7.  The applicant, Pedro Katunda Kambangu, is an Angolan national who was born in 1968. At present he lives in Houston, the United States. 8.  The applicant arrived in Lithuania on 2 March 1998 with a transit visa valid until 4 March 1998. On the latter date the immigration police ordered the applicant to leave Lithuania by 9 March 1998. 9.  On 10 March 1998 the applicant was arrested while trying to cross the border between Lithuania and Belarus. He alleged that his passport had been stolen, and that he had intended to go to the Embassy of Angola in Moscow to obtain a new passport. The applicant was arrested for violating the Lithuanian immigration rules requiring possession of a valid passport for foreign travel. From 10 to 12 March 1998 he was held in police custody in Vilnius. 10.  According to the applicant, on 12 March 1998 he was moved from Vilnius to the Pabradė Aliens Registration Centre (“ARC”) on the ground that he was staying in Lithuania illegally. The applicant alleged that the conditions of his stay at the ARC amounted to a deprivation of liberty. In particular, he was not allowed to leave the ARC, save for the purpose of leaving the country, and was subjected to an overall strict disciplinary regime. The Government argued that the applicant himself had requested the accommodation at the ARC, and that he was allowed, “in case of necessity”, to leave the premises of the ARC, if accompanied by a guard. 11.  On 22 June 1998 the applicant applied for asylum. 12.  The applicant's complaints about his continued stay at the ARC were dismissed by the Higher Administrative Court on 11 October 1999, and by the Court of Appeal on 7 December 1999. The courts contended that the applicant's stay at the ARC did not amount to a deprivation of liberty. 13.  Having obtained a new passport from the Embassy of Angola in Moscow, the applicant left the ARC on 21 January 2000 upon having expressed his wish to leave the country. It appears that he voluntarily left the country on 21 January 2000.