Changes to the Code of Criminal Procedure, Rama: The new justice package was drafted with expertise from Italy, France and the Netherlands

Prime Minister Edi Rama has presented the new package of changes to the Code of Criminal Procedure, an intervention that touches about a fifth of the current code and aims to change the approach to security measures, limiting the use of imprisonment on remand and strengthening the principle of proportionality in the criminal process.

During the presentation, Rama emphasised that one of the main pillars of the reform is changing the culture of criminal prosecution, where pre-trial detention should not be the first measure taken against a suspect, but the last alternative used by justice.

According to the head of government, the courts will have to start their assessment from liberty and first consider the softer security measures.

He announced that for criminal offences carrying a sentence of up to three years’ imprisonment no coercive security measures will be imposed, while for offences carrying a sentence of up to five years’ imprisonment the measure of imprisonment on remand will not be applied.

Rama underlined that the problem of the excessive use of pre-trial detention is not a new phenomenon created by the independence of the judicial power, but a long-standing legacy of the system.

“We are very clear that this is an old evil. The continuation of this negative inertia shows us that we are not dealing with a consequence that has newly arisen from the independence of the judicial power, but with an old culture of dependence of justice and of the cult of force. Pre-trial detention, according to the Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights, should be the last measure, while in Albania it has become the centre of gravity of the criminal process,” the prime minister declared.

According to him, the new package thoroughly reforms criminal procedures and is built on the principle that every exercise of power in the criminal process must have a clear legal basis, be proportionate to the aim it seeks to achieve, and be subject to full judicial review.

“Every exercise of power in the criminal process must have a clear basis in law and be proportionate to the aim. It must be subject to substantive and not only formal review by the court, and it must produce legal consequences when it exceeds its limits,” Rama said.

The prime minister also praised the work of the local and foreign experts who contributed to drafting the package, emphasising the support of the governments of Italy and France, and the contribution of professors and magistrates from Italy, France and the Netherlands.

He said the international expertise has given the reform a strong comparative basis and European standards, considering this process an important step in consolidating the justice reform and strengthening guarantees for citizens’ rights in criminal procedures.