FIFTH SECTION

Application no . 48107/10 Aleksandr Viktorovich BAGATSKIY against Ukraine lodged on 23 September 2010

STATEMENT OF FACTS

The applicant, Mr Aleksandr Viktorovich Bagatskiy , is a Ukrainian national who was born in 1969 and currently lives in Dnipropetrovsk .

The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.

In 2009 the applicant was prosecuted for illegal possession of arms and drug dealing and eventually sentenced to five years ’ imprisonment with confiscation of all his property. The final decision in his criminal case was given by the Supreme Court, of which he was informed on an unspecified date in November or December 2009. The applicant was not allowed to keep a copy of that decision.

On 11 March 2011 the applicant was released from detention.

In 2010 and 2011 , prior and after the applicant ’ s release from detention, the Court invited the applicant to submit copies of various documents from his criminal case file. He has not been able to provide copies of any of the required documents, as allegedly the Amur Nyzhnyodnirpovskyy District Court in Dnipropetrovsk , which kept the case file, refused to give him access to it .

The applicant unsuccessfully tried to challenge before the civil courts the refusal of the Amur Nyzhnyodnirpovskyy District Court to give him access to the case file.

COMPLAINT

The applicant complains under Article 34 of the Convention that the authorities have refused to provide him with the possibility to obtain copies of documents he needed for substantiation of the application.

QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES

Has there been any hindrance by the State in the present case with the effe ctive exercise of the applicant ’ s right of petition, as guaranteed by Article 34 of the Convention? In particular, did the applicant have the opportunity to obtain copies of the documents from his case file and to send them to the Court in order to pursue the application ?