Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/torture/Albania.htm
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CAUTION: The following links have
been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Albania. Some of these links may lead to websites
that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No
attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of
particular interest to you. You might be
interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or
inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical
information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a
criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the
courtroom. Perhaps your paper might
focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures,
starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing
water. On the other hand, you might
choose to write about the people acting in an official capacity who
perpetrate such cruelty. There is a
lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in
adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper
resources that are available on-line. ***
ARCHIVES *** Council of Europe
anti-torture Committee announces periodic visits to eight countries in 2023 European Committee
for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment CPT, 27 July 2022 [accessed 28 July
2022] The European
Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment (CPT) has announced today its 2023 programme
of periodic visits. The Committee
intends to examine the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty in the
following countries: Albania, Armenia,
Cyprus, Hungary, Luxembourg, Malta, North Macedonia, and the Slovak Republic. Council of Europe
anti-torture Committee publishes report on Albania Executive Summary,
17 September 2019 [accessed 1 June
2020] In the
course of the
visit, the delegation
interviewed a large
number of persons
who were or had
recently been in police custody. The majority of them indicated that they had
been treated correctly by the police. However, the delegation received a
significant number of allegations of recent physical ill-treatment of criminal suspects
by police officers.
Most of these
allegations concerned use
of excessive force at the time of or immediately following
apprehension. A number of such allegations also related to ill-treatment
inflicted during transportation and/or at the time of initial questioning on
police premises, apparently with a view to extracting a confession or
obtaining information or as a punishment. The alleged ill-treatment consisted
essentially of slaps, punches, kicks, blows with a hard object (e.g. a chair
leg) and excessively tight handcuffing. Karreç Detention Centre
had several security (isolation) cells which were found to be in a very poor
state of repair and in an appalling state of hygiene. The CPT expresses
particular concern that foreign nationals were on occasion handcuffed to the
bed inside a security cell. In at least one case, a foreign national had
allegedly been hand-and ankle-cuffed to the bed in a stress position
(spread-eagled) for 24 hours. In the CPT’s view, this practice could easily
be considered to amount to inhuman and degrading treatment and should be
stopped immediately. At Burrel
Prison, many of
the multiple-occupancy cells
accommodating sentenced prisoners
were once again found to be in a poor state of repair. Clearly, the
old and defective physical structure of the buildings and the penetrating
dampness did not help matters. In addition, problems with heating persisted:
the central heating was usually only turned on for a few hours per day. On a more general note, it is a matter of
concern that, in all the prisons visited, artificial lighting inside the
cells had to remain switched on around the clock and could not be dimmed at
night. Numerous complaints were received from
inmates that this
caused sleeping difficulties. The Committee emphasises
that exposure to artificial light at
night may affect the natural sleep
patterns and cause negative health effects
on psychological, cardiovascular and/or
metabolic functions in individuals. Consequently, it recommends
that this rule be abolished without delay. 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Albania U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/albania/
[accessed 2 July
2021] TORTURE AND OTHER
CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT While the
constitution and law prohibit such actions, there were allegations that
police and prison guards sometimes beat and abused suspects and prisoners,
usually in police stations. PRISON AND DETENTION
CENTER CONDITIONS Poor physical
conditions and a lack of medical care, particularly for mental health
conditions, were serious problems, as was corruption. Conditions remained
substandard in some police detention facilities outside of Tirana and other
major urban centers. ARREST PROCEDURES
AND TREATMENT OF DETAINEES Pretrial Detention:
While the law requires completion of most pretrial investigations within
three months, a prosecutor may extend this period. The law provides that
pretrial detention should not exceed three years. Extended pretrial detention
often occurred due to delayed investigations, defense mistakes, or the
intentional failure of defense counsel to appear. The law authorizes judges
to hold offending attorneys in contempt of court. Limited material resources,
lack of space, poor court-calendar management, insufficient staff, and
failure of attorneys and witnesses to appear prevented the court system from
adjudicating cases in a timely fashion. As of August, 47 percent of the
prison and detention center population was in pretrial detention. Freedom House
