The Albanian mechanism for guaranteeing the right to compensation for unjust imprisonment and wrongful conviction, in the light of obligations arising from international acts

Abstract

Punishment with imprisonment and the security measureof detention on remand, are among the most severe sanctions and convictions provided by the albanian criminal legislation. The unjust serving of such measures or punishments implies serious psychological and economic consequences for both the convicted person and his/her family members. Similar to the infringement of any right and freedom, the unjust infringement of the right to liberty, induces the obligation to return the person in the previous state and to provide compensation for related consequences. Besides the right to effective remedy, the international human rights acts provide, specifically, for the right to compensation of the person in cases of an unlawful arrest or detention, as well as in the case of serving an unjust punishment as a result of the miscarriage of justice. In both hereof mentioned cases, these acts acknowledge the right to compensation for unjust imprisonment, while leaving it to the member states to establish a special mechanism under the domestic legislation which would enable actual fulfillment of such right for the citizens of the said country. This paper is an attempt to present an overview of the Albanian legislation regarding the mechanism established toward the effective implementation of the right to compensation, in the case of decisions of the respective state institutions causing the unlawful or unjust imprisonment, from the point of view of respective international obligations.