5.  The applicant was born in 1977 and is currently serving a life sentence in Ladyzhynska prison no. 39.
6.  In the evening on 17 August 2005 the applicant arrived from Sumy, where he lived, to Kyiv. Shortly thereafter, at 21.20 p.m., while still being at the railway station, he was arrested on suspicion of two counts of murder and robbery committed earlier that month in Sumy. Some items belonging to the victims were found in his luggage.
7.  The applicant stated in his application that no coercive measures had been applied to him during or after his arrest on 17 August 2005. He also noted that immediately after his arrest he had been brought to the local police station, where the officer on duty had examined him and had drawn up a report about his injuries in the presence of two attested witnesses. The report stated that the applicant had abrasions on his back and stomach.
8.  The applicant spent the night at the police station, without any investigative measures undertaken.
9.  On 18 August 2005 three police officers, who had arrived from Sumy, transported the applicant to that city (340 km from Kyiv) in their vehicle.
10.  The applicant’s account of the subsequent events is as follows. He was handcuffed and had one of his ankles shackled in a tight manner. When he protested, one of the officers hit him several times in the stomach. The police stopped their car in a forest, made him go out and subjected him to cruel ill-treatment with a view to extracting his confession to the investigated criminal offences. The applicant maintained that he had only witnessed the offences in question, whereas those were his acquaintances, A. and Se., who had committed them. The police officers severely beat him all over his body. Subsequently they undressed him, stuffed his mouth with earth and grass, and raped him with a wooden stick. The applicant urinated involuntarily. He conceded to all their requirements. After a pause, during which the officers drank alcohol, while the applicant stayed in the car with the driver, they made him “rehearse” his confessions. They insisted that he should plead guilty without mentioning the involvement of anybody else.
11.  The police car arrived at the Kovpakivskyy police station in Sumy at about 6 p.m. on 18 August 2005.
12.  According to the case-file materials, on 18 August 2005, at 6.20 p.m., the applicant’s arrest was reported and his rights of a criminal suspect were explained to him.
13.  On the same day, at 7 p.m., a forensic medical expert (a woman), acting at the investigator’s instruction, examined the applicant, who was naked. She finalised the examination report on 16 September 2005, in which she documented the following injuries: a bruise measuring 2 x 1 cm in the applicant’s left temple, another bruise of about the same size on the right part of his head, a 6 x 0.2 cm bruise and abrasion under his right eye, a horizontal linear abrasion on the right part of his torso measuring 3  x 0.6 cm, a bruise of 2 x 1 cm and a vertical linear abrasion measuring 18 x 3 cm on his left thigh. Furthermore, there were linear abrasions up to 1 cm wide around both wrists of the applicant. The applicant explained the origin of his injuries as follows: upon his arrival to Kyiv some unknown persons had beaten him up at about 9 p.m. at the railway station. The expert stated that the injuries in question had been inflicted “by blunt hard objects” and that the applicant could have sustained them at the time he indicated. Lastly, the injuries were evaluated as insignificant.
14.  The applicant submitted that the expert had not reported all his injuries and that he had not dared to complain to her of his ill-treatment, firstly, because of the presence of the officers in question during his examination and, secondly, because he had been ashamed in front of a woman.
15.  As indicated by the applicant in his application form and confirmed by the case-file materials, from 7.20 to 10.50 p.m. on 18 August 2005 he was questioned in respect of and confessed to one count of murder (of Ms Ch.), in the presence of a lawyer, Mr M., appointed for him by the investigator. More specifically, he submitted that Ms Ch. had been his acquaintance, he had met her by chance near a forest, they had had a conflict and he had killed her with a knife that had fallen out of her picnic bag. The applicant also stated that he had taken the victim’s jewelleries and mobile phone and had sold them.
16.  Furthermore, according to the applicant’s account submitted in his application form, his questioning had started before and continued during his medical examination, in the presence of many police officers including those who had ill-treated him. He also alleged that he had not had the possibility to talk in private to the lawyer, who, in any event, had not shown any interest in the case and had remained passive.
17.  In his reply to the Government’s observations on the admissibility and merits of the application, the applicant submitted a different version of the events: that his first questioning had actually taken place on 19 August 2005 and that its report had wrongly been dated 18 August 2005.
