CASE OF MEDVEDEV v. RUSSIA
Violation of Article 5 - Right to liberty and security (Article 5-4 - Procedural guarantees of review)
Alena Poláčková;Helen Keller;Pere Pastor Vilanova
4. The applicant was born in 1970 and lives in Murmansk. 5. On 24 September 2004 the applicant was arrested on charges of robbery. Two days later the Polyarniy Town Court of the Murmansk Region imposed on the applicant an undertaking not to leave the place of his residence. 6. On 21 February 2005 the Town Court, presided by Judge D., convicted the applicant of robbery and forgery, sentenced him to seven years and four months of imprisonment and ordered his detention pending the appeal proceedings. 7. On 3 May 2005 the Murmansk Regional Court, under the presidency of judge K., quashed the judgment on appeal and remitted the case to the Town Court for a fresh examination, ordering that the applicant should remain in custody. 8. On 3 June 2005 the Town Court, in its turn, further extended the applicant’s detention and remitted the case to the Murmansk Prosecutor’s Office for the elimination of certain procedural deficiencies preventing the examination of the case on the merits. 9. The applicant’s detention was once again extended by the Town Court, presided by judge D., on 16 August 2005. The applicant challenged the presiding judge on the ground that he had convicted him on 21 February 2005. Judge D. refused to step down. The applicant also raised that point in his statement of appeal against the detention order. On 6 September 2005 the Regional Court, presided by Judge K., found no grounds for Judge D. to step down. The Regional Court reasoned that by virtue of Articles 61 and 63 of the Russian Code of Criminal Procedure Judge D., who had already presided over the applicant’s trial once, could not take part in the new trial proceedings, however, he was not prevented from deciding on detention matters. 10. On 18 November 2005 the Town Court further extended the applicant’s detention. The parties disagreed as to whether the applicant had been served with a copy of that detention order. While the applicant argued that he had never received it, the Government stated that the detention order had been served on him on 5 December 2005. They supported their claim with a copy of the Town Court’s letter of 29 November 2005 by which the detention order had been forwarded to the applicant and a copy of the detention order from his personal file kept in a remand prison, bearing the applicant’s signature and the date of receipt. 11. On several occasions the trial court adjourned hearings in the applicant’s case. In particular, on 30 November 2005 the hearing was re-scheduled for 15 December 2005 because the applicant and his co-defendant asked to summon several defence witnesses. The hearing on 15 December 2005 was also adjourned owing to the applicant’s and his co-defendants’ counsel failure to appear. In the same decision the court, of its own motion, extended the applicant’s detention. 12. The applicant appealed, complaining, in particular, that the detention order of 15 December 2005 was delivered in his counsel’s absence. On 17 January 2006 the Regional Court, presided by Judge K., dismissed the appeal, having noted that the counsel had failed to appear without providing any explanation for his absence. The appeal hearing was attended by a prosecutor and the applicant’s counsel, but not by the applicant himself, despite his request to that effect. 13. On 10 April 2006 the Town Court convicted the applicant of extortion and sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment and a fine of 3,000 Russian roubles (RUB). The Regional Court upheld the conviction on 5 September 2006, but reduced the sentence.