Country Report 2018 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/albania/freedom-world/2018 [accessed 11 May
2020] F3. IS THERE PROTECTION FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE
USE OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR AND INSURGENCIES? Reports
of police abuse of detainees continues. Prison inmates suffer from poor
living conditions and a lack of adequate medical treatment. Torture
in Albania International
Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (irct) Developed in
collaboration with the Albanian Rehabilitation Centre for Trauma and Torture
(ARCT), June 2014 www.irct.org/Admin/Public/DWSDownload.aspx?File=%2fFiles%2fFiler%2fpublications%2fCountry+factsheets%2fCF+Albania+-+PUBLIC+EDIT+pdf.pdf [accessed 23 June
2015] www.arct.org/index.php/ourwork/arct-histor/71-arct/366-torture-in-albania-2014 [accessed 17 July
2017] issuu.com/fabper/docs/cf_albania_-_public_edit_pdf [accessed 28
December 2017] Despite positive
efforts, Albania continues to struggle with the national enforcement of its
international commitments to anti-torture conventions. The Albanian criminal
justice system fails to implement or to correctly interpret the Article 1 of
the United Nations Convention Against Torture (UNCAT), and the courts never
apply Article 86 of the Albanian Criminal Code on Torture, which stipulates
that any act of torture is punishable by five to ten years in prison.
Furthermore, the country suffers from an inherited culture of impunity due to
the damage caused by the previous communist regime. Conclusions and
recommendations of the Committee against Torture Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights OHCHR -- U.N. Doc. CAT/CO/34/ALB
(2005) www1.umn.edu/humanrts/cat/observations/albania2005.html [accessed 21
February 2013] 7. THE COMMITTEE
EXPRESSES CONCERN ABOUT THE FOLLOWING: (a) Non-conformity
of the definition of torture of the Criminal Code, with the definition of the
Convention, which does not cover all the elements contained in its article 1,
especially regarding persons acting in an official capacity; (b) Qualification
of acts of torture by law enforcement personnel only as “arbitrary acts” and,
therefore, the treatment of those acts as less serious criminal offences; (c) A climate of de
facto impunity for law enforcement personnel who commit acts of torture or
ill-treatment considering: (i)
Numerous allegations of torture and ill-treatment by law enforcement
personnel, especially at the moment of arrest and interrogation, (ii) Limited number
of complaints regarding torture and ill-treatment, in particular to the
Peoples’ Advocate, (iii) Lack of prompt
and impartial investigation of allegations of torture and ill treatment
committed by law enforcement personnel, and (iv) Absence of
convictions in cases of torture, under article 86 of the Criminal Code, and
limited number of convictions of torture with serious consequences, under
article 87 of the Criminal Code, of law enforcement personnel, all of which
may also indicate that there is a lack of victims’ awareness of their rights
and that there is a lack of confidence in the police and judicial
authorities; (d) Difficulties for
victims of torture and ill-treatment to file a formal complaint with public
authorities, to obtain medical evidence in support of their allegations and
to present that evidence; (e) Allegations of
cases of lack of independence of the judiciary; (f) No universal
jurisdiction of the Albanian courts in cases involving torture; (g) Lack of clear
legal provision prohibiting the use of any statement obtained under torture
as well as of any clear legal provision stating that an order from a superior
may not be invoked as justification of torture; (h) Failure to
ensure fair and adequate compensation, including rehabilitation for all
victims of torture, including ex-political convicted and persecuted persons; (i)
Lack of implementation of the fundamental legal safeguards for persons
detained by the police, guaranteeing the right to inform a relative, of
access to a lawyer and a doctor of their own choice and to be provided with
information about their rights and, in addition for juveniles, the presence
of their legal guardians during interrogation; (j) Poor conditions
of detention and long pre-trial detention period, up to three years; (k) The existence of
an additional 10 hour administrative detention period for interrogation
before the maximum 48 hour period is calculated for a person to be brought
before a judge; (l) Absence of
visits to police stations by the Office of the Ombudsman on a regular and
unannounced basis; (m) Absence of
systematic medical examination of detainees within 24 hours of their
admission to prison, poor medical care in detention facilities, lack of training
for medical personnel and medical personnel of prisons not under the
authority of the Ministry of Public Health; (n) Legal
possibility of refoulement of persons without any
procedures in cases of interests of public order or national security; (o) The reported
prevalence of violence against women and girls, including sexual and domestic
violence, and the reluctance on the part of the authorities to, inter alia,
adopt legislative and other measures to counter this phenomenon. AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL From an old article -- URL not available Article was
published sometime prior to 2015 TORTURE
AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT Commissioners of
the Ombudsperson’s Office visited Tirana police stations and detention centres following the January demonstrations. They stated
that detained demonstrators, two of whom bore marks of physical
ill-treatment, alleged being ill-treated during arrest, and that
psychological pressure had been used to make them sign self-incriminating statements.
