6.  The applicant was born in 1980 and is detained in Pravieniškės Correctional Facility.
7.  On 11 May 2009 the State criminal police bureau started a pre‑trial investigation into allegations that an armed criminal organisation was active in Vilnius Region. It was suspected that the said organisation was armed with firearms and possessed and distributed large amounts of narcotic and psychotropic substances (for the general factual background, see Lisovskij v. Lithuania, no. 36249/14, § 6, 2 May 2017).
8.  In the context of that investigation, on 15 December 2009 some of the members of the organisation were arrested and in the course of imposing coercive measures on them it was established that the applicant also possibly belonged to the organisation.
9.  On 23 February 2010 the applicant was arrested and officially notified that he was suspected of participating in a criminal organisation armed with firearms.
10.  On 24 February 2010 the Vilnius District Court authorised the applicant’s detention on remand for two months. The court considered that the available evidence was sufficient to hold that the applicant may have committed the crimes of which he was suspected. It held that the applicant might commit new crimes because he: was suspected of having committed a very serious crime that could lead to a long period of imprisonment; had no strong social ties; was unemployed and not enrolled in an educational institution; was not married; had been convicted two times before for crimes concerning the illegal possession of narcotic and psychotropic substances (which constituted a negative character trait); and acknowledged that he had been using narcotic and psychotropic substances. Moreover, there was a risk that the applicant might try to abscond, given that he had relations abroad. The court also found that the applicant might interfere with the criminal investigation because he was living with another suspect in the case, was buying narcotic and psychotropic substances from other persons, his role in the criminal organisation was quite active and there was a risk that he might try to influence other witnesses or suspects or that those persons might try to influence him. The court also stated that the case was extremely complex and a number of procedural actions had to be performed. It appears that the applicant did not appeal against this decision.
11.  On 22 April 2010 the Vilnius Region District Court extended the applicant’s detention for a further three months. It relied on the same grounds as those given in its previous decision (see paragraph 10 above). In addition, the court noted that the case against the applicant was complex and of a large scale, and that a number of investigative actions had to be carried out, including the determination of the applicant’s role in the criminal organisation and his relationship with other suspects. The court also observed that although during the applicant’s detention no investigative actions had been carried out with regard to the applicant, the records of the pre-trial investigation showed that various investigative actions had been performed in order to establish grounds for the suspicion in respect of the applicant (vehicles had been inspected, a chemical analysis of the substances found during the search of the applicant’s flat had been performed, expert conclusions had been received, and other suspects – who had given testimony about the applicant – had been questioned). It appears that the applicant did not appeal against this decision.
12.  On 20 July 2010 the Vilnius Region District Court extended the applicant’s detention for a further month. It relied on the same grounds as those given in its previous decision (see paragraphs 10 and 11 above). In addition, the court noted that intensive investigative actions had been undertaken, without limiting the pre-trial investigation to the actions solely against the applicant. It appears that the applicant did not appeal against this decision.
13.  On 20 August 2010 the Vilnius Regional Court extended the applicant’s detention for a further three months. It relied on essentially the same grounds as those given in its previous decision (see paragraph 10 above). However, the court held that there was no indication that the applicant might try to interfere with the criminal investigation, so it decided to strike it out from the list of grounds on which the applicant had been detained. Nevertheless, the grounds for detention listed in domestic law were alternatives – that is to say the existence of only one was enough for detention on remand to be imposed. The court also noted that in the course of the past three months, numerous procedural actions had been carried out: a number of suspects had been questioned, eyewitnesses had been identified, additional questioning of suspects had taken place, verification of testimony given at the crime scene had taken place, items significant for the pre-trial investigation had been examined, additional tasks (including the investigation of certain objects) had been scheduled, descriptions of the suspects had been collected. The court was convinced that sufficient grounds to prolong the applicant’s detention on remand existed.
