ernment noted that the application for supervisory review, as well as the prosecutor's pleadings at the hearing, were not to the applicant's detriment. Given that the supervisory review procedure had benefited the applicant by sentencing him to a shorter term of imprisonment as a result of a new legal classification of his actions, the Government were of the view that the Supreme Court's failure to secure the attendance of the applicant and his counsel did not breach Article 6 of the Convention.
28. The applicant contended that he did not have a fair trial in the proceedings before the supervisory review court. In his view, he had faced a new charge. He was informed of the proceedings and the contents of the Deputy President's request too late. The applicant stated that he had been deprived of an opportunity to be present and to submit arguments on that particular issue. In view of the above and having regard to the fact that the prosecution had participated in the hearing, the applicant considered that there had been a breach of Article 6 of the Convention.
B. The Court's assessment
1. Admissibility
29. In so far as the applicant complained generally of the outcome of the criminal proceedings against him, the Court notes that it is not called upon to examine alleged errors of fact and law committed by the domestic judicial authorities, provided that there is no indication of unfairness in the proceedings concerned. In this respect, the Court notes that the Supreme Court examined the request for supervisory review lodged by the Deputy President of the Supreme Court of Russia, re-opened the proceedings in the case and amended the lower courts' decisions. It re-characterised the applicant's offence from aggravated kidnapping to aggravated deprivation of liberty, reducing his sentence from sixteen to thirteen years of imprisonment. For the remainder, it upheld the previous court decision in his case.
30. The Court is of the view that, in so far as the Supreme Court re-opened the proceedings in the applicant's case and amended the decisions of the lower courts, the supervisory review proceedings concerned the determination of a criminal charge against the applicant. Accordingly, it finds that Article 6 § 1 of the Convention under its criminal head applies to those proceedings (see, among other authorities, Vanyan v. Russia, No. 53203/99, §§ 56 - 58, 15 December 2005).
31. The Court observes that this part of the application is not manifestly ill-founded within the meaning of Article 35 § 3 of the Convention. It further notes that it is not inadmissible on any other grounds. It must therefore be declared admissible.
2. Merits
(a) General principles
32. The Court reiterates that it flows from the notion of a fair trial that a person charged with a criminal offence should, as a general principle, be entitled to be present and participate effectively in the first-instance hearing (see Colozza v. Italy, 12 February 1985, §§ 27 and 29, Series A No. 89).
33. The personal attendance of the defendant does not necessarily take on the same significance for an appeal hearing, even where the appellate court has full jurisdiction to review the case on questions of both fact and law. Regard must be had in assessing this question to, among other things, the special features of the proceedings involved and the manner in which the defence's interests are presented and protected before the appellate court, particularly in the light of the issues to be decided by it and their importance for the appellant (see Belziuk v. Poland, 25 March 1998, § 37, Reports of Judgments and Decisions 1998-II).
34. It is also of crucial importance for the fairness of the criminal justice system that the accused be adequately defended, both at first instance and o
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