Nine complaints of police ill-treatment were reportedly filed. In February,
the Internal Control Service of the State Police undertook to investigate
complaints, but by the end of the year no perpetrators had been brought to
justice. The Ombudsperson
wrote to the Prosecutor General raising the case of Reis Haxhiraj,
who was allegedly severely ill-treated during his arrest in March. The
Ombudsperson stated that although his injuries were clearly visible, and he
had complained of ill-treatment when brought before a judge to be remanded in
custody, neither the police, prosecutor, judge or hospital staff had reported
his ill-treatment or initiated an investigation. His requests to contact the
Ombudsperson’s Office were ignored. The Prosecutor General subsequently
instructed prosecutors and officers of the judicial police to collect
evidence on the ill-treatment of detainees, in order to bring those
responsible to justice, and an investigation was started into the alleged
ill-treatment of Reis Haxhiraj. ENFORCED
DISAPPEARANCES In December Ilir Kumbaro failed to appear
at an extradition hearing before a court in London, UK. Albania had sought
his extradition from the UK to face charges of torture and abduction in
connection with the enforced disappearance in 1995 of Remzi
Hoxha, an ethnic Albanian from Macedonia, and the
torture of two other men. The judge revoked his bail and issued a warrant for
his arrest, but at the end of the year his whereabouts remained unknown.
Trial proceedings continued in Tirana against Ilir Kumbaro in his absence, and two other former officers of
the Albanian National Intelligence Service, Arben Sefgjini and Avni Koldashi. Search … AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL For current
articles:: Search Amnesty International
Website www.amnesty.org/en/search/?q=albania+torture&ref=&year=&lang=en&adv=1&sort=relevance [accessed 25 December
2018] ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Albania:
Anti-torture committee concludes that the treatment of persons detained by
the police has improved, but conditions of forensic psychiatric patients
remain unacceptable Council of Europe,
2018 News, 24 May 2018 [accessed 25 May
2018] The vast majority
of detained persons interviewed by the CPT’s delegation indicated that they
had been treated correctly by the police, and the delegation received only a
small number of allegations of recent physical ill-treatment by police
officers (such as excessive use of force at the time of apprehension or
slaps/punches during police questioning). Overall, the information gathered
during the visit suggests that a positive trend has emerged as compared to
the situation found during the previous visit in 2014. However, several
persons claimed that they had been severely ill-treated by one particular
police officer at Durres Police Station. Following an urgent request made by
the CPT, the Albanian authorities initiated criminal and disciplinary
investigations against the police officer concerned. The CPT expresses
its serious concern that, despite specific recommendations repeatedly made
since the 2000 visit, forensic psychiatric patients continued to be held at Zaharia Special Facility for Ill Inmates in Kruja and the Prison Hospital in Tirana under conditions
which, in the CPT’s view, could easily be considered to be inhuman and
degrading. In fact, the living conditions in both establishments had further
deteriorated since the 2014 visit (in particular in terms of state of repair
and overcrowding, with some patients being obliged to sleep on mattresses on
the floor), there was an almost total lack of heating and limited access to
hot water. In addition, the level of psychiatric care remained clearly
insufficient. The CPT calls upon the Albanian authorities to provide without
further delay a detailed plan for the creation of a forensic psychiatric
facility and to take the necessary steps to ensure the speedy setting-up of
such a facility. Human
Rights Reports » 2006 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2006/78797.htm [accessed 15 January
2013] 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2006/78797.htm [accessed 2 July
2019] TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – The constitution
and law prohibit such actions; however, the police and prison guards at times
beat and abused suspects and detainees. The Albanian Helsinki Committee (AHC)
and the Albanian Human Rights Group (AHRG) continued to report that police
nationwide used excessive force or inhumane treatment. According to the AHRG,
most mistreatment took place at the time of arrest or initial detention.