14.  The applicant appealed against that decision and applied for the imposition of a different restrictive measure. He argued that before his arrest he had had a permanent place of residence with his father and a permanent income because he had been working as a long-distance driver, and that he had strong social ties and had not known any of the other suspects. He also claimed that the investigation was inactive and that there were no grounds to further detain him. However, on 16 September 2010 the applicant’s appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal. The court stated that when ordering detention on remand, a court was not establishing the applicant’s guilt, and that the standard of evidence required for detaining him was thus lower. The court considered that there was enough information to believe that the applicant had committed the crimes he had been accused of. The court also agreed that the applicant might abscond or commit new crimes. Moreover, the court stated that it could not impose a more lenient restrictive measure because it could only uphold or quash the first-instance decision. The court also observed that, under domestic law, detention on remand could last longer than six months only when the case was especially complex or of a large scale. It found that in the applicant’s case those conditions had been met: the investigation concerned a criminal offence committed by a criminal organisation, there were more than fifty suspects, and it was necessary to carry out numerous investigative actions.
15.  On 23 November 2010 the Vilnius Regional Court extended the applicant’s detention on remand for a further three months. It relied on the same grounds as those given in its previous decisions and noted that the procedural action that had been taken had been the same as that listed in its previous decision (see paragraph 13 above).
16.  The applicant appealed against that decision and asked for a different restrictive measure to be imposed. He claimed that he was not guilty and that in the nine months of his detention the officers had not presented any proof of his guilt. He also denied the risk of his absconding because it was in his interests that the court examine his case on the merits and acquit him. The applicant denied that he would commit new crimes just because he was unemployed. It was the applicant’s view that if that were so then every unemployed person could be detained. He also claimed that his previous conviction should not have been taken into account when prolonging his detention on remand because he had been paying a fine imposed on him in that case and no one could be punished for the same offence twice. He also had a father and a brother, which showed his strong social ties. Finally, he had only been questioned twice in the nine months he had been detained.
17.  On 17 December 2010 the Court of Appeal dismissed the applicant’s appeal. It reiterated the previous findings (see paragraphs 10 and 11 above) but also noted that the applicant’s criminal activities had lasted for a long time and that he had been making money from them. The court also noted that the applicant had been additionally questioned on 15 and 17 November 2010, that another suspect had been questioned twice as well, and that DNA and dactyloscopy examinations had been scheduled.
18.  On 23 February 2011 the Vilnius Regional Court extended the applicant’s detention on remand for a further three months. It relied on the same grounds as those given in its previous decisions (see paragraphs 10 and 13 above). In addition, the court held that there were over forty suspects in the case; numerous investigative actions had been performed: suspects had been arrested and questioned; witnesses had been questioned; eyewitnesses had been identified; items relevant for the investigation had been examined; characteristics of the suspects had been collected; and material gathered in the pre-trial investigation had been divided into two parts (and the material gathered in the first part had already been transferred to a court for examination on the merits).
19.  The applicant appealed against that decision and asked that a different restrictive measure be imposed. On 31 March 2011 the Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the Vilnius Regional Court of 23 February 2011. It relied on essentially the same grounds as those given before (see paragraph 17 above). The court also stated that the applicant’s argument that he had only been questioned twice during the pre-trial investigation could not be assessed in the light of a delay in the proceedings caused by the extreme complexity of the case and the intensity of the pre-trial investigation. Moreover, the offences committed by the applicant had not been incidental; rather, they had been committed over a long period of time. The applicant’s argument that he had a father and a brother with whom he had strong social ties could not be deemed to outweigh the public interest in his remaining in detention.
20.  On 19 May 2011 the applicant was officially notified that he was suspected of participating in a criminal organisation armed with firearms and of possession of a very large amount of narcotic and psychotropic substances with the intention to distribute them.
21.  On 20 May 2011 the Vilnius Regional Court extended the applicant’s detention on remand for a further three months. It relied on the same grounds as those given in its previous decision (see paragraph 18 above). In addition, the court held that there were fifty-eight suspects, of whom twenty were granted the status of a suspect, and that numerous procedural actions had been performed.
