5.  The applicant was born in 1964. He is currently serving a prison sentence. 6.  On 26 January 1998 he was arrested on suspicion of murder. The trial took place before the Warsaw Regional Court. The applicant, represented by a legal-aid lawyer, was present during the trial. The legal‑aid lawyer attended all hearings held before the court. On 22 February 2001 the Warsaw Regional Court convicted the applicant of murder and sentenced him to twenty‑five years’ imprisonment. 7.  The applicant’s lawyer filed an appeal against this judgment with the Warsaw Court of Appeal (the “Court of Appeal”). He argued, in particular, that the first‑instance court had committed errors in the assessment of the evidence. It had wrongly held that the applicant had committed, together with another defendant A.K., a crime of murder, instead of finding the applicant guilty only of handling and selling goods stolen from the victim. The court had also erred in considering that the testimony given by A.K. was credible. The court had wrongly assessed certain other pieces of evidence on the basis of which it had accepted that the applicant had taken part in the crime. It was further argued that the court had failed to take into consideration circumstances pointing to the applicant’s innocence and that it had breached the principle of the presumption of innocence. 8.  On 17 July 2001 the applicant lodged his own appeal with the court, arguing essentially that he was not guilty, that the evidence had been wrongly assessed and that he should be acquitted. On 26 September 2001 the Warsaw Court of Appeal fixed the date of the hearing in the appeal proceedings for 28 November 2001. On the same date the court decided, referring to Article 451 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, that on 3 October 2001 it would hold a session to decide whether to bring the applicant from prison to attend the hearing. 9.  On 3 October 2001 the applicant was served with the decision concerning the date fixed for the hearing. On the same date the court gave a decision ex officio concerning the applicant’s presence at the hearing. By a letter from the court’s registry, served on the applicant on 12 October 2001, he was informed of that decision. The letter read:
“The Warsaw Court of Appeal states that by a decision of 3 October 2001 it has decided not to bring the accused Janusz Strzałkowski to a hearing before that court, as his interests will be duly represented by his defence lawyer.”
No appeal was available against that decision. 10.  On 28 November 2001 the Court of Appeal held a hearing. The applicant’s lawyer and the prosecutor were present. The court considered that the applicant had been properly summoned. The judge rapporteur of the Court of Appeal read out the appeal submitted by the applicant himself. The applicant’s lawyer, in his oral pleadings, supported the arguments of the defence submitted in his appeal. The prosecutor requested the court to dismiss the appeal.
The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeals against the first-instance judgment. The court examined the grounds for the appeals adduced by the applicant’s lawyer. In particular, the court stressed that no arguments had been advanced to persuade it that the findings of fact were incorrect. The first-instance court had found the applicant guilty essentially on the basis of the testimony of other defendants. This evidence had been examined in a thorough manner against the background of other evidence available in the case. The first-instance court had exhaustively explained in the grounds for its judgment why it believed that the testimony given by the applicant himself had been unreliable. The appeals had failed to provide grounds on which to accept that the findings as to the applicant’s participation in the crime and his guilt were erroneous. The statements made in this respect in the appeals had been flagrantly inconsistent with the evidence examined by the first-instance court. The first-instance court had carefully explained in the written grounds for its judgment why it had considered certain evidence as credible and other evidence implausible. 11.  This judgment, together with its written grounds, was served on the applicant on 7 December 2001. Subsequently, he requested legal aid for the purposes of cassation proceedings and his request was granted. 12.  The legal-aid lawyer, the same lawyer who had represented the applicant during the proceedings, was served with the written grounds for the judgment on 5 February 2002. By an undated letter which was served on the applicant on 26 February 2002, he was informed by his lawyer that he had not found grounds on which to prepare a cassation appeal and that he would inform the court accordingly. On the same day the lawyer informed the court of his position. 13.  On 26 March 2002 the Warsaw Court of Appeal refused to assign a new legal-aid lawyer for the purposes of cassation proceedings, finding that there were no grounds on which to call into question the assessment of the prospects of success of such proceedings made by the first legal‑aid lawyer. No appeal was available against this decision.