5.  The applicant was born in 1975 and, as can be seen from the case materials, is currently serving a sentence in a penal institution (see paragraph 20 below).
6.  On 24 May 1996 the applicant was convicted of aggravated double murder and other offences. He was sentenced to the death penalty, which was subsequently commuted to twenty years’ imprisonment in 1997 (“the first conviction”). The sentence started to run from the date of the applicant’s arrest on 24 August 1995 and was due to expire on 24 August 2015.
7.  On 29 March 2002 the applicant attempted to escape.
8.  On 12 April 2006 after a series of decisions and the remittal of the case to the investigating authorities, the Tbilisi City Court convicted the applicant of attempted escape and the illicit procurement of an official document. He was sentenced to four years and six months’ imprisonment (“the second conviction”). The first-instance court added the applicant’s outstanding sentence for the first conviction to the subsequent sentence, resulting in a total cumulative sentence of thirteen years and six months. The court indicated that the cumulative sentence would start to run from 29 March 2002, the date of commission of the second offence. It was due to expire on 29 September 2015.
9.  On 29 December 2006 the provision of the Criminal Code regulating the imposition of cumulative sentences was amended. Article 59 of the amended law provided that, as regards accumulated sentences, the final sentence imposed should be calculated from the imposition of the later sentence. The amended legislation did not explicitly address the question of its retroactive effect (see paragraph 21 below).
10.  On 20 April 2007, in a different set of proceedings, instituted by the applicant to have legislative amendments reducing the maximum length of a sentence for aggravated murder applied to his first conviction, the Supreme Court reduced the applicant’s sentence for the first conviction to fifteen years’ imprisonment. When doing so, the Supreme Court did not refer either to the starting date of the sentence or the applicant’s second conviction.
11.  On 20 February 2008 the Supreme Court rectified its decision of 20 April 2007 based on the applicant’s request to that end, stating that the outstanding sentence for the applicant’s first conviction and the sentence for the second conviction were to be cumulative, and that the cumulative sentence of eight years and six months had to start running from 29 March 2002, namely the date of commission of the second offence rather than the date of the imposition of the later sentence, which was 12 April 2006. Appellate proceedings concerning the second conviction were still pending when the Supreme Court adopted the two decisions. Based on the decision of the Supreme Court of 20 February 2008, the applicant’s sentence would have expired on 29 September 2010.
12.  On 3 December 2008, without taking note of the Supreme Court decisions of 20 April 2007 and 20 February 2008 (see paragraphs 10-11 above), the Tbilisi Court of Appeal upheld the applicant’s second conviction and ruled that he had to serve a cumulative sentence of thirteen years and six months which had started to run on 29 March 2002 which was again, the date of the commission of the second offence. That sentence would have expired on 29 September 2015.
13.  On an unspecified date the applicant lodged an appeal on points of law against the appellate court’s judgment of 3 December 2008. He requested a reduction in the sentence imposed for his second conviction and the reduction of the cumulative sentence by five years in view of the Supreme Court’s decisions of 20 April 2007 and 20 February 2008 to that end (see paragraphs 10-11 above). The case file and the applicant’s appeal on points of law were sent to the Supreme Court on 21 January 2009.
14.  On 3 April 2009, while the applicant’s appeal on points of law was pending before the Supreme Court, the Tbilisi Court of Appeal adopted, by means of a written procedure and without the parties’ involvement, a decision rectifying an error in its judgment of 3 December 2008 (“the rectified appellate decision”). Relying on Article 615 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (“the CCP” – see paragraph 24 below), the decision corrected the starting date of the cumulative sentence to 12 April 2006 – the date on which the first-instance court’s decision concerning the second conviction had been adopted. The appellate court did not elaborate on its decision except for noting that the judgment of 3 December 2008 had contained “an inaccuracy” regarding the starting date of the sentence. Based on that new starting date, the applicant’s sentence was due to expire on 12 October 2019. As shown by the case files, the decision of 3 April 2009 was served on the applicant on 16 April 2009.
15.  On 7 April 2009 the Supreme Court issued a reasoned decision, without holding a hearing, and granted the applicant’s appeal on points of law. It noted that the appellate court had failed to take account of the reduction of the applicant’s first sentence by the Supreme Court on 20 April 2007 (see paragraph 10 above). The Supreme Court further reduced the sentence for the applicant’s second conviction to three years. It took note of the rectified appellate decision of 3 April 2009 (see paragraph 14 above) and stated that the re-calculated cumulative sentence of seven years’ imprisonment had started to run on 12 April 2006, namely the date of the imposition of the sentence for the second offence. That term was due to expire on 12 April 2013.
16.  On 22 April 2009 the applicant requested the rectification of the decision of the Supreme Court of 7 April 2009 in respect of the starting date of his cumulative sentence. He noted that it was only by means of the Supreme Court’s final decision that he had learned about the rectified appellate decision of 3 April 2009. He submitted that the rectified appellate decision had been contrary to the final decision of the Supreme Court dated 20 February 2008 which had set a different starting date for his cumulative sentence, and would have resulted in a release date of 29 September 2010. He further submitted that the rectification had lacked any legal basis and had gone beyond the scope of Article 615 of the CCP, as it had substantially affected the duration of his sentence. Maintaining that his appeal had been the sole basis for the appellate court’s judgment of 3 December 2008, the applicant submitted that the rectified appellate decision, made by that very court, had been in violation of Article 540 § 1 of the CCP which had provided a guarantee for an appellant against a worsening of his or her position in the proceedings in the absence of an appeal from the prosecuting authorities. The applicant further indicated that, in addition to the foregoing arguments, taking into account the reduction of his sentence by the Supreme Court on 7 April 2009, his sentence should have expired on 29 March 2009 and that accordingly he was to be released from prison immediately.
17.  On 24 April 2009 the Head of the Registry of the Chamber of Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court replied to the applicant, stating that the rectified appellate decision of 3 April 2009 had constituted an integral part of the appellate judgment of 3 December 2008. Therefore, the Supreme Court was not in a position to address the applicant’s complaint.
18.  On 11 May 2009, relying on Article 553 of the CCP (see paragraph 22 below), the applicant lodged an interlocutory appeal on points of law against the rectified appellate decision. The applicant reiterated the arguments set out in his rectification request of 22 April 2009 (see paragraph 16 above).
19.  On 15 June 2009 an assistant to the Chairman of the Tbilisi Court of Appeal replied to the applicant’s appeal of 11 May 2009 (see paragraph 18 above), noting that the Tbilisi Court of Appeal had adopted a judgment on 3 December 2008 and subsequently rectified on 3 April 2009 an error regarding the starting date of the sentence. It was further noted that, in its decision of 7 April 2009, the Supreme Court had accepted the rectification of the inaccuracy by the appellate court regarding the starting date of the sentence and that the rectified appellate decision had therefore been left unchanged. Accordingly, the response concluded, the interlocutory appeal on points of law against the decision of 3 April 2009 could not be accepted for consideration.
20.  The applicant was released from prison on 27 January 2013 – earlier than the anticipated release date of 12 April 2013 – based on an Amnesty Act. As the applicant’s submissions before the Court show, on 6 February 2017 he was arrested on charges of aggravated fraud and repeated forgery of official documents. On 18 October 2017 the applicant was sentenced, at first instance, to eight years’ imprisonment. This set of proceedings against the applicant is not the subject of the present application.