4.  The applicant was born in 1957 and lives in the village of Rosen. 5.  In 1992 the applicant was acting as a liquidator of an agricultural co‑operative. 6.  On an unspecified date in 1993 a preliminary inquiry was opened against him by the police in Pazardzhik. It concerned his alleged mismanagement of property of the co-operative between April and December 1992. On 2 February 1993 the police confiscated the applicant's passport. In April 1993 and in the beginning of June 1993 he was questioned. 7.  On 29 June 1994 the Pazardzhik regional public prosecutor's office instituted criminal proceedings against the applicant for mismanaging the assets of the co-operative thus causing it substantial pecuniary damage. 8.  On an unspecified date in 1994 the investigator to whom the case had been assigned imposed a prohibition on the applicant's leaving the country. 9.  No investigative steps were taken after the opening of the criminal proceedings and the applicant was never formally charged or indicted. 10.  On at least thirteen occasions between 26 September 1994 and 5 November 2003, pursuant to oral requests by the applicant to terminate the proceedings and lift the travel ban, the Pazardzhik regional public prosecutor's office sent letters to the Pazardzhik Regional Investigation Service with instructions to close, and forward to it, the applicant's case file. Apparently, those instructions were not complied with. 11.  On 2 July 2004 the Pazardzhik regional public prosecutor's office terminated the criminal proceedings against the applicant, finding that the limitation period for the prosecution of the respective offence had expired in 1997. 12.  On 11 November 2004 the police lifted the travel ban imposed on the applicant (see paragraph 8 above).