5.  The applicant was born in 1964 and is currently serving a life term in Sofia Prison. 6.  On 5 August 1996 the applicant was arrested on suspicion of having abducted a person. On 14 August 1996 he was charged with that offence. In September 1996 he was charged with murdering three police officers, and on 4 June 1997 with at least ten other offences. 7.  On an unspecified date in 1998 the prosecuting authorities submitted an indictment against the applicant to the Sofia City Court. However, on 18 September 1998 the judge rapporteur referred the case back to them, citing irregularities in the manner in which some of the charges and evidence had been presented to the applicant. 8.  On 12 October 1998 the prosecuting authorities submitted to the Sofia City Court an indictment against the applicant and three others. The charges included the murder of three police officers, several attempted murders, robberies, thefts, unlawful deprivation of liberty, and unlawful possession of firearms. On 29 December 1998 the judge rapporteur set the case down for trial over several days in May 1999. 9.  The Sofia City Court held at least seven hearings between May 1999 and 8 March 2000, and on the latter date convicted the applicant of aggravated murder, hooliganism, attempted armed robbery, deprivation of liberty and unlawful possession of firearms, and acquitted him of the other charges. It sentenced him to life imprisonment without commutation and ordered that he should begin serving his sentence under the strictest prison regime (the so-called “special regime” – see paragraph 21 below). 10.  On appeal, the Sofia Court of Appeal held at least five hearings, the last of which took place on 14 January 2002. On 10 February 2003 it partly quashed the lower court's judgment, acquitting the applicant of one of the charges of attempted armed robbery and of the charges of unlawful possession of firearms, and re-qualifying one of the other charges. It upheld the remainder of the judgment, including the applicant's sentence. 11.  On 27 February 2004 the Supreme Court of Cassation partly quashed the Sofia Court of Appeal's judgment and remitted the case to that court for reconsideration of the charges of attempted robbery. It upheld the remainder of the judgment, including the applicant's sentence. 12.  On remittal, the Sofia Court of Appeal held at least two hearings. On 31 August 2004, it upheld the Sofia City Court's judgment, acquitting the applicant of the charges of attempted armed robbery. No appeal was lodged, and the judgment became final on 6 October 2004. 13.  On 7 February 1997 the applicant was moved to the detention centre of the National Investigation Service. On 2 December 1997 he was transferred to Sofia Prison. Between 1997 and 2004, he was held there as a detainee awaiting the final determination of the criminal charges against him. Since 17 November 2004, his stay in the prison has been continued on the basis of his final sentence of life imprisonment. 14.  On 4 December 1997 the prison's governor, relying on the relevant regulations (see paragraphs 17 and 18 below) and having regard to a note in which the investigating authorities had described the charges against the applicant, his character, and their assessment of the risk that he could pose to prison staff, ordered that he be placed within an isolated group of prisoners subjected to stringent security measures and be deprived of the right to take part in communal activities. In a follow-up decision of 14 May 1999 the governor ordered that the applicant be handcuffed each time he was separated from that group. According to the Government, the applicant was being handcuffed only when taken out of the premises occupied by the group – for outdoor activities, visits to the prison doctor, dentist or library, or receiving visitors or lawyers. He was allowed to exercise in a special secluded yard. The applicant contended that he was being handcuffed each time when taken out of his cell. 15.  The applicant alleged that he was held alone in a locked cell measuring 1.9 by 4.05 metres. He could leave the cell only for his daily one‑hour walk. During the first eight or nine months in prison he took his walk alone. After that, he was allowed to join one or two other life prisoners, but was prohibited from talking to them. Since October 2001, he was again taking his daily walks alone, in a concrete enclosure covered with a wire-net and measuring 6.7 by 11 metres. The only other times when the applicant was allowed out of his cell were the scheduled visits to the sanitary facilities, for five to ten minutes twice a day. According to him, those were the only occasions when he could stock up on drinking water. Later, he was allowed to spend more time using the sanitary facilities. The applicant further alleged that during the first six months of his stay in prison he was being deprived of one of his daily meals once every four days, and for an initial period of about a year and a half he was not allowed to use his own bed sheets and pillows. 16.  The Government disputed those allegations, saying that the applicant had not been subjected to serious isolation inside his prison group. They pointed out that, save for a limited number of restrictions flowing from the “special regime” to which the applicant was subjected, he enjoyed the opportunities available to all other inmates, such as the possibility to work, access to free health and dental care, access to the prison library and temple, receiving visitors, parcels, telephone calls and correspondence, etc. They cited a note drawn up by the prison's governor, which said the following:
“[The applicant] is even now extremely hostile towards the legal order of the Republic of Bulgaria. He does not accept his conviction and sentence, and considers the criminal proceedings against him to be unfair and biased. He shows complete disregard to others, and acts rudely and arrogantly when approached. Extremely mistrustful, suspicious and hostile towards all prison staff. His irascibility, undisguised cruelty and spitefulness, and constant nervous tension make him especially dangerous and unpredictable. His attitude towards the other inmates in his group does not differ markedly from the one described above. He refuses to socialise with others, hates everything and everyone. He enters into sporadic contacts with the group's hygienist when necessary. Refuses to take part in communal activities. On several occasions he was offered work, which he pointedly turned down. When taken out for visits and in the presence of larger groups of people, he often loudly makes negative remarks about the courts and the prison administration. He often rehearses his 'defence speech' naked in his cell.” 17.  The applicant disputed those allegations and pointed out that the governor did not cite any specific facts to support them.