FULL TEXT / Wiretaps, phone checks and limits on publishing case files: Rama presents the changes to criminal investigation

Prime Minister Edi Rama today presented the changes to the Code of Criminal Procedure, included in the New Package of Procedural Guarantees, which affects about a fifth of the Code and contains 105 articles.

According to Rama, 19 academics and magistrates from Italy, France and the Netherlands were engaged in drafting the package, together with Council of Europe experts, with the support of the justice ministries of Italy and France. The Albanian technical secretariat, according to the prime minister, coordinated the work.

According to the package presented by Prime Minister Edi Rama, for offenses with a maximum sentence of under 5 years, pre-trial detention will not be imposed, while the prosecutor will be obliged to also investigate the circumstances that exonerate or favor the person.

The changes also affect phone checks and wiretapping. The police and the prosecution may seize a device, but opening, copying or processing its content will require prior court authorization. For wiretaps, it is envisaged that only communications related to the investigation will be transcribed.

The package also sets rules on the presumption of innocence and the publication of investigation materials, including restrictions on publishing wiretaps and certain data. According to Prime Minister Rama, responsibility for leaking secrets will not fall on the media, but on the person who has the legal obligation to preserve them.

Rama stated that these changes to the Code of Criminal Procedure do not take away the prosecution’s powers to wiretap, search, seize, investigate assets or cooperate internationally, “but they change the way these powers are exercised and strengthen what we dramatically lack — the court’s control over them.”

The package of changes will not soften the fight against corruption and organized crime. “For corruption, organized crime, terrorism, trafficking, crimes with weapons or serious violence and Special Court cases, special regimes are preserved.”

Editor’s note: The Albanian original continues with the full text of Prime Minister Rama’s speech presenting the package.