5.  The applicant was born in 1972 and lives in Warsaw. He is currently detained in the Warsaw Remand Centre. 6.  On 26 October 2005 the applicant was arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking, while acting in an organised and armed criminal group. 7.  On 27 October 2005 the Warsaw District Court (Sąd Rejonowy) remanded him in custody, relying on the reasonable suspicion that he had committed the offence in question that was supported by the crown witness's testimony. It also considered that keeping the applicant in detention was necessary to secure the proper conduct of the proceedings, given the risk that he might induce witnesses to give false testimony. The court also stressed the severity of the anticipated sentence and the complex nature of the case. 8.  Later, twenty-eight members of the same criminal group were detained and charged in connection with the investigation against the applicant. 9.  The applicant's appeal against the detention order, likewise his further appeals against decisions prolonging his detention and all his subsequent, numerous applications for release were unsuccessful. 10.  In the course of the investigation, the applicant's detention was prolonged by decisions of the Warsaw Regional Court (Sąd Okregowy) delivered on 12 January, 20 April and 28 August 2006, and by decisions of the Warsaw Court of Appeal (Sąd Apelacyjny) delivered on 24 October 2006, 24 April, 21 August and 23 October 2007 and 26 February 2008. 11.  In all their detention decisions the authorities repeatedly relied on a strong suspicion that the applicant had committed the offences in question, which was supported by evidence from witnesses, in particular by a crown witness's testimony. They underlined the grave nature of those offences and the likelihood of a severe sentence of imprisonment being imposed on the applicant. The courts attached great importance to the complexity of the case, the significant number of persons involved (around 100 persons) and the voluminous documentation gathered in the proceedings. These considerations led the courts to assume that the applicant, if released, could tamper with evidence, induce the witnesses to change their testimonies and obstruct the proper course of the proceedings. The courts stressed, on several occasions, that a number of experts' opinions had to be requested and legal help had to be sought from Sweden and Bulgaria. They found no special grounds, as specified in Article 259 § 1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, that would justify lifting the detention and imposing a less severe measure.
On one occasion the court noted that a special room had to be reserved for hearings in the present case, as it concerned a dangerous criminal group.
Furthermore, in its decision of 23 October 2007 the court stressed the importance of holding hearings regularly, in order to have the proceedings conducted within a reasonable time. 12.  On 26 September 2007 a bill of indictment was lodged with the Warsaw Regional Court. There were twenty-nine defendants in the case, all charged with, inter alia, numerous counts of drug trafficking and illegal possession of arms, committed in an organised criminal group. 13.  On 25 March 2008 the trial court held the first hearing. 14.  During the court proceedings the authorities further prolonged the applicant's detention pending trial. The applicant's detention was extended by the Warsaw Court of Appeal's decisions of 26 June and 4 December 2008 and 18 June 2009. The courts repeated the grounds previously given for the applicant's continued detention but stressed, in the first two decisions that certain tasks needed to be undertaken by the court of first‑instance, in order to have the proceedings completed within a reasonable time. 15.  The applicant was heard before the trial court on 4 February 2009. 16.  On 22 June 2010 the Warsaw Court of Appeal prolonged the applicant's detention until 31 October 2010. 17.  The proceedings are still pending before the first-instance court.