xercised by the authorities so as to strike, to the maximum extent possible, a fair balance between the interests of the individual and the need to ensure the effectiveness of the system of criminal justice (see Nikitin, cited above, §§ 54 - 61). In the specific context of supervisory review, the Convention requires that the authorities respect the binding nature of a final judicial decision and allow the resumption of criminal proceedings only if serious legitimate considerations outweigh the principle of legal certainty (see Bratyakin, cited above).
34. The Court further notes that the complaints in the present case are different from those examined in the above-cited cases in that they do not concern the acts of quashing - which the applicant had each time solicited himself - but the manner in which the decisions to reopen the case, particularly the first one, were transposed in the ensuing judicial proceedings.
35. The Court is prepared to accept that granting supervisory review was justified both times by what appears to have constituted a "fundamental defect in the previous proceedings" and was brought in the applicant's own interest. The first round of the retrial was intended to amend the charges so as to prevent the applicant from being convicted of a more serious offence than the one he had been indicted for. The supervisory review was thus granted on the assumption that the defect of the previous proceedings would be rectified for the applicant's advantage only. The grounds for the second reopening were also valid and reasonable, namely, to rectify a violation of the applicant's procedural rights in the second set of proceedings. However, the Court considers that the system of reopening of criminal case by means of extraordinary remedy should not function on the assumption that the procedure remains open-ended with a "final judgment" always amenable to modifications and reversals, a situation which would run counter to the very principles of res judicata and legal certainty.
36. The Court notes that the judgment of 16 July 1999, as well as the appeal decision of 31 August 1999 ran contrary to the principle of legal certainty which is inherent in Article 6 § 1 of the Convention and which, in the circumstances of the present case, required the subordinate court to respect the purpose of the quashing of a final and binding judgment and the scope of the new examination defined by the superior court. By not pursuing the superior court's instructions these judicial instances also encroached on the domestic statutory protection against reformatio in peius to which the applicant was entitled since the review was called for on the grounds of his interests. Moreover, the failure to do so necessitated the second set of supervisory review which involved yet another quashing of a final judicial decision.
37. The Court observes that the Government accepted that the first supervisory review, although initiated for the applicant's benefit, resulted in what they called "a gravely unfair decision violating his rights and unlawfully extending his sentence". However, the Government claimed that the second round of supervisory proceedings put matters right ensuring that the applicant was brought to justice without being deprived of the procedural guarantees prescribed by law. They contended that the second quashing effectively resolved the flagrant mistakes committed during the first round of retrial. However, in so far as they may be understood as claiming the loss of the victim status by the applicant after the second quashing, the Court reiterates that "a decision or measure favourable to the applicant is not in principle sufficient to deprive him of his status as a "victim" unless the national authorities have acknowledged, either expressly or in substance, and then afforded redress for, the breach of the Convention" (see Dalban v. Romania [GC], No. 28114/95, § 44, ECH
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