5.  The applicant was born in 1963 and lives in Novi Sad. 6.  On 7 June 1996 he filed a lawsuit against his former wife, seeking division of their marital property. 7.  On 22 March 1999 the applicant instituted another lawsuit, this time against an individual who had subsequently bought the property in question. 8.  On 25 March 1999 the Municipal Court (Opštinski sud) in Novi Sad joined these two sets of proceedings into a single case. 9.  The Municipal Court scheduled a total of sixteen hearings, only two of which had been held since 3 March 2004. 10.   On 13 July 2005 the Municipal Court appointed an expert. On 22 February 2007, however, it appointed a new expert because the original expert had failed to provide his findings. 11.  On 25 March 2008 the Municipal Court ruled partly in favour of the applicant. 12.  On 28 January 2009 the District Court (Okružni sud) in Novi Sad quashed this judgment and ordered a re-trial. 13.  According to the information in the case file submitted by the parties, the case is still pending at first instance.