5.  The applicant was born in 1969 and lived until his arrest in Moscow, having worked as a notary.
6.  On 22 November 2003 the Khamovnicheskiy district prosecutor in Moscow opened a criminal investigation into the attempted murder of a certain Mr P. Police officers questioned the applicant. Two months later the case was closed in view of the finding that there was no actus reus.
7.  On 15 April 2005 the criminal case was reopened and joined to the criminal proceedings instituted in respect of the killings of Mr Paul Khlebnikov, the founding editor of the Russian edition of Forbes magazine, and Mr Yan Sergunin, a former Deputy Prime Minister of Chechnya. Only two weeks separated the two murders, which were believed to have been connected in light of the fact that Mr Khlebnikov had been in contact with Mr Sergunin not long before his death.
8.  On 24 May 2005 the applicant was arrested on suspicion of having organised the murders. Two days later the Basmannyy District Court, Moscow, (“the District Court”) authorised his detention during the investigation, having assessed the gravity of the charges and the risk of the applicant absconding, reoffending and interference with witness.
9.  On 21 July 2005 the District Court extended the applicant’s detention until 9 October 2005, citing the gravity of the charges and the particular complexity of the case, and having looked into the state of the applicant’s health and not considering it to be serious enough to justify his release. The District Court found that other measures of restraint could not be applied because the circumstances which had prompted the applicant’s arrest had not changed.
10.  The pre-trial investigation was completed on 31 August 2005, and a week later the applicant and his lawyers commenced reading the thirty‑seven-volume case file.
11.  In September 2005 an investigator lodged an application with the District Court, seeking a further extension of the applicant’s detention, in particular because the defence had not yet completed its study of the case file.
12.  On 27 September 2005 the court extended the applicant’s detention until 9 December 2005, having noted, inter alia, that the applicant had only read three, and his lawyer nine, volumes and that they therefore needed additional time. The court also reiterated its previous reasoning invoking the gravity of the charges against the applicant and his ability to hamper the proceedings if released. In addition it noted that the applicant’s personal and family situation, as well as his state of health, did not outweigh the reasons for his continued detention.
13.  Having finished studying the file, on 22 November 2005 the applicant was committed to stand trial before the Moscow City Court (“the City Court”).
14.  On 1 December 2005 the City Court scheduled a preliminary hearing and collectively extended the applicant’s and his co-defendants’ detention for an unspecified period. In so doing, the court merely referred to the absence of any change in the circumstances which had initially prompted the accuseds’ detention.
15.  After the preliminary hearing the City Court authorised a trial by jury, fixed the first trial hearing for 29 December 2005 and once more collectively extended the detention of the defendants, including the applicant, for an unspecified period of time, again citing exclusively the gravity of the charges.
16.  During a hearing of 15 February 2006 the applicant’s lawyer asked the City Court to release the applicant, arguing that his detention pending trial was not based on sufficient and valid reasons and was therefore in breach of Article 5 § 3 of the Convention. The court refused to release the applicant because the grounds which had been cited in the previous orders extending his detention had not ceased to exist.
17.  The applicant appealed against the decision of 15 February 2006. His statement of appeal bears the stamp of the City Court and indicates that it was lodged on 21 February 2006. Seventeen days later his lawyer received a letter from the presiding judge, stating that the appeal could not be accepted because Russian procedural law did not provide for the possibility to appeal against intermediate decisions issued by a trial court.
18.  In a hearing on 4 April 2006 the applicant’s lawyers again asked the City Court to release him, stating that his health had seriously deteriorated. The court refused the request, using wording identical to that of its decision of 15 February 2006.
19.  The applicant’s lawyers appealed. A stamp on the appeal statement indicates that it reached the City Court on 12 April 2006. Five days later the court returned the statement to the lawyers, noting that the decision of 4 April 2006 was not amenable to appeal.
20.  A similar request for release was lodged by the applicant’s lawyers on 19 April 2006. That request was also refused by the City Court, which ruled that the detention had been lawfully authorised on 6 December 2005 and that there were no grounds for changing the measure of restraint.
21.  On 6 May 2006 the City Court acquitted the applicant and his co‑defendants of all charges and ordered their immediate release.
22.  After the arrest the applicant was placed in remand prison no. IZ‑77/5 in Moscow (“the remand prison”). He argued that the conditions of his detention between 31 January and 7 February 2006 had been appalling. The facility had been overcrowded and his cell had been dirty and in a deplorable state.
23.  The applicant also complained about the conditions surrounding his transport to and from the courthouse. According to a certificate issued by the detention authorities on 30 July 2010, as well as the daily transport schedule submitted by the Government, on court hearing dates the applicant had risen at 6 a.m. At around 8 a.m. he had been put in a prison van and had been taken to the court house. He had come back to the remand prison at 10 p.m. Given his late return to the remand prison and subsequent body search, the applicant had allegedly only been able to go to bed at around midnight.
24.  On 21 March 2006 the lawyer complained to the escorting service about the late return of the applicant to the remand prison. The complaint was left unanswered. Six days later the lawyer requested the District Court not to hold hearings on Wednesdays in order to provide the applicant with the possibility to rest. The court agreed that at least one working day per week should be left free for the applicant to recover and prepare for forthcoming hearings.
25.  Between 15 February and 6 May 2006 the applicant took part in thirty-six hearings, with the hearings taking place on no more than four days per week.
26.  In 1998 the applicant suffered a craniocerebral injury; in 1999 he was treated in the S.P. Botkin Clinical Hospital in Moscow, where he was diagnosed with post-traumatic encephalopathy accompanied by hypertension-hydrocephalus syndrome, disorder of cerebrospinal fluid dynamics, vestibular coordination disorders, and symptomatic epilepsy characterised by frequent systemic convulsive attacks. The following year he was certified as having a second-degree disability.
