ilty as charged and sentenced him to thirteen years' imprisonment. It established that the applicant, together with his two co-defendants, had attacked, robbed and severely beaten up the victim. The applicant's role, previously agreed upon by the co-defendants, consisted, among other things, in threatening the victim with a knife. The court based its findings on partial confessions by the applicant's co-defendants, statements by victims and witnesses and material evidence. It was finally stated in the judgment that it could be appealed against to the Orenburg Regional Court within ten days of its pronouncement or, for the detained defendants, within the same period after receipt of its copy. It was also stated that if the remanded convicts were submitting an appeal statement, they had a "right to request to participate in the examination of the criminal case by the appellate court".
11. On 21 November 2002 the applicant appealed against his conviction to the Orenburg Regional Court ("the Regional Court"). He did not dispute that he had taken the money from the victim but disagreed with the way the trial court had established the relevant facts, the distribution of roles between him and his co-defendants and the classification of his own acts. He submitted, in particular, that the trial court had disregarded his testimony and statements by witnesses which supported it, in particular, regarding the trial court's findings about the distribution of responsibility between him and his co-defendants and the classification of his acts as a premeditated robbery. In his appeal statement the applicant neither requested the Regional Court to secure his presence at the appeal hearing nor sought legal representation. According to the Government, the applicant's co-defendants who also appealed against the conviction expressly requested the appellate court to secure their presence at the appeal hearing.
12. According to the Government, on 25 November 2002 a notification about the appeal hearing was sent to the remand centre where the applicant was being held.
13. On 19 December 2002 the Regional Court examined the appeals lodged by the applicant and his co-defendants and upheld the judgment. The applicant was absent from the appeal hearing and was not represented before it, while his co-defendants, as well as the prosecutor, attended the hearing and made submissions.
14. By a judgment of 19 December 2002, the Regional Court dismissed the applicant's appeal and upheld the conviction.
II. Relevant domestic law
A. The Code of Criminal Procedure
1. Scope of examination of the criminal case
by the appeal Court
15. Under Article 360 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which entered into force on 1 July 2002 ("the CCP"), the appeal court verifies the legality, validity and fairness of the judgment of the trial court only to the extent to which it has been complained against and only in respect of those convicted who are concerned by the appeal. The appeal court is empowered to reduce the sentence imposed on the convicted person or to apply the law of a lesser offence. It has no power to impose a more severe penalty, apply a law on a more serious offence or quash an acquittal, unless it considers that the conviction was unfair or that the interests of the parties to the proceedings were violated.
16. A conviction is deemed unfair if the sentence imposed is inconsistent with the seriousness of the offence, the personality of the convicted person, or if that sentence, although within the limits of the relevant Article of the Criminal Code, is unfair in its chosen type or extent, being either disproportionately lenient or disproportionately severe A conviction may be reversed when it is necessary to impose a more severe penalty where the penalty imposed by the trial court is deemed u
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