7.  The applicant is disabled and uses a prosthesis. 8.  On 19 March 1999 the applicant become intoxicated in a bar and quarrelled with another customer (the “victim”). After leaving the establishment, he punctured the tires of the victim’s car with his knife. The victim and some of his friends chased the applicant, who tried to hide in a small shop. A scuffle ensued, which resulted in the applicant inflicting three stab wounds to the victim in the area of the neck. 9.  Later on the same day, 19 March 1999, a preliminary investigation was opened against the applicant for attempted murder. He was charged on the next day. 10.  The preliminary investigation concluded sometime in May 1999. 11.  On an unspecified date, an indictment for attempted murder was entered against the applicant with the Plovdiv Regional Court. 12.  In a judgment of 29 October 1999 the Plovdiv Regional Court found the applicant guilty of attempted murder, sentenced him to six years’ imprisonment and ordered him to pay damages to the victim. The court found that the applicant, who was drunk at the time of the events and could not remember everything, had not acted in self-defence when he stabbed the victim three times in the neck because there was insufficient evidence that a direct and imminent threat towards him existed at the time. The applicant appealed against the judgment. 13.  In a judgment of 9 March 2000 the Plovdiv Court of Appeals dismissed the applicant’s appeal, but found that there were mitigating circumstances and reduced his sentence to four years’ imprisonment. On an unspecified date, the applicant filed a cassation appeal. 14.  In a judgment of 23 July 2001 the Supreme Court of Cassation quashed the judgment of the second-instance court and remitted the case as it found that the Plovdiv Court of Appeals had insufficiently examined the applicant’s claim that he had acted in self defence. 15.  In a judgment of an unspecified date, the Plovdiv Court of Appeals again dismissed the applicant’s appeal against the first-instance court’s judgment, allegedly on similar grounds to those contained in its judgment of 9 March 2000. The applicant did not to file a cassation appeal against the second judgment of the Plovdiv Court of Appeals. 16.  The applicant was detained sometime on 19 March 1999 and was held overnight. 17.  At 10.30 a.m. on 20 March 1999 the applicant was remanded in custody upon a decision of an investigator, which was confirmed later in the day by the public prosecutor’s office. The justification for detaining the applicant was:
“Article 152 § 1 of [the Criminal Code] – a serious intentional offence has been committed”. 18.  Subsequently, the applicant filed three unsuccessful appeals against his detention. 19.  His first appeal was filed with the Plovdiv Regional Court on 29 March 1999. It was examined ten days later on 8 April 1999 when the court dismissed it on the grounds that he had been charged with a serious intentional offence and could obstruct the investigation, because it was still ongoing. 20.  Following the conclusion of the preliminary investigation, the applicant filed another appeal against his detention on 4 June 1999 with the public prosecutor’s office. The applicant argued that there was no danger that he would abscond, re-offend or obstruct the investigation especially as the latter had already been concluded. In addition, he noted that he was finding the detention difficult because of his disability. The appeal was not processed, so he re-filed it on 14 June 1999 directly with the Plovdiv Regional Court. 21.  The applicant’s appeal was examined by the Plovdiv Regional Court at a hearing on 2 July 1999 and dismissed it. It found that because he had been charged with a serious offence there were sufficient legal grounds to continue his detention. Furthermore, none of the relevant circumstances, which might entail a re-evaluation of the grounds of his detention, had changed. The applicant appealed against the decision of the Plovdiv Regional Court on 5 July 1999. 22.  In a decision of 8 July 1999 the Plovdiv Regional Court, in camera, refused to quash or amend its decision of 2 July 1999 citing similar grounds to those in its challenged decision. 23.  In a decision of 28 July 1999 the Plovdiv Court of Appeals, in camera, dismissed the applicant’s appeal and upheld the lower court’s decisions. The court found that the continued detention of the applicant was in conformity with the relevant provisions of the Criminal Code and that none of the relevant circumstances, which might entail a re-evaluation of the grounds of his detention, had changed. 24.  On 29 September 1999 the applicant filed his third appeal against his detention on grounds similar to those in his appeal of 4 June 1999. The applicant maintained that there had been a change in the relevant circumstances, because he had been detained for more than six months and was finding the detention difficult as a result of his disability. He also challenged the notion that he should be treated as being charged with a serious offence because the evidence obtained during the trial allegedly proved otherwise. 25.  The applicant’s third appeal was examined on 29 October 1999, when the trial court dismissed it without giving explicit reasons and adopted its judgment finding the applicant guilty of attempted murder.