5.  The applicant was born in 1959 and lives in Negotino. 6.  On 22 November 2001 the public prosecutor requested an investigating judge of the Negotino Court of First Instance (“the trial court”) to open an investigation against the applicant on the count of forgery of a notice convening a meeting of shareholders of a company, N., in which he was also a shareholder (“the notice”). The applicant was accused of having deceived a considerable number of shareholders into signing the notice by misleading them in the belief that there would be only one item on the agenda, instead of eight, as was actually the case. The investigating judge heard the applicant and 47 witnesses. After the investigation had been completed, on 29 May 2002 the public prosecutor lodged an indictment against the applicant. 7.  The trial court fixed twelve hearings, including that of 6 May 2004, which the applicant did not attend, although he had been summoned properly. During the trial, the court again heard oral evidence from the applicant, who had a court-appointed lawyer, and the 47 witnesses and admitted other documentary evidence. On 31 May 2005, in the presence of the applicant's lawyer only, the trial court convicted the applicant and sentenced him to four months' imprisonment suspended for one year. It did not rely on the statements made by the witnesses before the company's management denying that they had been informed about the remaining items on the agenda. The court rejected the applicant's defence as self-serving and the testimony of 6 defence witnesses as inconsistent and implausible. 8.  On 13 July 2005 the applicant who, at the relevant time, was not represented by counsel, appealed against that decision. He did not request to be notified of the date of the session (седница) of the Court of Appeal. 9.  On 2 November 2005 the Skopje Court of Appeal dismissed the applicant's appeal and upheld the trial court's decision. The court decided in private. The public prosecutor was present, but not the applicant. The court addressed the public prosecutor's written submission of 17 October 2005 and her oral pleadings requesting that the applicant's appeal be dismissed. 10.  The decision was served on the applicant on 21 November 2005. 11.  On 19 January 2006 the public prosecutor informed the applicant that there were no grounds for lodging a request with the Supreme Court for the protection of legality (“legality review request”).