22.  The applicant appealed against that decision and asked that it be quashed. On 16 June 2011 the Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the Vilnius Regional Court of 20 May 2011.
23.  On 1 August 2011 the prosecutor referred the bill of indictment and the case to the Vilnius Regional Court for examination on the merits.
24.  On 18 August 2011 the Vilnius Regional Court extended the applicant’s detention on remand for a further three months. It relied on same grounds as those given in its previous decision (see paragraph 21 above). It added that the applicant had been working as a long-distance driver for eight years and had been travelling to Russia constantly; there was thus a danger that he could abscond. Moreover, the court held that the applicant might try to interfere with the proceedings and that thirty-three persons stood accused.
25.  The applicant appealed against that decision and asked that it be quashed. On 14 September 2011 the Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the Vilnius Regional Court of 18 August 2011. The court, however, decided that the first-instance court had wrongly concluded that the applicant might interfere with the proceedings and removed this ground from the list of grounds for extending the applicant’s detention. The court furthermore held that there were no grounds to believe that the case was being delayed and it also observed that the criminal case had already been referred to the court for examination on the merits.
26.  On 21 November 2011 the Vilnius Regional Court extended the applicant’s detention on remand for a further three months. It relied on same grounds as those given in its previous decision (see paragraph 24 above). It added that there were thirty-three co-accused in the criminal case against the applicant and that the case was complex. It appears that the applicant did not appeal against this decision.
27.  On 23 February 2012 the Vilnius Regional Court extended the applicant’s detention on remand for a further three months. It relied on same grounds as those given in its previous decision (see paragraph 26 above). In addition, it stated that the case file comprised ninety-six volumes of material; the standpoints of the co-accused were not clear because all of the co-accused had stated that they would give their testimony at the end of the proceedings; and the hearings were planned in advance and their schedule was extremely intense. It appears that the applicant did not appeal against this decision.
28.  On 17 May 2012 the Vilnius Regional Court extended the applicant’s detention on remand for a further three months. It relied on same grounds as those given in its previous decision (see paragraph 27 above).
29.  The applicant appealed against that decision and asked for it to be quashed. He claimed that he had been detained for twenty-seven months and had not been questioned once. The applicant furthermore submitted that the searches of his home had not revealed any trace of narcotic or psychotropic substances, the identity of persons to whom he had allegedly sold the substances had not been established, other co-accused had not recognised him as a person whom they knew and the whole accusation against him had been based on the testimony of a drug addict. The applicant also stated that he had a father and could live with him.
30.  On 14 June 2012 the Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the Vilnius Regional Court of 17 May 2012. The court held that it could not conclude that the proceedings had been protracted because the case had been transferred to the Vilnius Regional Court for examination on the merits and because of that, in the course of criminal proceedings the duration of the applicant’s detention on remand had not been limited.
31.  On 22 August 2012 the Vilnius Regional Court extended the applicant’s detention on remand for a further three months. It relied on the same grounds as those given in its previous decision (see paragraph 28 above).
32.  The applicant appealed against that decision and asked for it to be quashed. On 11 September 2012 the Court of Appeal dismissed the applicant’s appeal. The court stated that the case was being examined before the first-instance court on the merits and that the evidence had been examined; the applicant’s allegations that no investigative actions had been performed in respect of him were thus unfounded.
33.  On 22 November 2012 the Vilnius Regional Court extended the applicant’s detention on remand for a further three months. It relied on the same grounds as those given in its previous decision (see paragraph 31 above). In addition, the court noted that the case file comprised 104 volumes, there were thirty-three co-accused and the hearings had been taking place in accordance with the schedule.
