ourtroom. The Supreme Court then introduced the applicant to Ms A., his new legal aid counsel who was present in the Supreme Court's courtroom and then allowed them fifteen minutes of confidential communication by video link before the start of the hearing. All persons, both in the courtroom and in the detention facility, left the rooms.
24. The applicant rejected the assistance of Ms A. on the grounds that he needed to meet his counsel in person. The Supreme Court, having noted that the applicant did not rely on divergence with Ms A. in his defence, did not request her replacement by another legal aid lawyer, did not accept the court's proposal to retain private counsel of his choice and, taking into account the quashing of the previous appeal decision on the grounds of lacking legal assistance, rejected the applicant's objection to the counsel's assistance. Accordingly, Ms A. represented the applicant in the appeal hearing.
25. On the same day the Supreme Court examined the merits of the case. It upheld the judgment of the Novosibirsk Regional court of 20 December 2001, making one correction in the text and excluding one piece of evidence. The substantive findings and the applicant's sentence remained unchanged.
II. Relevant domestic law
A. The Code of Criminal Procedure
26. Article 51 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation (in force from 1 July 2002) provides for mandatory legal representation if the accused faces serious charges carrying a term of imprisonment exceeding fifteen years, life imprisonment or the death penalty. Unless the counsel is retained by the accused, it is the responsibility of the investigator, prosecutor or the court to appoint legal aid counsel.
27. Article 373 of the Code provides that the appeal instance examines appeals with a view to verifying the lawfulness, validity and fairness of judgments. Under Article 377 §§ 4 and 5 of the Code, the appeal instance may directly examine evidence, including additional material submitted by parties.
B. Case-law of the Constitutional
Court of the Russian Federation
28. Examining the compatibility of Article 51 of the Code of Criminal Procedure with the Constitution, the Constitutional Court ruled as follows (decision No. 497-O of 18 December 2003):
"Article 51 § 1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which describes the circumstances in which the participation of defence counsel is mandatory, does not contain any indication that its requirements are not applicable in appeal proceedings or that the convict's right to legal assistance in such proceedings may be restricted."
29. That position was subsequently confirmed and developed in seven decisions delivered by the Constitutional Court on 8 February 2007. It found that free legal assistance for the purpose of appellate proceedings should be provided on the same conditions as during the earlier stages in the proceedings and is mandatory in situations listed in Article 51. It further underlined the obligation of courts to secure participation of defence counsel in appeal proceedings.
C. Case-law of the Supreme Court
30. In a number of cases (decisions of 13 October 2004 and 26 January, 6 April, 15 June and 21 December 2005) the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation quashed judgments of appeal courts and remitted cases for fresh consideration on the ground that the courts had failed to secure the presence of defence counsel in the appeal proceedings, although it was obligatory for the accused to be legally represented.
THE LAW
I. Alleged violation of Article 6 of the Convention
31. The applicant complained that the criminal proceedings against him had been unfair, in particular tha
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