years and ten months and by 24 December 2003 the length of his detention had already ceased to be reasonable (see Rokhlina, cited above, § 69).
97. Having regard to the above finding and in the absence of any extraordinary circumstances, the Court cannot conclude that after 24 December 2003 the character of the applicant's continued detention changed. Hence the applicant did not fail to exhaust domestic remedies in respect of his complaint related to his detention after 24 December 2003 (see Pshevecherskiy, cited above, § 72) and the Court rejects the Government's objection in this respect.
98. The Court, accordingly, finds a violation of Article 5 § 3 of the Convention.
III. Alleged violation of Article 5 § 4 of the Convention
99. The applicant complained under Article 5 § 4 of the Convention that the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation had not examined "speedily" his appeal against the detention order of 25 September 2003. Article 5 § 4 provides:
"Everyone who is deprived of his liberty by arrest or detention shall be entitled to take proceedings by which the lawfulness of his detention shall be decided speedily by a court and his release ordered if the detention is not lawful..."
A. Submissions by the parties
100. The Government submitted that, according to information submitted by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, the Supreme Court had "speedily" examined the applicant's complaints concerning the lawfulness of his detention from 24 September to 24 December 2003. They further noted that the applicant had been found guilty of a criminal offence and that the term of his pre-trial detention had counted towards his sentence.
101. The applicant maintained his complaint.
B. The Court's assessment
1. Admissibility
102. The Court notes that this complaint 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
103. The Court reiterates that Article 5 § 4, in guaranteeing to persons arrested or detained a right to take proceedings to challenge the lawfulness of their detention, also proclaims their right, following the institution of such proceedings, to a speedy judicial decision concerning the lawfulness of detention and ordering its termination if it proves unlawful. Although it does not compel the Contracting States to set up a second level of jurisdiction for the examination of the lawfulness of detention, a State which institutes such a system must in principle accord to detainees the same guarantees on appeal as at first instance (see Navarra v. France, 23 November 1993, § 28, Series A No. 273-B, and Toth v. Austria, 12 December 1991, § 84, Series A No. 224). The requirement that a decision be given "speedily" is undeniably one such guarantee and Article 5 § 4, concerning issues of liberty, requires particular expedition (see Hutchison Reid v. the United Kingdom, No. 50272/99, § 79, ECHR 2003-IV). In that context, the Court also observes that there is a special need for a swift decision determining the lawfulness of detention in cases where a trial is pending, because the defendant should benefit fully from the principle of the presumption of innocence (see {Ilowiecki} v. Poland, No. 27504/95, § 76, 4 October 2001).
(b) Application of the general principles to the present case
104. The Court notes that it took the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation more than two months to examine the applicant's appeal against the detention order of 25 September 2003 (see paragraphs 30 and 32 above). There is nothing to suggest that the applicant caused delays in the examina
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