Issues of Implementation of the Fair Trial in the Albanian System: Analysis in the Framework of the Constitutional Court and ECHR's Jurisprudence on Albania's Cases

The process of a fair trial constitutes an important part of human right standards, for which Albania is making efforts to develop. Article 6 (1) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), being the main tool in the area of fundamental rights and freedoms, lists the components of a fair, independent, impartial, legal and public trial within a reasonable time applicable in both civil and criminal trials. The paper aims to present an overview of the evolution of this principle in the Albanian constitutional system in order to understand how this principle has evolved in a former dictatorship such as Albania and how much this principle conforms to the standards sanctioned under Article 6 (1) of the ECHR. As one of the most significant legal events in Albania, judicial reform’s impact on the justice system is also analysed regarding the application of the standards of a fair trial. Naturally, all components of a fair trial are of essential importance, but considering gaps in enforcement and issues of their practical misinterpretation, this paper is focused in components such as: access to justice, trial within a reasonable time and trial by an independent and impartial court. Through the jurisprudence of the Albanian Constitutional Court and European Court of Human Rights on cases against Albania, the present paper outlines and seeks to address the matters of enforcement of such components in the Albanian system, such as: How is the constitutional defence of a free trial provided and what has been the Constitutional Court’s role in this regard? How have ECHR’s guidelines on cases against Albania affected the correction of misinterpretations in the national system? How has the judicial reform affected the enforcement of such components, and what are the subsequent problems and challenges? In conclusion, we present some opinions regarding the need to increase the standard of the defence of these components referring to a fair trial, particularly in the area where the largest number of problems have been identified by the practice.