4.  The applicant was born in 1967 and lives in Novotroitske, in the Donetsk Region. 5.  On 17 February 1999 criminal proceedings were instituted against the applicant and three other persons on suspicion of having robbed a café. 6.  On 23 March 1999 a bill of indictment was drafted in the applicant’s respect and he was placed under an obligation not to abscond. However, as the applicant’s whereabouts were unknown, he was placed on the wanted list and the proceedings were suspended. 7.  On 17 July 1999 the applicant was arrested by the police while attempting to flee after having robbed a store. Following this incident a new criminal case was initiated against him and he was remanded in custody. 8.  On 30 December 1999 the Voroshylovsky District Court of Donetsk sentenced the applicant to four years’ imprisonment for having robbed a store on 17 July 1999. The court ordered that the term of imprisonment be calculated from 18 July 1999, when the applicant had initially been remanded in custody. Following this conviction, the applicant was detained in the Donetsk Region Correctional Labour Colony no. 57 (ВТК № 57). 9.  On 22 November 2000 the criminal proceedings initiated against the applicant and three other persons in February 1999 were resumed and the applicant was presented with the bill of indictment of 23 March 1999. 10.  On 28 December 2000 a decision was taken to transfer the applicant temporarily (for two months) from the Correctional Labour Colony where he was serving his sentence of 30 December 1999 to the Donetsk Temporary Detention Unit (SIZO) no. 5 (СІЗО № 5 м. Донецьк) for questioning in connection with the pending criminal case. 11.  On 23 January 2001 the criminal case against the applicant was joined with twelve other criminal cases involving nine more defendants and concerning numerous robberies and other crimes committed by them as members of a gang. 12.  On 31 January 2001 the applicant’s bill of indictment of 23 March 1999 was updated. Together with three other presumed gang members he was additionally charged with having robbed another commercial facility on 14 February 1999. 13.  On 1 February 2001 the Dokuchayevsk Town Prosecutor authorised the applicant’s detention on remand in SIZO no. 5 until 28 March 2001 in connection with the pending criminal proceedings against him. By way of reasoning it was noted that the applicant was a convicted prisoner whose transfer to the SIZO was necessary in view of the need to investigate the accusations pending against him. 14.  On 22 March 2001 the applicant’s bill of indictment was updated, in particular to mention his membership of a gang. 15.  In March 2001 the defendants commenced familiarisation with the case-file materials. 16.  In June 2001 the criminal case was transferred to the Dokuchayevsk Town Court. 17.  On 21 June 2001 the court held a preliminary hearing and found that the case had been properly investigated and was ready for trial. It further ordered, without any additional reasoning, that the applicant should remain in custody in SIZO no. 5 pending trial. It did not specify for how long. The court scheduled the first hearing for 17 July 2001. This hearing did not take place, however, as the court allowed the applicant’s and several other defendants’ requests to familiarise themselves with the case file. 18.  A new hearing was scheduled for 14 November 2001. It was adjourned because the applicant asked for it to be recorded but the requisite recording equipment was unavailable. The court also upheld the previously decided preventive measure – the applicant’s detention in SIZO no. 5 – without fixing any time-limits or giving any reasons. The next hearing was eventually scheduled for 4 September 2002. Between that date and August 2004 some fifty hearings were scheduled. On some fifteen occasions the hearings were adjourned because of the authorities’ failure to deliver the accused, who were in custody, for the hearings. On seven occasions the hearings were adjourned because the prosecutor failed to appear and on ten occasions because various private parties (victims, accused, witnesses) failed to appear. 19.  In decisions on adjournments of the hearings of 24 September, 29 October, 12 and 22 November, 18 December 2002, 25 December 2003, 13 and 28 January, 9 June and 17 June 2004, the domestic courts also continued to uphold the applicant’s detention without giving any reasons or fixing any time-limits. 20.  On 17 August 2004 the Dokuchayevsk Town Court remitted the case for additional investigation without deciding on the applicant’s further detention. 21.  On 11 February 2005 the Donetsk Regional Court of Appeal set aside that decision and remitted the case to the trial court for fresh consideration. 22.  On 26 April 2005 the applicant requested the Dokuchayevsk Court to release him from custody under an undertaking not to abscond. He referred to the incompatibility of his state of health with the conditions of his detention and to his hope of producing evidence of his innocence in the event of his release. On the same date the court rejected his request, citing the general legal provisions applicable, which authorised detention pending trial for defendants charged with serious crimes in order to prevent them from absconding, interfering with the establishment of the facts or continuing their criminal activities, as well as to ensure compliance with procedural decisions. It further stated, that the applicant did not substantiate his request and there were no grounds for his release under the undertaking not to abscond. 23.  Between February and June 2005 some twenty-eight hearings were scheduled. About ten of them did not take place on account of the prosecutor’s failure to appear and five hearings were adjourned on account of the failure of various third parties to appear. 24.  On 1 June 2005 the Dokuchayevsk Town Court convicted the applicant as charged and sentenced him to seven years’ imprisonment. The court further decided:
“In accordance with part 3 of Article 42 of the C[riminal] C[ode] of Ukraine in the wording of 1960, the ultimate punishment shall be determined for the multiple offences, by the partial addition of the sentences under the judgment of the Voroshylovsky District Court of Donetsk of 30 December 1999 and under this judgment, as nine years’ imprisonment with confiscation of all personal property.
The period of serving the sentence under this judgment shall include the part of the sentence served under the judgment of the Voroshylovsky District Court of 30 December 1999, which was one year, six months and seventeen days, and the ultimate [remaining] sentence shall be determined as seven years five months and seventeen days’ imprisonment and confiscation of all personal property.
The term of the sentence of the convict Borisenko S.V. shall be calculated as from 1 February 2001.” 25.  On 20 January 2006 the Donetsk Regional Court of Appeal upheld the applicant’s sentence. 26.  The applicant appealed in cassation, submitting that the courts had wrongly determined his ultimate sentence as he considered that he had served his first sentence in full. He considered that he had been detained as a convicted person, referring to a number of parcels he had been allowed to receive. 27.  On 14 November 2006 the Supreme Court of Ukraine rejected the applicant’s cassation appeal against the judgment of 1 June 2005. It noted in particular that the first-instance court had calculated the applicant’s sentences correctly and in accordance with the law, namely Article 42 § 3 of the Criminal Code of 1960, Article 65 of the Criminal Code of 2001 and Article 338 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.