cular, that the trial court had not secured the attendance of Ms M., Ms K. and Mr G. He also complained that the legal characterisation of his actions was erroneous as regards the count of robbery of Ms M. He insisted that he had not had a knife and asked the court to amend the charge of armed robbery to that of robbery.
21. On 27 August 2003 the Moscow Regional Court upheld the judgment on appeal. It did not address the applicant's complaint about the failure to obtain the attendance of witnesses.
II. Relevant domestic law
22. Robbery - that is, obtaining property by violence or threat of violence - carries a punishment of three to seven years' imprisonment (Article 161 § 2 (g) of the Russian Criminal Code). Armed robbery carries a punishment of seven to twelve years' imprisonment (Article 162 § 2 (g) of the Criminal Code).
23. Forcible assertion of one's rights in disregard of established procedure, causing considerable damage to a person or organisation and accompanied by violence or threat of violence, is punishable by up to three years' restriction of liberty of movement, or up to six months' arrest, or up to five years' imprisonment (Article 330 § 2 of the Criminal Code).
24. The Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation of 18 December 2001 provides that witnesses are to be examined directly by the trial court (Article 278). Statements given by the victim or a witness during the pre-trial investigation can be read out with the consent of the parties in two cases: (i) if there is a substantial discrepancy between those statements and the testimony before the court; or (ii) if the victim or witness has failed to appear in court (Article 281).
25. If a witness does not obey a summons to appear without a good reason, the court may order that the police or the bailiffs should bring him to the courtroom by force (Article 113).
THE LAW
I. Alleged violation of Article 6 §§ 1 and 3 (d)
of the Convention
26. The applicant complained that the trial court's reliance on statements by witnesses whom he had had no opportunity to question constituted a violation of Article 6 §§ 1 and 3 (d) of the Convention, which provides as follows:
"1. In the determination of... any criminal charge against him, everyone is entitled to a fair... hearing... by [a]... tribunal...
...
3. Everyone charged with a criminal offence has the following minimum rights:
...
(d) to examine or have examined witnesses against him and to obtain the attendance and examination of witnesses on his behalf under the same conditions as witnesses against him..."
A. Admissibility
27. The Court notes that 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.
B. Merits
1. Submissions by the parties
28. The Government submitted that the authorities had made a reasonable effort to secure the attendance of Ms M., Ms K. and Mr G. However, they had been unable to attend the trial. According to her neighbours, Ms M. had moved out of her flat, where she had lived on a temporary basis. She was a Ukrainian national permanently living in Ukraine. Ms K. had refused to attend as she was looking after her child. Mr G. had been taking part in the investigation in a criminal case against him and it had been impossible to bring him to the courtroom on the day of the hearing. Moreover, the applicant had not objected to the reading out of their statements.
29. The applicant submitted that Ms M., Ms K. and Mr G. were the key witnesses against him. On the first charge, although
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