected with staphylococcus and another condition (buttock and calcaneous bedsore). Therefore, he needed two more operations, in January and March 2003. The applicant alleged that after the surgery he was kept handcuffed and was not turned in his bed while he was unconscious and that this had caused the infection. 14.  On 18 December 2002, the Bucharest Fourth District Court allowed an application by the applicant for the suspension of his prison sentence on medical grounds for a period of three months. The period of suspension started on 24 December 2002, when the applicant was released from Jilava Prison Hospital, where he was an inmate at that time. 15.  On the grounds of his continuing ill-health the applicant submitted another application for the suspension of his prison sentence for another three months. By a judgment of 24 March 2003 the suspension was granted. 16.  The two court judgments suspending the applicant’s prison sentence were based on forensic reports issued by the Mina Minovici National Forensic Institute (hereinafter called “the Forensic Institute”). They revealed that the applicant was also suffering from a liver disease (hypertrophic hepatic cirrhosis). The experts found that the prison medical care system could no longer offer the applicant the necessary treatment. During this period the applicant was frequently hospitalised, not only for his infection but also for psychiatric treatment. He suffered from severe depression characterised by suicide attempts, considered by the doctors to be a direct consequence of the aneurysm. 17.  On 19 June 2003 the applicant submitted his third application for the suspension of the execution of his prison sentence, since the previous one was due to expire on 24 July 2003. He produced a medical certificate for the court, which attested to his precarious medical condition, caused by several conditions, such as: osteitis frontal-parietal right, left cerebral artery aneurysm, aneurysm of the left artery, arterial-venous malformation fronto‑parietal, severe depressive disorder, status post cerebral aneurysm with interemisferic haemorrhage broken, and chronic hepatitis. 18.  On the first hearing of 7 July 2003, the applicant, hospitalised in the Piteşti Military Hospital, was represented by counsel of his choosing. The court had admitted the evidence requested by the applicant’s representative and ordered a medical expert report to be made at the Forensic Institute. 19.  On 28 July 2003, the court adjourned the proceedings because there was no medical report in the case file. 20.  On 29 July 2003 the medical report was submitted to the court registry by the Forensic Institute. The court noticed that it was the same medical report that had been already submitted in the previous suspension request lodged by the applicant. The conclusion of the report was that the condition of the applicant had not improved and that he had to continue specific therapy through hospitalisation in a medical unit belonging to the network of the Ministry of Health and Family. Furthermore, it clearly stated that the applicant would not be fit to resume serving his prison sentence for another three months. 21.  On 18 August 2003 the court ordered a new medical report, on the ground that the one before it was based on previous investigations, and ruled that the applicant had to be re‑examined. 22.  On 19 August 2003, the court addressed the demand for another medical report to the Forensic Institute. 23.  On 8 September 2003, another surgical operation was scheduled, this time for osteitis (inflammation of a bone, commonly involving swelling, enlargement, tenderness and aching) of the skull. For this purpose the applicant had to leave Piteşti, his city of residence, and go to Bucharest. Therefore, he requested the permission of the Piteşti police to leave the city. 24.  Although his request for suspension was pending, he was incarcerated again on 8 September 2003, the previous suspension having expired. 25.  Between 8 and 26 September 2003, the applicant was incarcerated in the hospital unit of Colibaşi Prison. 26.  On 26 September 2003 the applicant was transferred to Jilava Prison Hospital, where he remained until 27 November 2003. 27.  The hearings of 8 and 12 September, 6 and 28 October and 3 and 28 November 2003 were repeatedly adjourned for lack of a medical report on the applicant.
28  The judgment regarding the suspension of the prison sentence was rendered on 19 January 2004, seven months after the applicant had lodged his application. It dismissed the applicant’s request as being without object, since a pardon had been granted to the applicant by the presidential decree of 27 November 2003. 29.  The said judgment was given two months after the applicant had been granted a pardon. The pardon was granted as result of interventions and applications by the applicant’s mother to the President of Romania, as well as public pressure, as the applicant’s situation had been covered by newspapers.
He was released from prison on 27 November 2003. 32.  In February 2006 a part of the applicant’s skull, which had been affected by osteitis, was surgically removed. A month later, in March 2006, he was operated on again to remove another part of the infected bone. 33.  By a bill of indictment of 28 June 2004 of the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Bucharest Fourth District Court, the applicant was again formally indicted on the charges with respect to which the initial file had been severed. 34.  By a judgment of the Bucharest Fourth District Court of 14 June 2005 he was sentenced to another four years’ imprisonment. That judgment was upheld by a final decision of the Bucharest Court of Appeal on 27 April 2006. 35.  On 3 August 2006, the applicant started his new sentence in Colibaşi Prison. Between 6 and 20 February 2007 he was hospitalised in the prison hospital. 36.  Following the request of the applicant for the recalculation of his prison sentence resulting from the two criminal judgements, the one of 30 May 2001 and the last one, of 14 June 2005, taking into account the part of the prison sentence already served by the applicant, the County Court of Argeş decided in its final decision of 26 March 2007 that the applicant’s prison term was to be four years. 37.  On 30 May 2007 the execution of the applicant’s prison sentence was suspended and he was placed on probation and consequently released from Colibaşi Prison.