34.  The applicant appealed against that decision and asked for it to be quashed. On 21 December 2012 the Court of Appeal rejected the applicant’s appeal and upheld the lower court’s findings that the applicant might abscond, that the criminal case was complex (it had 106 volumes and thirty‑three co-accused), and that it was not possible to achieve the purpose of Article 119 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
35.  On 15 February 2013 the Vilnius Regional Court extended the applicant’s detention on remand for a further three months. It relied on same grounds as those given in its previous decision (see paragraph 33 above). In addition, the court noted that the criminal case had 107 volumes and thirty‑two co-accused, and that the hearings had been taking place in accordance with the very intense schedule.
36.  The applicant appealed against that decision and asked for it to be quashed. On 5 March 2013 the Court of Appeal rejected the applicant’s appeal and upheld the lower court’s findings.
37.  On 14 May 2013 the Vilnius Regional Court extended the applicant’s detention on remand for a further three months. It relied on same grounds as those given in its previous decision (see paragraph 35 above). In addition, the court noted that the case filed contained 114 volumes and thirty-two co-accused and that the hearings had been taking place in accordance with the schedule.
38.  The applicant appealed against that decision and asked for it to be quashed. On 28 May 2013 the Court of Appeal rejected the applicant’s appeal and upheld the lower court’s findings.
39.  On 21 August 2013 the Vilnius Regional Court extended the applicant’s detention on remand for a further three months. It relied on same grounds as those given in its previous decision (see paragraph 37 above). In addition, the court stated that the case file comprised 116 volumes, and that the case involved thirty-two co-accused and was extremely complex.
40.  The applicant appealed against that decision and asked for a less restrictive measure to be imposed. On 5 September 2013 the Court of Appeal rejected the applicant’s appeal and upheld the lower court’s findings.
41.  On 15 November 2013 the Vilnius Regional Court extended the applicant’s detention on remand for a further three months. It relied on same grounds as those given in its previous decision (see paragraph 39 above). In addition, the court stated that the case file comprised 118 volumes and that the case was extremely complex. Moreover, the criminal case was at the end of its examination before the first-instance court and the closing arguments had begun.
42.  The applicant appealed against that decision and asked for the imposition of a less restrictive measure. On 6 December 2013 the Court of Appeal rejected the applicant’s appeal and upheld the lower court’s findings.
43.  On 17 February 2014 the Vilnius Regional Court decided not to extend the applicant’s detention on remand and instead imposed house arrest. The court held that his previous convictions had been for non-violent crimes and that although he was not married, he had a family and relatives who had taken care of him even during his detention (by means of calls and visits), which showed that he had strong social ties. Although the applicant had been born in Russia and worked as a long-distance driver, his father lived in Vilnius, so the risk of his absconding was low. The court also stated that over the four years of the pre-trial investigation the relevant data had been collected and the final speeches were already taking place in the criminal case. The court thus decided to impose house arrest for six months and obliged the applicant to stay at his place of residence between 11 p.m. and 9 a.m. and not to communicate with certain people.
44.  Between the applicant’s arrest on 23 February 2010 until the completion of the pre-trial investigation on 1 August 2011 (see paragraphs 9 and 23 above) the authorities conducted six interviews with the applicant, seized and examined his car and other belongings, and ordered a forensic examination of various items seized from the applicant. Moreover, the authorities received fifty expert reports; there were fifty examinations of the objects found in the course of the pre-trial investigation; twenty searches were performed, thirty restrictive measures were imposed, the suspects were questioned 194 times, eight persons were arrested, forty-four witnesses were questioned, the authorities conducted 196 eyewitness identifications, various witnesses and suspects visited the crime scene twenty-four times to give testimony, a search warrant was issued in respect of one suspect and a request for extradition was sent to Israel regarding another suspect.
45.  Between the transfer of the case to the Vilnius Regional Court for examination on the merits on 1 August 2011 and the decision on 17 February 2014 to impose house arrest on the applicant, a total of sixty‑five hearings were coordinated in advance and scheduled, and nineteen of those hearings were either cancelled or adjourned:
(a)  From 1 August 2011 until 26 June 2012 twenty-two hearings were scheduled (one each month from October 2011 until January 2012, three in February 2012, three in March 2012, four in April 2012, three in May 2012 and five in June 2012); four of them were adjourned (one in February 2012, two in April 2012 and one in June 2012) and one was cancelled (in May 2012);
(b)  From 12 September 2012 until 7 June 2013 thirty-three hearings were scheduled (three each month from September 2012 to March 2013, six in April 2013, three in May 2013 and three in June 2013); seven of them were adjourned (one in December 2012, one in February 2013, three in March 2013 and two in April 2013), and three of them were cancelled (one in February 2013 and two in April 2013);
(c)  From 13 September 2013 until 17 February 2014 ten hearings were scheduled (two each month from September 2013 until November 2013, one in January 2014, and two in February 2014); three of them were adjourned (one in September 2013, one in October 2013, and one in February 2014) and one of them was cancelled (in October 2013).
46.  The main reasons for the adjournment or cancellation of hearings were illnesses of members of the court, lawyers or co-accused or the failure of some of the co-accused to appear; on one occasion one of the co-accused did not have a lawyer, on one occasion one of the members of the court had to attend a funeral, and on several occasions lawyers for the co-accused were unable to attend (for various reasons). During the forty-six hearings which were held, the court heard testimony from the co-accused, witnesses and victims, played audio and video recordings, and read out case material.
47.  On 22 May 2014 the Vilnius Regional Court convicted the applicant of participation in a criminal organisation armed with firearms and of possession of narcotic and psychotropic substances with the intention to distribute them (Articles 249 § 2 and 260 § 1 of the Criminal Code, respectively). The applicant was sentenced to eight years of imprisonment and he was ordered to pay a fine of 4,443 euros (EUR). It was decided to continue his house arrest until the start of the execution of the judgment.
48.  The applicant appealed against his conviction, and so did the prosecutors. The prosecutors asked the court to re-categorise the applicant’s offence and to hold that he had participated in a criminal organisation armed with firearms and that he had possessed a very large amount of narcotic and psychotropic substances with the intention to distribute them, and to increase the length of the imposed prison sentence to thirteen years. The applicant complained that the first-instance judgment had been unlawful and unfounded and that it had been based on controversial, inaccurate, illogical testimony given by one person. He also complained that the first-instance court had not identified the indications that he had belonged to a criminal organisation, the relationships between the members of that criminal organisation, and the specific actions they had performed. Lastly, the mere fact that some narcotic and psychotropic substances had been found in his room during the search did not mean that he had had the intention of distributing them.
49.  On 24 April 2017 the Court of Appeal held that although during the search of the applicant’s room the amounts of narcotic and psychotropic substances found had not been large, he had known that a certain D.J. had stored large amounts of narcotic and psychotropic substances in the same flat. Moreover, testimony of witnesses confirmed that the applicant had been distributing the narcotic and psychotropic substances. The court thus decided to re-categorise the applicant’s offence under Article 260 § 3 of the Criminal Code and sentenced him to twelve years of imprisonment and ordered him to pay a fine of EUR 4,443.
50.  The applicant lodged an appeal on points of law. He claimed that there was no evidence that he had committed the offences at issue, that the lower courts had failed to examine all the relevant circumstances of the case, that their judgments had been based on incorrect assumptions, and that he had not known about any arms used by the criminal organisation or about narcotic and psychotropic substances being kept in the flat that he had been living in. He also complained about the length of the criminal proceedings, given that the offences he had been convicted of had been committed before 2010, and yet the criminal proceedings were still on-going.
