18 Sep CPT’s report on the visit to Albania

The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) has published the report on its most recent visit to Albania carried out in November 2018.

During its visit, the CPT examined the treatment and conditions of detention of persons in police custody and of inmates in several prison establishments, as well as the situation of civil and forensic psychiatric patients. In addition, the CPT’s delegation visited, for the first time in Albania, an immigration detention center.

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.

The CPT notes that efforts continue to be made by the Albanian authorities to expand and modernise the prison estate. Reference is made to the newly-constructed accommodation blocks at Prison No. 313 in Tirana as well as to a new prison near Shkodra which has contributed significantly to addressing the problem of overcrowding throughout the prison system.

The CPT notes with concern that the Criminal Code was amended in 2017 to introduce whole life imprisonment for certain types of offences; it recalls the relevant case-law of the European Court of Human Rights and recommends that the criminal legislation be amended in order to make conditional release available to all life-sentenced prisoners (subject to a risk assessment).

You can find the full report here: https://rm.coe.int/168097986b and executive summary here: https://rm.coe.int/168097986c

References from the official website of the Council of Europe – European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT)