4.  The applicant was born in 1973 and lives in Malyn, the Rivne Region. 5.  On 25 December 2003 the prosecutors started criminal investigations concerning infliction of a bodily injury on Z. 6.  On 21 January 2004 the applicant was accused of that crime and had to give an undertaking not to abscond. 7.  On 2 March 2004 the pre-trial investigations were completed. 8.  On 10 March 2004 the case was sent to the Mlyniv Court for trial. 9.  On 18 April 2008 the Mlyniv Court found the applicant guilty of the crime of which he had been accused and sentenced him to one year of liberty restriction. By the same decision it amnestied the applicant. 10.  On 16 December 2008 the Rivne Regional Court of Appeal allowed the applicant’s appeal, which he had to resubmit on one occasion in order to comply with the procedural requirements, quashed the judgment of 18 April 2008 and remitted the case for a fresh reconsideration to the first-instance court. 11.  On 29 December 2009 the Mlyniv Court terminated proceedings as time-barred. 12.  On 23 February 2010 the Rivne Regional Court of Appeal quashed the decision of 29 December 2009 and remitted the case for re-consideration to the first-instance court. It found that the applicant’s right to defence had been breached and that the applicant had not consented to the termination of the criminal proceedings against him. 13.  The case is still pending before the first-instance court. 14.  In the course of the proceedings the hearings were adjourned once because of the applicant’s failure to appear, once on his request because of his illness, eight times because of the failure of the applicant’s representative to appear before the court and on two occasions the hearings were adjourned to give the applicant and/or his representative a possibility to study the case-file. The applicant had lodged four requests for withdrawal of the judges. Between May 2004 and February 2006 four hearings were scheduled, none of which was held. Between 25 December 2006 and 14 November 2007 three hearings were scheduled and two hearings were held at intervals of approximately five months.