Suchergebnisse

Abstract
Since becoming a potential candidate country for the EU accession in 2000 and in particular after being granted candidate status in June 2014, Albania has taken many positive steps to meet the necessary standards for its EU integration, through among other things, strengthening democracy and the rule of law and the harmonization of its national legislation with the acquis communautaire. In 2016, as part of the pre-conditions for the opening of the accession negotiations for the country, the Albanian Parliament passed a major justice reform which brought about many constitutional and legislative changes, as well as changes to the organization and functioning of justice institutions in Albania. A key component of the reform was the transitional re-evaluation of judges and prosecutors (also known as the vetting process). While the reform itself was supported and praised by the EU and international institutions, the vetting process has affected the functioning of the Albanian judiciary at all levels. The paralysis of the justice system due to the low number of judges who successfully passed the vetting process, as well as the resignation of many others, has significantly increased the backlog and the number of pending cases before the courts. Thus, the aim of the paper is to analyze the influence of the justice reform on individual's right to a fair trial within a reasonable time in Albania and state's obligations to guarantee this right as provided by the Constitution of Albania and the European Convention on Human Rights.

Abstract
This article tends to give an insight on the historical and institutional develop­ment of the Constitutional Court of Albania, on the need of the society and the historical changes that led to its creation.
It focuses especially on the role and competences of this Court on the protection of the rule of law, of the constitutional principles, on the balancing and division of powers, on the protection of the fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals. Its aim is to provide overall information on the functioning and standards it follows.
It is based on the jurisprudence of this Court during the years and is enriched by its deci­sions on particular subjects and compares this Court to other similar ones in Eastern Euro­pean countries.
The article is mainly directed to scholars and legal writers whose aim is to compare the organization and functioning of the Constitutional Court of Albania to other similar courts.

In 2016 Albania went through a major justice reform which provided legislative changes to the already existing institutions, established new ones and sought to improve the procedural guarantees of the accused in criminal trials. While the Albanian Code of Criminal Procedure prior to the changes did not provide for biological evidence or a medical intervention in the course of a criminal investigation, the new legislative changes introduced the concepts of biological evidence and the compulsory physical examination as part of tools in search of the evidence. Even though the draft amendments to the previous Albanian Code of Criminal procedure recognized the problems encountered in practice during the collection of biological evidence vis à vis individual's rights to personal integrity and dignity, the application of the newly introduced and enacted provisions remains still unclear and raises concerns, not only regarding the possible arbitrary use of such tools by law enforcement authorities, but also on the possible conflicts that can arise from the application of such procedures by medical examiners and physicians and the fundamental rights of the person under examination or undergoing the medical procedure/intervention. ; U 2016. godini Albanija je prošla kroz veliku reformu pravosuđa koja je već postojećiminstitucijama donijela zakonske izmjene, uspostavila nove zakone te nastojala poboljšatiprocesna jamstva optuženih u kaznenim postupcima. Dok albanski Zakon o kaznenompostupku prije ovih izmjena nije predviđao biološke dokaze niti medicinsku intervencijutijekom kaznene istrage, nove zakonske izmjene predstavile su koncepte bioloških dokaza iobavezni fizički pregled kao dio alata u potrazi za dokazima.Iako su u nacrtima amandmana za prethodni Zakon o kaznenom postupku Albanijeprepoznati problemi koji se susreću u praksi tijekom prikupljanja bioloških dokaza s obziromna prava pojedinca na osobni integritet i dostojanstvo, primjena novouvedenih i donesenihodredbi i dalje ostaje nejasna i izaziva zabrinutost, ne samo u pogledu mogućeg proizvoljnogkorištenja takvih alata od strane tijela za provedbu zakona, već i zbog mogućih sukoba kojimogu proizaći iz primjene takvih postupaka od strane medicinskih istražitelja i liječnika tetemeljnih prava osobe koju se ispituje ili prolazi kroz medicinski postupak/intervenciju.

In 2016 Albania went through a major justice reform which provided legislative changes to the already existing institutions, established new ones and sought to improve the procedural guarantees of the accused in criminal trials. While the Albanian Code of Criminal Procedure prior to the changes did not provide for biological evidence or a medical intervention in the course of a criminal investigation, the new legislative changes introduced the concepts of biological evidence and the compulsory physical examination as part of tools in search of the evidence. Even though the draft amendments to the previous Albanian Code of Criminal procedure recognized the problems encountered in practice during the collection of biological evidence vis à vis individual's rights to personal integrity and dignity, the application of the newly introduced and enacted provisions remains still unclear and raises concerns, not only regarding the possible arbitrary use of such tools by law enforcement authorities, but also on the possible conflicts that can arise from the application of such procedures by medical examiners and physicians and the fundamental rights of the person under examination or undergoing the medical procedure/intervention. ; U 2016. godini Albanija je prošla kroz veliku reformu pravosuđa koja je već postojećim institucijama donijela zakonske izmjene, uspostavila nove zakone te nastojala poboljšati procesna jamstva optuženih u kaznenim postupcima. Dok albanski Zakon o kaznenom postupku prije ovih izmjena nije predviđao biološke dokaze niti medicinsku intervenciju tijekom kaznene istrage, nove zakonske izmjene predstavile su koncepte bioloških dokaza i obavezni fizički pregled kao dio alata u potrazi za dokazima. Iako su u nacrtima amandmana za prethodni Zakon o kaznenom postupku Albanije prepoznati problemi koji se susreću u praksi tijekom prikupljanja bioloških dokaza s obzirom na prava pojedinca na osobni integritet i dostojanstvo, primjena novouvedenih i donesenih odredbi i dalje ostaje nejasna i izaziva zabrinutost, ne samo u pogledu mogućeg proizvoljnog korištenja takvih alata od strane tijela za provedbu zakona, već i zbog mogućih sukoba koji mogu proizaći iz primjene takvih postupaka od strane medicinskih istražitelja i liječnika te temeljnih prava osobe koju se ispituje ili prolazi kroz medicinski postupak/intervenciju.