5.  The applicant was born in 1957 and lives in Nova Kakhovka.
6.  Prior to the events of 1 June 2007 that are in issue in the present case the applicant, who is not a lawyer, had appeared before the Nova Kakhovka Court (hereinafter “the court”) in a number of cases, either as a party or as a representative. In particular she had been involved in litigation with the local municipal utilities company.
7.  In December 2006 B. – one of the judges of the court – ordered the applicant to pay damages to the municipal utilities company’s in-house lawyer Ms S. for defamation.
8.  In 2007 the municipal utilities company instituted proceedings against the applicant, seeking recovery of utilities arrears.
9.  On 1 June 2007 a preliminary hearing in that case was held before Judge M., sitting in a single-judge formation; it was audio-recorded at the applicant’s request.
10.  The applicant appeared before the court and, at the opening of the hearing, challenged the presiding judge, M., in the following terms:
“Applicant: Your Honour, I would like to challenge the composition of the court.
Judge: Please proceed.
Applicant: Your Honour, the grounds on which I challenge you are that, [when] sitting on the [bench of] the Nova Kakhovka Court, you have not given a single lawful decision in any case where I was a representative or a party. You have not even once protected my rights or the rights of the individuals I have been representing and helping ... Previously I used not to challenge you but lately I have started to do so. You do not allow my challenges, arguing that my arguments against you are supposedly made up and subjective. However, recently I have read an article [entitled] “Father for son, brother for brother” in the Delovye Novosti newspaper, which clearly and specifically states that you, on the basis of corporate solidarity among judges, have given a similarly unlawful judgment, as a result of which a person was falsely convicted and sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment. The newspaper article says that this issue has attracted the attention of the presidential administration and the General Prosecutor’s Office. I know that the case in question was examined by the Council of Judges and by a parliamentary commission, before which you appeared, before your appointment. This was the source of the problems you had in securing your appointment to the position of judge for life .... This article tells me unequivocally that you will only decide [this] case according to the instructions which you ... receive, and the law – including my rights as a consumer – will mean absolutely nothing to you. All the more so because I know from a court clerk that an instruction [has been given to] the Nova Kakhovka Court to decide cases [in which I am involved] against me.
In support of what I have said I can refer to the case where you considered my claim against [a prosecutor] and where you delivered a totally illegal judgment, even though there have been decisions of the Nova Kakhovka Court and of the Court of Appeal concerning the same situation, in which the actions of the prosecutor had been declared unlawful in that the prosecutor should have delivered not only letters in response to my complaints but formal decisions so that I could challenge those decisions. You, by your decision, deprived me of that right.
For me this is another signal: if the fate of that young man did not mean anything to you, then mine would mean even less. So it is not just that I have serious doubts about your impartiality; I know of no case where you have given a lawful decision. When you came to the Nova Kakhovka Court, I told you that I had much hope in you – that you were a competent and good judge. I was mistaken. Especially since the time when I and [another person], waiting in the corridor, overheard you [discussing about me and laughing].
Judge [voice rising]: Olena Oleksandrivna, I am forced to interrupt you because you are making clearly false statements; this is grounds for drawing up a report of contempt of court! So please be balanced; you have just made so many false statements that are insulting the court.
Applicant: What I said ... [inaudible]
Judge [voice rising]: Please substantiate it, substantiate it with evidence – substantiate it!
Applicant: There is my complaint ... [inaudible]
Judge [voice rising]: That complaint is just your subjective opinion! Please be balanced!
Applicant [voice rising]: I am balanced. No, it is your subjective opinion. You prove that you haven’t done all of this! We stood there and heard ...
Judge: The judgments were upheld by the Court of Appeal: your case concerning K. – your case concerning elections. So please be balanced [inaudible] in [stating] your grounds for your challenge.
Applicant: Your references to the Court of Appeal’s decisions ... [the applicant lists names, apparently of other judges]
Judge: The hearing is adjourned!”
11.  According to the applicant, the hearing was adjourned at 9.30 a.m. Upon the adjournment Judge M. instructed her secretary, Ms P., to draw up an administrative-offence report in respect of the applicant for contempt of court.
