8.  The applicant was born in 1955 and currently lives in Gambia. 9.  The applicant was convicted of aggravated sexual assault on his then 15 year-old stepdaughter, by a judgment of the District Court (käräjäoikeus, tingsrätten) of Hyvinkää issued on 27 September 1996. He was sentenced to eleven months’ imprisonment and ordered to pay compensation amounting to 30,000 Finnish Marks (FIM; 5,045 euros (EUR)) to the complainant. The case was heard in camera before the District Court and the court documents were ordered to be kept secret until 27 September 2006. 10.  The alleged offence (principally forced oral sex) had taken place repeatedly in the family home over a period of seven weeks beginning on 26 December 1994. 11.  The pre-trial investigation of the alleged offence began when the complainant, i.e. the applicant’s stepdaughter, reported it to the police on 14 August 1996. Earlier the same month, she had mentioned the alleged offence on separate occasions to two confidantes. 12.  The District Court heard the testimony of the complainant and of the aforesaid confidantes, as well as that of the defendant’s wife and of others more distantly connected with certain details pertaining to the matter. The defence disputed that the complainant and the applicant had ever been alone together in the place where the offence was alleged to have occurred. The evidence of the applicant’s wife did not support his claims in this respect.
The District Court also had before it a medical certificate issued by the physician who attended to the complainant because of an illness she had. This medical certificate charted the progress of her illness over the period from late 1992 until 1995. Although the physician was unable to draw from his observations any inference concerning the alleged offence, the District Court, according to the applicant, found that the medical certificate supported the complainant’s view in the matter. 13.  On 28 October 1996 the applicant appealed to the Helsinki Court of Appeal (hovioikeus, hovrätten), annexing his wife’s statement in which she changed her position so as to support the applicant. An oral hearing was also requested. 14.  On 26 November 1996, i.e. after the expiry of the time-limit for adducing written submissions to the Court of Appeal pursuant to Chapter 26, section 25 of the Code of Judicial Procedure, the applicant’s ex-wife submitted a letter to the Court of Appeal, retracting her previous submission. She explained that she had instigated divorce proceedings and could now think more clearly about the events. 15.  In its judgment of 1 July 1997 the Court of Appeal, without having held an oral hearing, upheld the District Court’s judgment. 16.  The applicant learned about his ex-wife’s submission of 26 November 1996 and of her changed position from the Court of Appeal’s aforementioned judgment, in which it was stated as follows:
“[The applicant’s ex-wife] has, in her statement submitted to the Court of Appeal, announced that she wants to retract her earlier written statement which was annexed to [the applicant’s] letter of appeal and which she had, in her view, signed under heavy pressure. Therefore, there is no reason to doubt that her statement given at the District Court was not accurate. It is manifestly unnecessary to request [the applicant’s] comments on the statement. ... Thus, the request to hold an oral hearing is rejected as unfounded.” 17.  On 29 August 1997 the applicant applied to the Supreme Court (korkein oikeus, högsta domstolen) for leave to appeal raising, inter alia, questions concerning the overall evaluation of the evidence and maintaining that the Court of Appeal should not have accepted the withdrawal of the affidavit of 26 November 1996 without giving him an opportunity to comment on the matter. The Supreme Court refused the applicant leave to appeal on 13 November 1997. 18.  After having served his sentence for his offence the applicant was expelled from Finland. The expulsion was enforced in the autumn of 1998.