4.  The applicant was born in 1968 and lives in Dolgoprudnyy, a town in the Moscow region. 5.  On 7 April 2000 the Head of Dolgoprudnyy Town Administration, K., held a meeting with heads of departments where he stated that the applicant was planning the murder of his (K.’s) son-in-law and had hired a killer for this purpose. That statement was not included in the minutes of the meeting. 6.  On 14 April 2000 a local newspaper published an article under the title “The hirer of a killer lives peacefully in Dolgoprudnyy and is going to become a minister”. The article contained, inter alia, the same statement as disseminated by K. at the meeting. 7.  On 25 April 2000 the applicant brought a libel action against K., editors and founders of the newspaper and an author of the article. 8.  On 28 January 2003 Dolgoprudnenskiy Town Court of the Moscow Region (“the Town Court”) granted his claim in part. The court ordered the newspaper to publish a retraction of the statement made in the article. The court also ordered the founders of the newspaper to pay the applicant 30,000 Russian roubles (RUB) in respect of non-pecuniary damage and costs in the amount of RUB 7,650, instead of the RUB 108,000 claimed by the applicant. The court dismissed the claim against K. It found that on 24 December 1999 a certain L. had stated to the Department of Federal Security that he had been hired by the applicant to kill K.’s son-in-law. Since the competent authorities did not take any measures in this connection, K. had good reasons to take them on his own. The court was satisfied that his statement at the meeting with the heads of departments was merely aimed at securing the safety of his family and that he had no intention of offending the applicant. Furthermore, the statement had not been reflected in the minutes of the meeting and was not otherwise made public. 9.  Both parties appealed against the judgment to the Moscow Regional Court (“the Regional Court”). 10.  On 28 May 2003 the President of the Town Court sent the case file to the Regional Court. The accompanying letter stated that the appeal hearing was scheduled for 10 a.m. on 18 June 2003. The applicant and his representative were included in the list of addressees. The applicant’s address was indicated correctly. However, according to the applicant, he did not receive that letter or any other notification of the appeal hearing. 11.  In October 2003 the applicant called the Registry of the Moscow Regional Court in order to inquire about the date of the appeal hearing. He was informed that the hearing had already taken place. 12.  Later, the applicant received a copy of the appeal decision of the Regional Court, which was dated 16 June 2003. By that decision the Regional Court upheld the judgment of 28 January 2003. It followed from the decision that the Regional Court had not verified whether the applicant had been duly summonsed to the hearing.