6.  The applicant was born in 1987 and lives in the village of A. in eastern Hungary. 7.  The applicant is innately deaf and dumb and has medium-grade intellectual disability. He is illiterate. 8.  According to the bill of indictment preferred in the case, on 10 April 2011 the applicant – a multiple recidivist offender with the most recent conviction dating from 2 November 2009 – mugged a passer-by in Gyüre. He was then halted for an identity check by officers of the Vásárosnamény Police Department. He attempted to escape but was apprehended while still in possession of the stolen item. He was committed to the police station. 9.  Since the applicant was perceived to use a sort of sign language, a sign-language interpreter was appointed for him at once. Later in the day he was interrogated as a suspect of robbery. No lawyer was present. 10.  The Government submitted that the applicant had understood the charges brought against him but made no complaint about it and admitted the commission of the offence by signing the minutes of the interrogation. The applicant denied this, arguing that the sign language used by him and the one used by the interpreter were different and thus no comprehension had been possible between them.
The applicant’s signature on the minutes in question consists of his scribbled nickname, hardly legible. 11.  Between 10 April and 4 July 2011 the applicant was detained on remand on the charge of mugging at Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County Prison. 12.  The applicant maintained that the conditions of detention were inapt to his condition and that he had been molested, sexually and otherwise, by the other inmates. The Government argued that special measures had been put in place to address the applicant’s situation (in particular, the prison governor issued an instruction to that effect on 23 May 2011) – an assertion of which the efficacy has been disputed by the applicant (for details, see paragraphs 25 and 26 below). 13.  On 4 July 2011 the applicant was released from detention and placed under house arrest. The Vásárosnamény District Court, having noted that he did not know any sign language and was able to communicate only with his mother, was of the view that the time spent by the applicant in detention had be to be reduced to a minimum. 14.  Meanwhile, on 20 June 2011 the applicant was indicted for robbery. His mental condition was noted by the prosecution. A public defence counsel and a sign-language interpreter were appointed for him. 15.  While detained, the applicant was examined by a forensic psychiatrist. On 30 June 2011 the expert gave the opinion that the applicant’s faculties were to a large extent reduced and that he should be placed under partial guardianship. This was done by the Vásárosnamény District Court on 27 September 2011. The court noted that the applicant’s IQ was 39, he was deaf and dumb, he had medium-grade intellectual disability, he could not count and did not know sign language; the only person with whom he could communicate was his mother. 16.  The criminal proceedings conducted against the applicant are still pending. 17.  The applicant submitted the testimonies of a Mr F. and a Mr R. who were present when Mr Karsai met with the applicant on 6 May 2012 to discuss his representation before the Court. According to these testimonies, the applicant communicated using a peculiar sign-language-like method, essentially only intelligible to his mother, which appeared to be completely different from the standard sign language.