18.  The applicant was placed in the Sumy Temporary Detention Facility (“the Sumy ITT”, a part of the police infrastructure), in which he was detained until his transfer to the Sumy Pre-Trial Detention Centre (“the Sumy SIZO”) on 7 October 2005.
19.  On an unspecified date the administration of the Sumy ITT issued an information note about the meetings the applicant had with police officers. It appears that two of the officers, who had convoyed him from Kyiv to Sumy and whom he accused of his ill-treatment, visited him in the ITT on seven occasions during the period from 18 August to 7 October 2005.
20.  On 19 August 2005, during the crime reconstruction, the applicant reiterated his confession to Ms Ch.’s murder and the theft of her belongings.
21.  On the same date the applicant was questioned, in the presence of his lawyer Mr M., in respect of another count of murder, of Ms S. (some household appliances from her flat and her husband’s military identity card had been found in the applicant’s luggage following his arrest on 17 August 2005 – see paragraph 6 above).
22.  On 27 and 30 August 2005 the applicant reiterated his confessions. During his questioning on the last-mentioned date he, however, modified his account of the events as regards the murder of Ms Ch. He submitted that he had in fact used his own butterfly-type knife, which he had bought at a market in July that year.
23.  On 1 September 2005 a reconstruction of the criminal offences was carried out, during which the applicant maintained his confessions, in the presence of his lawyer.
24.  According to the applicant, on 28 September 2005 his lawyer and the investigator had an informal conversation with him. They requested him to tell them the truth regarding his role in the criminal offences under the investigation. By that time the applicant had written seven “pleas of guilt”, but, as his interlocutors had supposedly stated, none of them appeared convincing. The applicant complained of his ill-treatment and submitted that he was remaining under the constant pressure on the part of the police officers concerned. The investigator promised him to take measures to protect him.
25.  During his questioning on 30 September 2005 the applicant retracted his earlier confessions as obtained under duress. He stated that he had only been a witness of the crimes and that the murders had been committed by other persons, A. and Se., who had later forced him to sell the property belonging to the victims. The applicant indicated those persons’ first names and physical description.
26.  Two police officers implicated in the alleged ill-treatment of the applicant visited him in the SIZO (where he had been transferred from the ITT on 7 October 2005) on 18, 22 and 30 November 2005. They allegedly continued putting pressure on him, to which the investigator failed to react.
27.  On 31 January 2006 the investigator in charge of the applicant’s criminal case was replaced.
28.  On an unspecified date in January 2006 Mr M. allegedly admitted in his conversation with the applicant’s mother that he was under pressure and was not therefore in a position to duly defend her son’s rights.
29.  On 6 February 2006 the applicant started to be represented by Ms S., a lawyer contracted by his mother, instead of the appointed lawyer Mr M.
30.  On 13 February 2006 the formal charges of two counts of murder for profit and aggravated robbery were brought against the applicant. During his questioning on that date the applicant stated once again that his initial confessions had been the result of his ill-treatment by the police officers who had ensured his transfer from Kyiv to Sumy on 18 August 2005 (see paragraphs 9 and 10 above).
31.  On 15 February 2006 an investigator of the Sumy Regional Prosecutor’s Office refused to institute criminal proceedings in respect of the applicant’s complaint of ill-treatment by the police officers for the lack of corpus delicti in their actions. It was noted in the decision that the applicant had raised that complaint for the first time during his questioning on 13 February 2006. The officers concerned denied the veracity of his allegations. One of them submitted that the applicant had voluntarily decided to confess to the criminal offences in question during his transfer from Kyiv to Sumy. Although the applicant had some injuries, he had himself explained that he had sustained them during a conflict with unidentified persons prior to his arrest.
32.  On 21 March 2006 the above decision was sent to the applicant with a note that he could challenge it before a court within seven days of the date of its receipt. The applicant did not, however, appeal against that decision. According to him, he intended to raise the complaint of his ill-treatment during his trial as his lawyer had advised him.
33.  On 12 May 2006 the Sumy Regional Court of Appeal (“the Sumy Court”) sitting as a court of first instance found the applicant guilty as charged and sentenced him to life-term imprisonment with confiscation of all his property. The court relied on the applicant’s confessions made during the pre-trial investigation as eventually modified by him (see paragraph 22 above). It noted certain factual inconsistencies in his statements, but considered them insignificant. The court also took into account the forensic and material evidence in the case. Namely, it could not be ruled out that the blood discovered under Ms Ch.’s fingernails could have originated from the applicant. Nor could it be excluded that the applicant had smoked the cigarettes found at the crime scene in Ms S.’s flat. Furthermore, certain items belonging to the victims had been discovered on him or sold by him to other persons, which he did not contest.
