4.  The applicant was born in 1949 and lives in Peshtera. 5.  On 11 January 1990 the Pleven district public prosecutor’s office opened criminal proceedings against the applicant for theft, embezzlement and other offences allegedly committed in 1989 and the beginning of 1990. On an unspecified date the applicant was formally charged. 6.  At a later date the case was transferred to the Sofia district public prosecutor’s office. 7.  Subsequently, the scope of the investigation was widened to include thefts and other offences allegedly committed by the applicant after January 1990. 8.  On an unspecified date it was established that almost the entire case file, which had consisted of thirty-two volumes, had been lost. Efforts were made to reconstruct the case file as far as possible. 9.  On 9 April 1999 the Sofia district public prosecutor’s office terminated the investigation on unknown grounds. 10.  That decision was quashed by the Sofia city public prosecutor’s office on 8 July 1999. 11.  The decision of 8 July 1999 also contained instructions to the investigator as to the necessary investigative steps. 12.  Between 1999 and 2002 the investigator examined several witnesses and commissioned an expert opinion by an economist to establish the value of the chattels allegedly stolen or appropriated by the applicant. 13.  On 11 April 2005 the Sofia district public prosecutor’s office terminated the proceedings on the ground that the prosecution of most of the offences was time-barred and that it had not been established that the applicant had committed the remaining offences. 14.  In connection to these and other proceedings, the applicant was in pre-trial detention or in prison between May 1991 and August 1993, between 25 November and 7 December 1993 and between May 1994 and an unspecified date in 2002, 2003 or 2004.