039;s presence and decided that it could not examine the claim while the criminal proceedings against the applicant were pending, because it was essential to know the outcome of those proceedings in order to determine whether the disseminated information was true or false. Therefore, the district court ordered the proceedings to be suspended.
12. On 30 July 2001 the Kostroma Regional Court upheld the decision of 13 June 2001.
13. On 5 September 2002 the Kostroma Regional Court convicted the applicant of murder and robbery and sentenced him to twenty-two years' imprisonment. On 26 May 2003 the judgment became final.
14. On 25 June 2003 the district court informed the applicant that the proceedings in respect of his defamation claim had been resumed and a hearing had been scheduled for 9 July 2003. The court asked the applicant if he wished to continue with his claim, and requested him to submit written explanations.
15. In his reply of 28 June 2003 the applicant modified his statement of claims, withdrew the claim against KTRK and affirmed his wish to continue with his claim against the prosecutor's office. He also asked the court to examine the case in his presence.
16. On 9 July 2003 the district court held the hearing in the applicant's absence. It does not appear from the case materials that it examined the applicant's request to appear in the courtroom. Having studied the applicant's written submissions and having heard the representative of the prosecutor's office, it rejected the claim. According to the Government, the representative of the prosecutor's office advanced no new arguments against the claim during the hearing. The district court found that the impugned statement had been based on facts which had subsequently been established in the court judgment of 5 September 2002. With regard to arguments by the applicant that the investigator was not entitled to publicly state that the applicant was guilty until this had been proved according to law, the court said that, by the date of the broadcast, the applicant had already been charged with murder and robbery, which, under the Code of Criminal Procedure, was possible only if sufficient evidence existed. The issue of the applicant's absence was addressed in the district court's decision as follows:
"The plaintiff was not present at the hearing because he had been sentenced... to twenty-two years' imprisonment... The court received [the plaintiff's] written comments about the claim made..."
17. The applicant appealed against this judgment. He claimed, inter alia, that the principle of equality of arms had been breached, as the court had refused to summon him and hear him in person.
18. On 21 January 2004 the applicant, then detained in the correctional facility in Mordoviya, was notified of the time and place of an appeal hearing in his defamation case.
19. On 4 February 2004 the Kostroma Regional Court held an appeal hearing in the absence of the parties and upheld the judgment of 9 July 2003 with minor changes. The appeal judgment, in so far as relevant, read as follows:
"...[the district] court ensured Mokhov's participation in the hearing of 13 June 2001 although the laws on civil procedure in force do not require the court to ensure the presence in a courtroom of persons kept in custody or sentenced to imprisonment.
[The district] court duly notified Mokhov of the date of the hearing. The plaintiff sent to the [district] court his written comments on the nature of his claims. The reasons given in those comments were studied and duly assessed by the [district] court."
II. Relevant domestic law and practice
20. Article 49 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation provides that everyone accused of committing a crime shall be considered innocent until his g
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