Supreme Court publishes unifying ruling on personal security measures, prosecution bears burden of proof

The United Chambers of the Supreme Court have made public the full unifying ruling, which brings significant changes to the way personal security measures are determined in Albania.

With this ruling, the Supreme Court has partially affected the previous 2011 practice, setting new criteria that provide greater protection for individual liberty and limit the automatic use of the measure of “pretrial detention.”

Three pillars of the new ruling

The review of judicial practice is based on three fundamental principles, which courts must now apply mandatorily:

1. The obligation to conduct a real review of alternatives: The court can no longer be satisfied with the reasoning that “pretrial detention” is the appropriate measure. It is required to clearly explain why lighter measures, such as house arrest or the obligation to appear, are not sufficient in the specific case.

2. Dangerousness is not presumed from the offense itself: The United Chambers rejected the practice under which “pretrial detention” was imposed automatically for serious offenses or when the prescribed sentence was high. Now, specific risk must be proven through an individual assessment, taking into account the offender’s personality, conduct, as well as family and health circumstances.

3. The burden of proof lies with the Prosecution: Unlike before, the person under investigation is no longer required to provide “positive evidence” to deserve freedom. It is now the prosecuting body that must support with concrete facts why the person’s freedom poses a risk and why no other measure can prevent that risk.

This unifying ruling was issued in the framework of reviewing the case of citizen Begtash Zeneli, in whose home 7 kilograms and 350 grams of the narcotic substance cannabis sativa were discovered during a search. Although the Prosecution insistently requested “pretrial detention,” the Court of Appeal imposed “house arrest,” taking into account his age of 63, the fact that he had been legally rehabilitated, and his wife’s serious health condition.

After reviewing the prosecutor’s appeal, the Supreme Court decided to uphold the measure of “house arrest.” According to the chambers, although the offense carries a high degree of dangerousness, this cannot automatically prevail over the suspect’s specific human circumstances if the real risk of flight or repetition of the criminal offense is not proven.

In its reasoning, the Supreme Court underlined that this new approach is necessary to bring Albanian justice closer to the standards of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). According to the ruling, “pretrial detention” must always remain the “ultima ratio” (last resort), since the presumption must in every case be in favor of liberty.

The ruling has been sent for publication in the Official Gazette and is expected to have an immediate effect in all courts across the country, raising the standard of reasoning for any restriction on personal liberty.