“Research on the legislation and the practice of the execution of the penal decisions in Albania”

20.02.2004

During the period May-December 2003, Albanian Helsinki Committee has implemented the project “Execution of the penal decisions and the promotion of the cooperation between the relevant bodies in this field - important elements for the improvement of the observance of human rights on Albania”. In the context of this project a research was conducted on the legislation of the execution of the penal decisions and of the practice of the execution of the penal decisions in the districts of Durrës and Tirana. The objective of the project was acquaintance with the problems of law and of the practice that favour the violations of human rights and the abusive acts of the institutions legally charged with the execution of the penal decisions.

In the implementation of this project AHC pertained to its own mission and its action plan, to its part “reform in law” drafted by the Anti Corruption Albanian Coalition supported by Management Systems International (MSI) and financed by United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The monitoring target were mainly the execution of the criminal final verdicts with imprisonment or penalty punishment. The monitoring included the first instance courts of the judicial districts in Tirana and Durrës, the prosecutor’s offices in the first instance courts in these districts, the bailiff’s offices, the Prison nr. 313 (that manages the pre-detention places) and the Police station in Durrës.

In order to present the conclusions and the recommendations drawn from this study of the legislation and the practice of the execution of the penal decisions, AHC, on February 19, 2004 arranged a round table where experts of the field of the execution of the penal decisions were invited. In this round table there participated senior representatives of the court of the judicial district, the bailiff’s offices in the judicial districts of Tirana and Durrës, the People’s Advocate, The General Directory of Prisons, the Rehabilitation Institute 313, Ministry of Public Order, civil society, etc. This round table was interested about those institutions included in the chain of the execution of the penal decisions.

 Some of the conclusions and the main recommendations submitted in this table were as follows:

Legislation and the practice of the execution of the penal decisions

Albanian legislation in this field needs further improvements and the drafting of some non-existing normative acts, with the aim of better respecting the citizens rights and prevent the abusive and corruptive indications in this system.

The practice of the execution of the final penal decisions shows that there are cases when the laws are unknown or/and are not appropriately comprehended, the importance of this stage of the procedure is not assessed, and the functions vested by law are not put into practice. The supervision of the execution and the sentence serving is less than satisfactory.

            In many cases the execution deadlines of the  have not been met ,thus violating the people’s rights and promoting corruptive actions.

  Treatment of the sentenced people, during the execution of the penal decisions

From observations, direct meetings with the sentenced people, information, letters and complaints it results that prosecutor’ offices and the courts do not supervise at the appropriate level as required by law, the execution of the penal decisions with imprisonment.

The judicial practice has indicated that the court, in many cases, doesn’t meet the legal obligation to convey the final judicial verdict to the prosecutor’s office according to the deadlines prescribed by law. Moreover, it does not practice the direct supervisory function related to imprisonment serving in the relevant institutions. One of the reasons, to our opinion is that the courts are not a division/section to tackle cases of this nature.

The working conditions need to be improved in the process of the assessment of the prisoner, the environments of their admission and the assessment teams, in the institutions of sentence serving.

Food quality is very low. The convicts are not visited by their relatives and do not take the necessary calorie intakes prescribed by law.

The juvenile treatment is less than satisfactory. The educative measures can not be applied because there is no institution established se far for the juveniles that commit criminal offenses and are sentenced with rehabilitating measures. In the detention rooms and prisons the appropriate conditions and environment need top be created for the juvenile treatment.

In some institutions there is guaranteed no access to health care due to different reasons. Mainly speaking, there is a lack of specialist doctors, of the appropriate facilities for health care, there is a lack of  the equipment and the necessary apparatus etc.

Practice shows that the diseased are kept in the Psychiatry Section of the Prison Hospital. The Ministry of Health and Ministry of Justice have not met the legal obligation for the drafting and the adoption of a common regulation about the safety measures and have not specified a special institute for the irresponsible people.

The convicts use at a low extent the right to complain. As regards their regaining  the rights infringed by an unfair imprisonment. Eight years have passed and the decision-maker has not drafted and adopted the law “ About a compensation for an unfair imprisonment” as a specific law.

 The criminal Policy enforced by the Albanian Courts

The penal policy of the Albanian courts is almost imprisonment-oriented

            The alternative sentencing with imprisonment and the rehabilitating measures for the juveniles are rarely implemented. In this direction there is a lack of by-laws.

            There is no good cooperation of the court with the municipalities related to the additional to the final verdicts, where the court has shown willingness, as well as between the General Directory of Prisons and the local power bodies related to the preparation of the prisoners release.

            As  regards penalty punishment the practice shows that the bailiff’s offices in many cases have not done the appropriate legal efforts for the execution of the binding penalty punishment, of the procedure expenses, etc, as they do not make as verification of the financial income of the person.

            In order to consolidate the commitment of the court in the execution  of the penal decisions we recommend that the courts of the judicial districts where there are institutions of sentence serving, a section or a specialized judge need to be nominated to handle the cases of the judgments at the stage of the execution of the penal decisions and to supervise the execution if imprisonment sentencing.

            The improvement of the further filing of documents related to the management of the final penal decisions in the Court, Prosecutor’s Office, Bailiff’s Office and the Police problems have been created.

            Alongside the cooperation between the institutions, the cooperation with the non-profit organizations that have played and still play an active monitoring role in the improvement ofthe legislation in this field  is of great signifi.

You can find further and detailed infornation in the publication of this research, coming soon from the Albanian Helsinki Committee.