5.  The applicants, Mr Sergey Mikhailovich Silin and Mr Konstantin Mikhailovich Silin, are brothers. They were born in 1982 and 1985, respectively, and currently reside in the town of Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine. 6.  In September 1997 the title to reside in the State-owned flat, where the applicants’ father had resided before his death on 29 December 1996, was transferred to Mr S. 7.  On 2 December 1997 the applicants instituted civil proceedings in the Leninskyy District Court of Zaporizhzhya (“the Leninskyy Court”) against the Zaporizhstal Joint Stock Company, the Zaporizhzhya Town State Administration, and Mr S. The applicants claimed their right to reside in the impugned flat. They maintained that they had been residing in that flat before 1997 and that in October 1997 their possessions had been unlawfully taken out of the flat. On 27 December 1997 the Zaporizhstal Company submitted its objections concerning the applicants’ claims. 8.  According to the Government, the court scheduled the first hearing for 6 May 1998, following the completion of its preparatory work on the case, which included meetings with the parties and obtaining the documents relevant to the case. 9.  Out of twenty hearings held between December 1997 and October 2000 fourteen were adjourned due to the absence or at the request of Mr S. or the representative of the Zaporizhstal Company. The hearing of 11 December 1998 was adjourned until 29 January 1999 at the applicants’ request. 10.  There were no hearings held during the periods of 2 December 1997 – 6 May 1998, 24 July – 27 October 1998, 29 March – 18 June 2000, and 18 July – 5 October 2000. According to the Government, there is no information about the progress of the case between 3 June and 26 October 1999, as the minutes of the court hearings were destroyed due to an external damage caused to the court building. According to the applicants, no hearings took place in that period of time. 11.  On 29 March 2000 the court, following the motion of the Zaporizhstal Company, allowed the participation of the Housing Department of the Zaporizhzhya Town State Administration as a co-defendant in the proceedings on the ground that the latter was the owner of the flat. 12.  On 5 October 2000 the court found for the applicants. 13.  On 21 November 2000 the Zaporizhzhya Regional Court, upon the appeal in cassation of the Zaporizhstal Company, quashed the decision of the first instance court and remitted the case for a fresh consideration. 14.  On 28 March 2001 the applicants requested the Leninskyy Court to order the Zaporizhzhya Town Prosecutor’s Office to provide the court with the copies of the documents concerning their criminal law complaints examined by the prosecutors in September 2000 (see paragraph 18 below). On the same day the court allowed the request and adjourned the proceedings pending the prosecutors’ reply. 15.  On an unspecified date the prosecutors submitted the documents requested to the court. 16.  On 6 February 2002 the court, sitting as a panel of three judges, found against the applicants. It held that the applicants had neither resided in the flat nor acquired a right to reside there. The court further held that there had been no personal possessions found in that flat which could have belonged to the applicants. The court also noted that the applicants enjoyed the right to reside in another, originally State-owned flat. The applicants’ mother acquired the latter flat by privatisation. 17.  On 18 April 2002 and 21 February 2003, respectively, the Zaporizhzhya Regional Court of Appeal and the panel of three judges of the Supreme Court of Ukraine rejected the applicants’ appeals and upheld the judgment of 6 February 2002.
II.  APPLICANTS’ CRIMINAL COMPLAINTS 18.  On unspecified dates the applicants lodged with the local police and prosecutors several criminal law complaints concerning their eviction from the flat. In September 2000 the applicants’ complaints were examined and rejected as unsubstantiated. The police and prosecutors refused to commence criminal investigation into the matter. The applicants did not challenge these decisions before the national courts.