supervisory review was to be considered by the judicial board (the Presidium) of the appropriate court. The court could examine the case on the merits, was not bound by the scope and grounds of the request for supervisory review and was obliged to conduct a full review of the evidence.
21. The Presidium could dismiss or grant the request. If the request was dismissed, the earlier judgment remained operative. If it granted the request, the Presidium could decide to quash the judgment and terminate the criminal proceedings, remit the case for a new investigation, order reconsideration by a court at any instance, uphold a first-instance judgment reversed on appeal, or vary or uphold any of the earlier judgments.
22. Article 380 §§ 2 and 3 provided that the Presidium could, in the same proceedings, reduce a sentence or amend the legal classification of a conviction or sentence to the defendant's advantage. If it found a sentence or legal classification to be too lenient, it was obliged to remit the case for reconsideration.
23. Under Article 377 of the Code the public prosecutor took part in a hearing of a supervisory review. A convicted person and his or her counsel could be summoned if a supervisory review court found it necessary. If summoned, they were to be given an opportunity to examine the application for supervisory review and to make oral submissions at the hearing.
C. Case-law of the Constitutional Court
24. In Ruling No. 2-P of 14 February 2000, the Constitutional Court declared Article 377 incompatible with the Russian Constitution to the extent that it had permitted the supervisory review hearing to decide on an application for supervisory review which was to the detriment of the convicted or acquitted person. The Court held that such a person and his or her counsel should be able to study the application, they should be notified of the date and place of the hearing and given an opportunity to present their position on the arguments in the application.
THE LAW
I. Alleged violation of Article 6 of the Convention
25. The applicant complained under Article 6 §§ 1 and 3 (b) and (c) of the Convention about the quashing of the final judgment of 24 September 1999 in his criminal case and the failure of the Presidium of the Rostov Regional Court to notify him of the application for supervisory review of his case and of the hearing on 27 January 2000. Article 6, in so far as relevant, reads:
"1. In the determination of... any criminal charge against him, everyone is entitled to a fair... hearing... by [a]... tribunal established by law. ...
3. Everyone charged with a criminal offence has the following minimum rights:...
(b) to have adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his defence;
(c) to defend himself in person or through legal assistance of his own choosing..."
A. The parties' submissions
26. The Government pointed out that according to the Court's judgment in the case of Ryabykh higher courts' power of review should be exercised to correct judicial errors and miscarriages of justice (see Ryabykh v. Russia, No. 52854/99, § 52, ECHR 2003-IX). The quashing of the judgment in the applicant's case was justified by substantial circumstances provided for by Article 342 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. As regards the applicant's complaint about the supervisory review hearing in absentia, the Government stated that Article 377 § 3 of the Code of Criminal Procedure provided that convicted persons and their counsels could be summoned to a supervisory review court's hearing only where necessary. Therefore, the parties' presence at the hearing before the Rostov Regional Court was not compulsory. The Government underlined that the decision of the Constitutional Court
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