4.  The applicant was born in 1969 and lives in Ungheni. 5.  In the evening of 4 July 2002, at approximately 11 p.m., the applicant was apprehended by two police officers. They were seeking the perpetrator of several rapes committed in that area over the previous few months. As the applicant fitted the description given by the victims, he was body‑searched and arrested. 6.  According to the applicant, he was beaten up both on the way to the police headquarters and then all through the night, and forced to confess to crimes he had not committed. His criminal complaint to that effect, lodged on 14 August 2002, was eventually dismissed as unsubstantiated on 30 January 2007 by the High Court of Cassation and Justice. 7.  On 5 July 2002 the applicant made three handwritten statements at the police headquarters. He was not assisted by counsel.
In the first statement he denied having committed the crimes. In the second and third statements he confessed to having committed three rapes, on 8 November 2001 and in February and April 2002, and two attempted rapes in May and June 2002, and stated that he had been planning similar deeds for 4 July 2002. He gave details of how he had approached, immobilised and abused the victims on each occasion.
On the same day he was taken to the prosecutor’s office attached to the Mureş County Court where, in the presence of counsel, he reiterated his confession. According to the applicant, the police officers who accompanied him to the prosecutor’s office threatened him with violence if he changed his statements before the prosecutor. A police officer was present during the questioning of the applicant in the prosecutor’s office. 8.  The applicant was examined by a panel of psychiatrists and forensic doctors. They concluded that at the time of the offences the applicant was accused of, he had been aware that what he was doing was wrong. They also concluded that he had a personality disorder which led to antisocial behaviour, and he was unable to control his instinctual impulses. On 5 August 2002 they submitted their report to the prosecutor. 9.  On 18 December 2002 the prosecutor lodged the indictment with the Târgu Mureş District Court. Before the court, the applicant was represented by counsel. He retracted his previous confessions and reiterated that he had been beaten and threatened by police during the early questioning sessions. On 11 August 2003 the court convicted the applicant. 10.  However, in a final decision of 17 October 2003 the Târgu Mureş Court of Appeal quashed the applicant’s conviction and sent the case back to the prosecutor’s office for further investigation. The court found that the rights of the defence had been breached in that the applicant had not been assisted by counsel during the first questioning sessions and that the prosecutor had not ordered an expert examination of the material evidence. 11.  Following the instructions set out in the final decision, the prosecutor again heard evidence from the applicant, in the presence of his counsel, and from witnesses and the victims. The applicant denied the commission of the rapes. The prosecutor also ordered an expert examination of the material evidence and assessed whether it would have been feasible for the applicant to leave his work place and commit the rapes within the relevant time frame. 12.  On 16 March 2004 the prosecutor again indicted the applicant. 13.  On 9 October 2006 the Târgu Mureş District Court acquitted the applicant, as it considered that the evidence in the file was not sufficient to allow a conclusion beyond doubt that he had committed the crimes of which he was accused. It noted that some of the material evidence gathered had turned out to be inconclusive and that the applicant had presented an alibi for the time when two of the rapes had occurred. The court did not examine the applicant’s first statements, whereby he had incriminated himself. 14.  In a final decision of 27 September 2007 the Mureş County Court reversed the judgment and convicted the applicant on three counts of rape and one of attempted rape, sentencing him to one year, six months and twenty-six days in prison. The court considered that the applicant’s confessions were consistent with the evidence in the file, in particular the victims’ statements, the expert medical report and the statements made by the witnesses who had attended the reconstruction of the events in the first set of investigations. The court attached weight to the fact that the confessions had been handwritten by the applicant himself and included a detailed description of his modus operandi; it also argued that more often than not the first declarations made in a case reflected the truth, as the person had not yet had the time to reflect and prepare a defence. The court also observed that the applicant had repeated his confession before the prosecutor in the presence of a lawyer, and that at that time he had made no mention of abuse by the investigators. It noted that the applicant had refused to provide biological samples for testing and that the polygraph test he had taken had showed “simulated behaviour”. Lastly, the court noted that no similar rapes had been reported in the area after the applicant’s arrest.