Prime Minister Edi Rama presented some of the draft amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code regarding justice reform.
Rama said that courts should start the assessment from freedom and first consider the mildest security measures. According to him, for offenses that provide for a sentence of up to 3 years, no coercive measures will be assigned, while for offenses with a sentence of under 5 years, there will be no imprisonment.
“Criminal proceedings must start from the origin of freedom, not from prison as the origin. The court must start from freedom, examine the mildest measures, start from house arrest. For offenses punishable by 3 years, no coercive measures will be imposed. Under 5 years, there will be no prison arrest. The nature of the offense will no longer be sufficient. The risk must be concrete and current. The court must make an independent assessment and if it copies the prosecutor’s arguments, the decision becomes invalid. Every time arrest is ordered, the court must determine the financial situation. Every month, the prosecutor must report to the court whether the reasons for the measure exist. The package also strengthens the protection of people with vulnerable conditions,” Rama said.
Meanwhile, the head of government emphasized that “Detention, which according to the Constitution should be the last resort in Albania, is the center. This package is a concrete response to the real problem. The package comes as a single, coherent architecture.”