ITMarkFactsComplaintsStart 6.  The applicant was born in 1977 and is currently detained in Ksani prison no. 7. 7.  On 2 May 2005 the Court communicated the application, asking the parties about the compatibility of the applicant’s life sentence, which had resulted from his conviction for murder of a police officer, with Article 3 of the Convention. 8.  On 30 August 2005 the Government submitted their observations on the admissibility and merits of the case, which the Court transmitted to the applicant, who was represented by Ms Butkhuzi (“the applicant’s first representative”) at that time. The representative was invited to submit observations on behalf of her client by 24 November 2005 but failed to do so. The Court then extended of its own motion the relevant time‑limit until 10 February 2006, but the representative still failed to submit any observations. 9.  By a letter of 14 February 2006 the Court, noting her persistent failure to submit observations on behalf of the applicant, advised Ms Butkhuzi that it would proceed with the examination of the case as its file stood. 10.  On 10 May 2006 the applicant’s first representative, claiming to have lost the case materials, requested the Court to provide her with a copy of the file. The Court granted that request on 16 May 2006. 11.  On 3 July 2006 Ms Mukhashavria and Mr Vakhtangidze informed the Court of their designation as additional legal counsels for the applicant (“the new representatives”) and expressed their intention to submit observations on the admissibility and merits of the case in the near future. The Court replied on 10 July 2006, reminding the new representatives of the applicant’s unjustified failure to submit observations within the previously allotted and extended time-limits, in breach of the relevant procedural rules. The Court stated that no further extension of the relevant time-limit could be allowed at that stage and advised the new representatives to contact their colleague, Ms Butkhuzi, in order to obtain the necessary documents and additional information about the proceedings. 12.  On 12 July 2006 the new representatives again requested the Court to give them another time-limit for the submission of observations. The Court rejected that reiterated request on 31 July 2006. 13.  On 15 February 2007 the new representatives requested the Court to provide them with another copy of the case materials, explaining that the applicant’s first representative had not shared the materials with them. In reply, the Court, noting that the relevant materials had already been sent to the first representative, still granted, as an exception, the new representatives’ request on 6 March 2007 by providing them with another copy of the file. 14.  On 7 May 2007 the applicant’s new representatives reiterated for the third time their readiness to submit observations on behalf of the applicant. 15.  On 21 January 2010 the applicant’s father enquired with the Court about the state of the proceedings. He complained that he had been in a complete information vacuum as regards the development of the case and also requested to be provided with a copy of the case materials.
II. THE CIRCUMSTANCES DISCOVERED AFTER THE COURT’S DECISION OF 29 JUNE 2010 16.  On 5 October 2010 the Government submitted, as part of their observations on the merits, a copy of the final and enforceable decision of 12 March 2007 of the Supreme Court of Georgia. 17.  As disclosed by that decision, the Supreme Court, granting Ms Butkhuzi’s request of 28 April 2006, had commuted the applicant’s life sentence to the sixteen years’ imprisonment in the light of amendments to the Criminal Code mitigating criminal responsibility for the offence he had committed. Consequently, the applicant’s new prison term would expire and result in his release on 7 August 2014.
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