34.  The applicant had requested the court to summon a number of witnesses, who might have seen him in a local bar together with A. and Se. or who might have been able to identify those persons. The court called numerous witnesses indicated by the applicant, but not all of them. Those heard by the court could not identify the persons described by the applicant.
35.  The trial court examined and dismissed as unfounded the applicant’s allegation of his ill-treatment by the police. It noted that although some injuries had been detected on him following his arrest, he had himself explained their origin as resulting from his beating by unknown persons. Furthermore, he had stated in writing that he had no complaints against the police. Lastly, the court noted that the applicant had complained for the first time about his ill-treatment only on 13 February 2006. It relied on the prosecutor’s decision of 15 February 2006 not to initiate criminal proceedings against the police, which the applicant could but had not challenged.
36.  On the same date the Sumy Court also issued a separate ruling criticising the applicant’s delayed transfer from the Sumy ITT to the SIZO (see paragraph 18 above). It noted that instead of the legally established maximum of three days the applicant had been detained in the ITT for three weeks.
37.  Both the applicant and the lawyer acting on his behalf appealed against the conviction, arguing principally that the applicant’s guilt had not been proven (there had been no sufficient material evidence and the statements of the applicant and of the witnesses had been inconsistent) and that the conviction was based on the applicant’s statements obtained under duress. They also argued that the court had not allowed the applicant’s requests to summon a witness who had been acquainted with the supposed murderers and that the statements of several witnesses who had allegedly seen those persons had not been attached sufficient weight.
38.  On 17 August 2006 the Supreme Court partly changed the reasoning of the verdict, having upheld, on the whole, the findings of the first-instance court and the applicant’s sentence. The Supreme Court noted that the applicant’s complaints of ill-treatment were unsubstantiated and that they had been rejected by the prosecutor’s decision against which the applicant had failed to lodge an appeal. The Supreme Court also noted that the applicant’s allegation about other persons’ responsibility for the crimes had been duly examined at the pre-trial stage and during the trial and that it was unsubstantiated.
39.  On 9 April 2007 the applicant was transferred from the SIZO to Ladyzhynska prison no. 39 to serve his sentence.
40.  On 31 January 2007 the Registry of the Court acknowledged receipt of the completed application form from the applicant. By the same letter it requested him to specify whether he had appealed against the prosecutor’s decision of 15 February 2006 and to provide a copy of his cassation appeal, as well as any other documents in substantiation of his complaints under Article 6 § 3 (c) and (d) of the Convention.
41.  On 31 May 2007 the applicant informed the Court that he had not challenged the decision in question. He also sent a copy of the cassation appeals against his conviction lodged by him personally and by his lawyer.
42.  On 6 July 2007 the Registry wrote to the applicant that his case was ready for examination by the Court and that he would be informed about the subsequent procedures in due time.
43.  The applicant submitted numerous supplements to his application. He provided, in particular, extensive details as regards the conditions of his detention in the pre-trial detention facilities in Sumy (the ITT and the SIZO). Subsequently the Court declared those complaints inadmissible (see paragraph 4 above). As regards the applicant’s conditions of detention in Ladyzhynska prison no. 39, the submissions before the Court are confined to the following two letters from the applicant’s mother.
44.  On 24 November 2009 the Registry received a letter from the applicant’s mother (who represented him at the time) of an unspecified date, in which she submitted that her son was in a desperate situation in prison being subjected to constant beatings and humiliations. She noted that he had been “placed in a cell without light for seven days” and that he “had been wearing a winter hat whereas the temperature was about 30ºC”.
45.  On 10 October 2011 another letter from the applicant’s mother was received, in which she submitted that the conditions of his detention in the prison amounted to his “constant torture”. In substantiation, she enclosed an incomplete photocopy of the applicant’s letter to her dated 9 August 2011. The applicant had complained to his mother about poor conditions in the prison, about his harassment by the guards and about having had to share his cell with an inmate, with whom he had a conflict. He had also written that he had cut his left wrist as a protest and that no adequate medical care had been provided to him in that regard.