4.  The applicant was born in 1987 and was detained in prison in Rustavi at the material time.
5.  On 3 December 2007 a taxi driver reported to the police that he had been robbed of a mobile phone and twenty-six Georgian laris by two young men at knife-point. He claimed that he could identify both of them. On the next day, the applicant was arrested on suspicion of the armed robbery of the taxi driver. Neither a body search of the applicant nor a search of his apartment revealed any unlawful items. On the same date an identity parade was held, during which the taxi driver identified the applicant as one of his assailants.
6.  During his initial questioning as an accused, the applicant gave a detailed statement providing an alibi and naming all the people with whom he had spent the evening of the crime, or who had seen him on that evening. In particular, he claimed that he had spent that evening with his girlfriend and her friend out walking the streets and that he had been seen by several people in the area.
7.  On 7 December 2007 the applicant’s lawyer wrote to the investigator in charge of the case requesting that he question twelve persons who could confirm the applicant’s alibi. By a decision of 9 December 2007 the investigator rejected the request as unsubstantiated. In his reasoning he noted that the applicant’s girlfriend and her friend had an interest in the outcome of the case. As for the remaining potential witnesses, according to the investigator, they had not been with the applicant at the time of commission of the offence in question. The rejection of the applicant’s request was confirmed on appeal by a supervising prosecutor.
8.  The trial opened on 22 April 2008. In the absence of the applicant’s lawyer, who had failed to appear for the hearing, the trial judge decided to adjourn it. The trial resumed on 30 April 2008, when the applicant was represented by a new lawyer. The latter requested an adjournment of the hearing, claiming that she had not had sufficient time to prepare the defence. Her request was granted and the hearing was re-scheduled for 6 May 2008.
9.  On 5 May 2008 the applicant’s lawyer filed a written request with the trial judge complaining that the pre-trial investigation into the circumstances of the armed robbery of the taxi driver had been incomplete and one-sided. She noted that the applicant’s alibi should have been verified and she requested, in that connection, on the basis of Article 468 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (“the CCP”), that seven witnesses be questioned. In support of her request she submitted written statements for those witnesses.
10.  The next day, at the hearing of 6 May 2008, the prosecutor asked the trial judge to dismiss the defence’s application as out of time. He claimed that the request for the examination of defence witnesses should have been submitted five days before the opening of the trial. In reply, the lawyer noted that she had only been instructed in the case on 29 April 2008 and accordingly could not have filed any requests beforehand. Having heard the parties, the trial judge rejected the request of the defence on the basis that it did not comply with Article 475 of the CCP. He accepted the prosecutor’s argument that any such request should have been lodged five days before the opening of the trial.
11.  On 22 May 2008 the Tbilisi City Court convicted the applicant as charged and sentenced him to seven years and six months’ imprisonment. The applicant’s conviction was based on the evidence given in court by the taxi driver, the investigator in charge of the case, the results of the identity parade and the results of two forensic examinations. The first forensic examination established a similarity in fibres of black cotton removed from the front and back seats of the taxi and micro-particles removed from the applicant’s coat. The report stated that both fibres had a similar nature, colour, colour tonality, fibre structure and type of dye. The second expert examination was an odour recognition examination which established that the samples of the odour trace taken from the taxi corresponded with the odour sample taken from the applicant. The court also relied on the report on the examination of the crime scene, and the reports on the arrest and the searches of the applicant’s person and his apartment.
12.  The applicant appealed against his conviction. He alleged that the pre-trial investigation and the first-instance court proceedings had been unfair, in violation of Article 6 §§ 1 and 3 (d) of the Convention; and specifically that his defence rights had been violated as he had been prevented from showing his innocence by proving his alibi before the court, and in that connection had not been allowed to examine witnesses on his behalf. He reiterated his request for the examination of the witnesses.
13.  On 15 July 2008 the appeal proceedings started. The appeal court rejected the applicant’s request for the examination of defence witnesses, concluding that it had not been submitted as required by Articles 231 and 475 § 4 of the CCP (as cited in paragraph 17 below).
14.  On 18 July 2008 the Tbilisi Court of Appeal upheld the applicant’s conviction. The court concluded that the applicant’s guilt had been proven on the grounds of the statement of the taxi driver, the statement of the investigator, the report on the identification parade, the report on the applicant’s arrest and the search of his person, the report on the search of the applicant’s apartment, and the forensic conclusions, among other grounds. None of the defence witnesses was questioned during the appeal proceedings. As for the applicant’s version of the events, the court concluded that it had been fabricated with the sole purpose of evading criminal liability.
15.  The applicant lodged an appeal on points of law. He maintained that his defence rights as envisaged in Article 6 §§ 1 and 3 (d) of the Convention had been violated on account of the lower courts’ refusal to hear the defence witnesses. He claimed in that connection that he had been put in a disadvantageous position vis-à-vis the prosecution and had been prevented from proving his innocence.
16.  By a decision of 13 February 2009 the Supreme Court of Georgia dismissed the applicant’s appeal on points of law as inadmissible.