12.  The report charged the applicant with contempt of court. The report stated that the applicant “on 1 June 2017 in the course of a court hearing ..., while challenging the presiding judge, accused [her] of delivering unlawful judgments [and undertaking] unlawful actions, uttered knowingly (завідомо) false statements detrimental to the judge’s honour and dignity, failed to react to the court’s admonishment to be balanced, [and] continued making statements which demonstrated her clear contempt for the court”, and in doing so committed an offence under Article 185-3 of the Code of Administrative Offences (hereinafter “the Code”) – see paragraph 22 below). The report stated that the applicant’s rights as a person accused of an administrative offence, as set out in Article 268 of the Code (see paragraph 25 below), had been explained to her and that her case would be examined on the same day. According to the applicant, the report was drawn up at 10.04 a.m. Having read it, she refused to sign it.
13.  The report was accompanied by written statements by Ms S. (see paragraph 7 above) and Ms Me. (according to the applicant, Ms Me. was Judge M.’s trainee), who had been present at the hearing and who affirmed the information in the report.
14.  According to the applicant, the witness statements had not been in the file when it was transferred to Judge B., who examined her contempt case; rather, they were obtained subsequently under Judge B.’s direction.
15.  The applicant alleged that the case file had been transmitted from Judge M.’s secretary to Judge B. directly, without being registered at the court registry and without being assigned by the court president in accordance with the usual procedure. She also alleged that she had not been given access to the case file before the contempt hearing.
16.  On the same day Judge B. held a hearing in the presence of the applicant. According to the applicant, the hearing commenced at 10.27 a.m. In the course of the hearing the applicant pleaded not guilty of the administrative offence of contempt of court and made oral submissions in respect of the charge against her. It appears that in the course of the hearing the applicant secretly audio-recorded the proceedings, producing a recording of a rather poor quality which she provided to the Court on a CD disc (see paragraph 48 below).
17.  At 11.46 Judge B. gave her judgment, by which the applicant was found guilty of contempt of court and sentenced to administrative detention for five days. Judge B. found that the applicant “in the course of a court hearing, in making a challenge, had accused Judge M. of adopting unlawful decisions [and undertaking] unlawful actions, had made false statements detrimental to the judge’s honour and dignity, had failed to react to the court’s admonishment to be balanced, and had continued making insulting statements which had demonstrated clear contempt for the court.” In convicting the applicant the court relied on the report (see paragraph 12 above), the statements of the witnesses Me. and S. (see paragraph 13 above), and the audio recording of the hearing (see paragraph 10 above).
18.  The applicant then spent five days in detention.
19.  On 2 July 2007 the First Vice-President of the Kherson Regional Court of Appeal, acting on his own motion within the meaning of Article 294 of the Code (see paragraph 28 above), reviewed the case. He examined the case-file materials without holding a hearing and upheld Judge B.’s judgment (see paragraph 17 above). In his reasoning the First Vice-President noted in particular that the applicant had failed to lodge any application in her case, be it to be permitted to examine the case file, for evidence to be collected, or to be allowed to have the assistance of a lawyer.
20.  The article entitled “Father for son, brother for brother”, to which the applicant referred in her challenge of Judge M. (see paragraph 10 above), was published in the Delovye Novosti newspaper on an unspecified date. It described a criminal case concerning a bar brawl in which a person had been killed and a certain G. charged with murder. The article was apparently mainly based on the statements of G.’s father. It put forward a point of view according to which G. was innocent since he had not provoked the brawl but had simply been defending a friend whom the victim had supposedly humiliated. The article described, in caustic terms, the decisions of the courts in the case. It also described G.’s father’s and brother’s efforts to defend him. According to the article, G. had been convicted by Judge V. of the Nova Kakhovka Court and sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment. After the conviction had been quashed on appeal, a retrial had been conducted by Judge M. who, according to the article, had been driven to convict G. by “[judges’] esprit de corps and corporate solidarity”. The article reported that G’s conviction by Judge M. had again been quashed on appeal and the case remitted for retrial before a different district court and that G.’s relatives had apparently made sure that the case would be under the supervision of the presidential administration and other high State bodies.