5.  In 1994 the applicant concluded a contract with ASITO (an insurance company incorporated in Moldova), according to which she paid an insurance premium in exchange for an annuity. 6.  Since ASITO failed to pay the annuity at the term, the applicant brought a civil action against it, seeking the payment of the pension to date and requiring the company to abide by the contract. 7.  On 5 October 2001, the Râşcani District Court found in favour of the applicant and ordered ASITO to pay the pension due and to resume the execution of the contract. 8.  ASITO appealed against this judgment, asking inter alia for the cancellation of the contract concluded with the applicant in 1994 on the ground that the economic situation of the country had become worse and that the interest rate of the National Bank of Moldova had changed. 9.  On 27 February 2002, the Chişinău Regional Court dismissed the appeal arguing that the contract of 1994 was legal and valid and therefore had to be upheld by the parties. ASITO lodged an appeal in cassation against this judgment. 10.  In the meantime, on an unspecified date, the Prosecutor General lodged an “appeal in the interests of the law” with the Supreme Court of Justice. According to the Prosecutor General, the appeal had the purpose of clarifying the controversy surrounding all such contracts and of setting a uniform practice for all the courts. 11.  On 11 March 2002, the Plenary Supreme Court issued a judgment deciding the dispute between ASITO and the pension beneficiaries in favour of the former. It also ruled that its judgment had no retrospective effect on any already existing judgments and that it could not be used against the parties to those proceedings. 12.  On 16 April 2002, a panel of the Court of Appeal composed of judges V.D. (president), T.D. and V.B., quashed the judgments of 5 October 2001 and 27 February 2002, and found in favour of ASITO. 13.  After the delivery of the judgment, the applicant found out that the mandate of Judge V.D., who had presided at the hearing, had expired in 2000 and that he had been dismissed from the position of judge in July 2002.