‘Pre-trial detention should be the last measure’, Rama: Changes to 20% of the Code of Criminal Procedure

At the presentation of the draft amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure, Prime Minister Edi Rama focused on the use of the pre-trial detention measure and on strengthening guarantees for individual rights during the criminal process. According to Rama, although pre-trial detention should be used only as a last measure, in Albania it has become a central element of the criminal process.

The prime minister said the United Nations, the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights have identified problems in the way pre-trial detention is requested and imposed in Albania.

According to him, in a number of cases requests for pre-trial detention are based on ready-made formulas and court decisions repeat the prosecution’s reasoning, without a concrete analysis of the person’s profile, the risks that could threaten the investigation, or the possibility of conducting the trial at liberty.

“Pre-trial detention should be the last measure; in Albania it is the centre of gravity of the criminal process. The UN, the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights have underlined that pre-trial detention in Albania is routinely requested with ready-made formulas and imposed by repeating the prosecutor’s reasoning, without a real analysis of the person’s profile, the concrete risks that could threaten the investigation, or trial at liberty and the possibility of softer measures. The Strasbourg Court, in a series of cases against Albania, has also found an unjustifiable lack of a real review of the continuation of coercive measures,” Rama said.

The prime minister described the package as a response to a concrete problem of the justice system, emphasising that the changes are also linked to Albania’s European integration process. According to Rama, the package touches about a fifth of the Code of Criminal Procedure and is conceived as a single, coherent architecture.

“This package is a concrete response to a concrete, real problem that Albania has not with those who are in pre-trial detention today, but with human freedoms and rights, and it is directly linked to Chapter 23 of the negotiations with the EU. The package touches about 1/5 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and comes as a single, coherent architecture. Every exercise of power in the criminal process must have a clear basis in law, must be proportionate to the aim, must be subject to substantive and not formal review by the court, and must produce legal consequences when it exceeds its limits,” Rama emphasised.