4.  The applicant was born in 1957 and lives in the town of Gelendzhik, in the Krasnodar Region. 5.  The applicant's husband was a staff member of the Oceanology Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, a State-owned institution. In 1977 he was placed on a waiting list to receive housing. In August 1998 he was on the top of the list. In order to obtain a larger flat from the Institute, it was agreed that the applicant would transfer title to her own flat to the Institute. On 4 December 1998 the applicant and the Institute signed an exchange agreement. The Institute subsequently discovered that the applicant had sold her old flat in March 1998. 6.  On an unspecified date, having become aware of the above transactions, the Gelendzhik town prosecutor, acting on behalf of the Institute and the person who had been allocated the applicant's flat (a Mr M), brought proceedings against the applicant and her husband to have the exchange agreement invalidated and to evict the applicant's family from the flat granted to her husband. The applicant's husband brought a counter-claim seeking the acknowledgement of his right to the new flat received from the Institute. 7.  On 9 March 2000 the Gelendzhik Town Court of the Krasnodar Region granted the public prosecutor's claim. On 25 April 2000 the Krasnodar Regional Court quashed the judgment and ordered a re-examination of the case by the first-instance court. 8.  The first instance heard the prosecutor, the applicant, her husband and their counsel. The Oceanology Institute's and Mr M's representatives were also present and made submissions to the court. On 1 June 2001 the Town Court granted the public prosecutor's claim. On 18 June 2001 the Town Court dismissed the counter-claim in a separate judgment. The applicant appealed. On 16 August 2001 the Regional Court upheld the judgments of 1 and 18 June 2001. The prosecutor was present at the appeal hearing. There is no written proof that the applicant received any summons for the appeal hearing scheduled for 16 August 2001. 9.  On 30 January 2003 the Supreme Court refused to initiate supervisory proceedings in respect of the above judgments. It rejected, inter alia, the applicant's complaint about non-notification of the appeal hearing, noting that the parties had been apprised of it. 10.  In the meantime, on 4 February 2000 criminal proceedings were instituted against the applicant on suspicion of embezzlement in relation to the same facts. On 19 December 2000 the case was discontinued for lack of a corpus delicti. On 15 August 2006 the above decision was quashed and the preliminary investigation was resumed. Its outcome remains unclear.