141. In conclusion, therefore, the Court finds no violation of Article 5 § 1 of the Convention. 3. Alleged violations of Article 5 § 3 of the Convention 142. Mr Assenov, who had been detained on remand for approximately two years, complained of violations of his rights under Article 5 § 3 of the Convention, which states: “Everyone arrested or detained in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1 (c) of this Article shall be brought promptly before a judge or other officer authorised by law to exercise judicial power and shall be entitled to trial within a reasonable time or to release pending trial. Release may be conditioned by guarantees to appear for trial.” 143. As observed above, the applicant did not dispute that his detention, initially at least, fell within the scope of Article 5 § 1 (c). It follows that Article 5 § 3 is applicable. The Court will first consider whether it can be said that Mr Assenov was “brought promptly before a judge or other officer authorised by law to exercise judicial power”. Secondly, it will examine whether he was afforded a “trial within a reasonable time”, including whether he should have been released pending trial. (a) Right to be brought promptly before judge or “other officer” 144. The Government submitted that the various prosecutors who considered Mr Assenov’s applications for release were “officer[s] authorised by law to exercise judicial power” within the meaning of Article 5 § 3, since under Bulgarian law a prosecutor was fully independent, under a duty to protect the public interest and authorised to decide on a number of questions arising in criminal proceedings, including whether or not to detain an accused on remand. 145. The Commission, with whom the applicant agreed, noted that although under Bulgarian law investigators were institutionally independent, in practice they were subject to the control of prosecutors with regard to every question concerning the conduct of an investigation, including whether or not to detain a suspect on remand. There was, therefore, a strong objective appearance that the investigator who dealt with Mr Assenov lacked independence from the prosecuting authorities, which were subsequently to act as the opposing party in criminal proceedings. 146. The Court reiterates that judicial control of interferences by the executive with the individual’s right to liberty is an essential feature of the guarantee embodied in Article 5 § 3 (see the above-mentioned Aksoy judgment, p. 2282, § 76). Before an “officer” can be said to exercise “judicial power” within the meaning of this provision, he or she must satisfy certain conditions providing a guarantee to the person detained against any arbitrary or unjustified deprivation of liberty (see the Schiesser v. Switzerland judgment of 4 December 1979, Series A no. 34, p. 13, § 31). Thus, the “officer” must be independent of the executive and the parties (ibid.). In this respect, objective appearances at the time of the decision on detention are material: if it appears at that