51.  On 9 January 2018 the Supreme Court examined the applicant’s appeal on points of law and allowed it in part. The court held that the lower courts had drawn the right conclusions about the applicant’s criminal activities. However, the Supreme Court assessed the sentence imposed in the light of the applicant’s complaint about the length of criminal proceedings against him. The court held that the proceedings in respect of the applicant had lasted from 23 February 2010, when he had been arrested, until the adoption of the present judgment – that is to say seven years, eleven months and fourteen days, which was an extremely long period of time and could only be justified by exceptional circumstances. The court noted that the case had been extremely complex because there had been thirty-two co-accused, the case file had comprised 138 volumes, the first‑instance judgment had amounted to 480 pages and the judgment of the appellate court had amounted to 197 pages. In such a case the length of proceedings could be justified, but only if the relevant authorities reacted to the complexity of the case appropriately and undertook all relevant measures without undue delays. The court held that in the instant case the process followed by the Court of Appeal had not been effective. The first‑instance judgment had been delivered on 22 May 2014, and the case had been received at the Court of Appeal on 10 November 2014. However, at the first hearing on 19 February 2015 the Court of Appeal had decided to adjourn the case until 7 October 2015. During the hearing on 6 November 2015 the Court of Appeal had decided to apply to the relevant German authorities to be allowed to question one witness in Germany, and the next hearing was scheduled for April 2016. The reply from Germany had been received by the Court of Appeal on 10 February 2016; however, during the hearing on 7 April 2016 the next six scheduled hearings had been cancelled owing to the fact that the lawyers of eleven of the co-accused had been involved in other cases. The Court of Appeal had delivered its judgment on 24 April 2017. The length of the criminal proceedings in the present case was extremely important because the applicant had been detained on remand for almost four years. The Supreme Court held that in accordance with the case-law of the Court, the fact that the applicant had been held in detention on remand for such a long period of time, required particular diligence on the part of the authorities dealing with the case to administer justice expeditiously. The Supreme Court made references to the case‑law of the Court (Matoń v. Poland [Committee], no. 30279/07, § 29, 9 June 2009; Paskal v. Ukraine, no. 24652/04, § 58, 15 September 2011; Pawlak v. Poland [Committee], no. 28237/10, § 46, 13 January 2015; and Tomczyk v. Poland, no. 7708/12, § 41, 13 January 2015). The Supreme Court thus held that the unjustifiable length of criminal proceedings constituted grounds to impose a more lenient sentence on the applicant and ordered the applicant’s imprisonment for eleven years and six months and ordered him to pay a fine of EUR 4,443.
52.  The applicant lodged a claim with the domestic courts for 100,000 Lithuanian litai (LTL – approximately EUR 28,962) in compensation for non-pecuniary damage in respect of his detention in allegedly inadequate conditions in Lukiškės Remand Prison. He alleged overcrowding.
53.  On 23 September 2013 the Vilnius Regional Administrative Court held that for 1,159 days the applicant had been held in overcrowded cells and awarded him LTL 5,795 (approximately EUR 1,678) in compensation.
54.  The applicant appealed and on 18 August 2014 the Supreme Administrative Court increased the amount of compensation to LTL 11,700 (approximately EUR 3,389).
55.  The applicant lodged a claim before the domestic courts and asked that he be awarded LTL 50,000 (approximately EUR 14,481) in non‑pecuniary damages for detention in inadequate conditions from 24 February 2010 until 17 February 2014 in Lukiškės Remand Prison. He alleged that the cells had been overcrowded, and cold and humid in winter and hot in summer; he also alleged that the cells had suffered from dampness and mould.
56.  On 9 January 2015 the Vilnius Regional Administrative Court held that the applicant had already received compensation for the period from 24 February 2010 until 13 May 2013, and decided to terminate the case in respect of this period. As regards the remaining period of time, the court considered that for 248 days the applicant had been held in overcrowded cells and awarded him approximately EUR 1,437 in compensation. The domestic courts dismissed the applicant’s complaint regarding other sanitary conditions as unfounded.
57.  The applicant appealed and on 6 October 2015 the Supreme Administrative Court upheld the decision of the Vilnius Regional Administrative Court of 9 January 2015.