27.  The parties provided differing descriptions of the applicant’s health problems and his treatment in the remand prison.
(a)  The Government’s version
28.  According to the Government, the applicant had not had any particular health problems in detention, save for his having lost consciousness once while being transported in a prison van. He had also attempted to commit suicide. The Government stressed that he had not suffered any epileptic fits and had been regularly seen by prison doctors.
29.  The medical file submitted by the Government shows that on admission to the remand prison on 8 June 2005 the applicant had undergone a basic medical check-up comprising blood tests, a chest X-ray and a consultation with a prison paramedic. Having interviewed the applicant, the paramedic had noted that he had a second-degree disability. According to the medical entry, the applicant had denied having epileptic seizures. A recommendation to request the applicant’s full medical history had been made.
30.  In February 2006 the applicant had attempted to commit suicide by cutting his wrist. The prison paramedic had treated the cut.
31.  A prison paramedic had visited the applicant several times, mostly before and after his transport to the courthouse, each time noting that he was healthy.
32.  Once, on 12 April 2006, the applicant had been seen by a prison doctor after he had lost consciousness in a prison van. The doctor had diagnosed him with neurocirculatory dystonia and given him Corvalol.
33.  During the second set of the criminal proceedings (see paragraph 43 below) the applicant had been placed in remand prison no. 77/1 in Moscow, where his epilepsy had received medical attention.
(b)  The applicant’s version
34.  According to the applicant, the medical records had not reflected his actual state of health in detention. His frequent epilepsy seizures had been disregarded by the authorities.
35.  On 30 October 2005 nine of the applicant’s cellmates had lodged a complaint with the detention authorities, noting the applicant’s poor health and their (that is to say, the cellmates’) inability to cope with the applicant’s health problems. According to the detainees, the applicant had had frequent epileptic seizures. Once he had fallen from the upper tier of his bunk, injuring himself and a cellmate. As a result of another seizure, he had inadvertently poured hot water over himself. The inmates had also submitted that he often talked to himself or with an imaginary interlocutor. Fearing that they might be held responsible for the applicant’s injuries sustained during the seizures, his cellmates had asked the authorities to provide him with adequate medical care and, if necessary, to admit him to a medical institution.
36.  Medical certificates issued by emergency medical teams called to see the applicant on 14 October 2005 and 30 March 2006 on account of his epileptic seizures had indicated that the applicant had been found by the paramedics in a post-seizure condition and provided with medication.
37.  The applicant had further alleged that the authorities had not provided him with the required medical attention or drugs necessary to treat his epilepsy or at least to decrease the frequency of seizures, of which they had been fully aware. Certain drugs had been sent to him by his family or friends.
38.  The applicant’s lawyer had interviewed three inmates who had shared a cell with the applicant between June 2005 and May 2006. They had consistently stated that the applicant’s epilepsy had been known to the detention authorities, including the resident doctor. The applicant had been initially assigned the upper-tier bunk, but on the doctor’s recommendation, he had been allowed to move to the lower tier to reduce the risk of injuries during seizures. The inmates testified to either having seen the applicant suffering a seizure or having heard about them. They also confirmed that the applicant’s family had sent him parcels with medication, which he had taken under the supervision of the resident doctor.
(c)  Requests for medical examination
39.  On 12 October 2005 the applicant’s lawyer sent a letter to the Prosecutor General’s office asking it to authorise a complex psychological and psychiatric examination of the applicant. The lawyer insisted that the applicant’s health had seriously deteriorated during his detention, that his convulsive episodes had become too frequent, that the applicant had started suffering from occasional visual and auditory hallucinations, that he had difficulty concentrating and had experienced memory loss, and so on. Two days later the request was refused as unsubstantiated. The applicant appealed. On 4 April 2006 the District Court rejected that appeal on the merits.
40.  In the meantime, on 24 October 2005, in view of the deterioration of the applicant’s health, his lawyer requested the head of the remand prison and the Prosecutor General’s office to authorise a complex medical examination of the applicant by doctors from the S.P. Botkin Clinical Hospital and experts from the Main State Centre of Forensic Medical and Criminological Examinations. The head of the remand prison replied that the applicant was under the supervision of a prison doctor and that he was afforded any necessary out-patient treatment. His state of health was stable and did not require admission to a hospital. In addition, it was noted that a request for a medical examination of an inmate by civil medical specialists could only be authorised by the investigating authorities. According to the response of the Prosecutor General’s office there was no necessity to authorise a medical examination as there was no evidence that the applicant’s health had deteriorated.
41.  On 31 March 2006 the applicant’s lawyer unsuccessfully asked the City Court to authorise a complex medical examination of the applicant.
42.  On 6 May 2006 an investigator from the Moscow City prosecutor’s office instituted criminal proceedings against the applicant. The investigating authorities alleged that between June 2002 and February 2003 the applicant, acting in his official capacity as a notary, together with two other individuals, had forged a will and had fraudulently acquired a flat belonging to the deceased.
43.  On 11 May 2006 the applicant was arrested and on the following day the Zamoskvoretskiy District Court authorised his detention on remand, which was further extended on a number of occasions.
44.  On 31 January 2007 the Preobrazhenksiy District Court found the applicant guilty of aggravated fraud, abuse of position and property laundering and sentenced him to nine years’ imprisonment. On 12 November 2007 the City Court upheld the judgment on appeal, amending the legal classification of the offences and reducing the sentence to eight years’ imprisonment.