Roma, Balkan-Egyptians, and homosexuals were particularly vulnerable to
police abuse (see section 5). In July the Council
of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) released a report
based on its 2005 inspection of the country's prisons and detention centers.
The report detailed widespread inhumane treatment and physical abuse of
prisoners and detainees. During the year there were reports that police in
various parts of the country, such as Korca and Vlora, beat and mistreated persons during their arrest or
while in pretrial detention. In May 2005 Besnik Kosturi filed charges
against a Korca criminal police officer, Oltion Agolli, for
mistreatment. The officer reportedly beat Kosturi
for refusing to provide information on a pending case. Medical experts
verified the abuse and the officer was suspended.
The case was sent to the Korca district
prosecutor's office, which declined to initiate formal proceedings due to
lack of evidence. In May the Vlora Office of Internal Police Control gathered
information in the case of Arben Belaj against Dritan Veizaj, a member of the Vlora
special police force, for allegedly beating Belaj.
The information was forwarded to the Vlora District
Military Prosecution and Veizaj was suspended from
his duties pending the final court outcome. The Shkodra District Military Prosecution investigated the
2005 case of Frendi Ndoci
against Pjerin Lazri and
other Shkodra police officers for allegedly beating
him at the police commissariat. Lazri was found
guilty and fined approximately $830 (80,000 lek). At times police
abused juvenile detainees. According to the Children's Human Rights Center of
Albania (CHRCA), police sometimes used threats, violence, and torture to
extract confessions from minors. In June Amarildo Perfundi, an 18-year-old high school student from Korca,
was taken into custody for questioning for theft. Shortly after being
released, Perfundi committed suicide. Several human
rights organizations in the country criticized police handling of the case,
citing psychological trauma and abuse on the part of police. The ombudsman
investigated and found that the police had not followed legal procedures for
arrest, detention, and questioning. The ombudsman concluded that the
psychological trauma Perfundi sustained led him to
commit suicide. Upon the recommendation of the ombudsman, the two officers
involved, Altin Gusho and
Gezim Mullai, were
dismissed for failure to follow correct procedures. The case was forwarded to
the district prosecutor's office for investigation and possible prosecution.
The prosecutor found that there was insufficient evidence to bring charges
against Gusho, and he was subsequently reinstated.
Formal charges have been filed against Mullai. Freedom House
Country Report - Political Rights: 3 Civil Liberties: 3 Status: Partly Free 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/albania [accessed 15 January
2013] LONG URL
ç 2009 Country Reports begin on Page 21 [accessed 11 May
2020] High-level crimes
associated with the Balkan wars of the 1990s have gone unpunished. In 2008,
current tax-service chief Arben Sefgjini
was facing trial along with three former security-service colleagues for the
1995 torture and murder of a man who may have witnessed conversations between
then president Berisha and Yugoslav leader Slobodan
Milosevic about oil smuggling. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this
webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, " Torture by Police, Forced
Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment in the early years of the 21st
Century- Albania ", http://gvnet.com/torture/ Albania.htm,
[accessed <date>] |
