Communicated on 19 January 2018

SECOND SECTION

Application no. 54091/13 Besnik BRAKA against Albania lodged on 20 August 2013

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

The application concerns the applicant ’ s conviction for trafficking of weapons and ammunition in collusion, manufacturing and sale of narcotics in collusion, as well as falsification of documents and his sentence to fourteen years’ imprisonment and a fine. The applicant is a stateless person.

The applicant complains that he has been deprived of his right to appeal to the Supreme Court as he was not notified of the Prosecutor ’ s appeal before the Supreme Court. The notification had only been sent to the lawyer who had represented the applicant before the Court of Appeal for serious crimes and who had not been authorised by the applicant to represent him before the Supreme Court. A court-appointed lawyer had represented the applicant before the Supreme Court.

Further, the applicant complains about the overall length of the criminal proceedings against him, lasting for 8 years, from 22 April 2005, when the Tirana Serious Crimes Prosecutor ’ s office regist ered the case until 26 February 2013, when the Constitutional Court issued its decision. The proceedings before the Supreme Court lasted for 3 years.

QUESTIONS tO THE PARTIES

1. Did the applicant have a fair hearing in the determination of the criminal charge against him, in accordance with Article 6 § 1 of the Convention? In particular, did he have effective access to the Supreme Court (see for example Andreyev v. Estonia , no. 48132/07, § 65, 22 November 2011?

2. Has there been a breach of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention as regards the length of the overall court proceedings, particularly the proceedings before the Supreme Court (see for example Kaçiu and Kotorri v. Albania , nos. 33192/07 and 33194/07, § 151, 25 June 2013 and Luli and Others v. Albania , no s . 64480/09 and 5 others, §§ 95-96, 1 April 2014)?