5.  The applicant was born in 1985 and is currently detained in St Petersburg. 6.  He was suspected of involvement in large-scale drug dealing. 7.  On 2 February 2011 he was arrested. He remained in custody pending the investigation and trial. 8.  On 6 October 2011 the Sovetskiy District Court of Kazan (“the District Court”) received the case file and set the trial date for 19 October 2011. 9.  On 19 March 2012 the District Court found the applicant guilty as charged and sentenced him to nine and a half years’ imprisonment. 10.  During the trial, which consisted of sixteen hearings, the applicant was confined in a metal cage in the courtroom. There was no desk inside the cage, only a wooden bench, which made it impossible for him to take notes during the hearings. Armed security guards remained beside the cage dock. The applicant’s lawyer could only approach him with the court’s permission. Any conversations between them had to take place in the presence of the guards. 11.  On 10 August 2012 the Supreme Court of the Tatarstan Republic upheld the applicant’s conviction on appeal. The applicant participated in the hearing by videoconference. He was placed behind a floor-to-ceiling metal partition on the premises of the remand prison SIZO-3 of the Tatarstan Republic where he was detained and communicated with the judges via a video link.