Amnesty International Report 1996 - Albania

Two convicted prisoners of conscience were held during the year. Scores of others were detained briefly. There were frequent reports that police had beaten people during arrest or in custody, and complaints that prisoners were ill-treated after protesting against poor conditions. Five death sentences for murder were passed and one man was executed. A new Criminal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure came into force in June and August respectively. The Criminal Code decriminalized homosexual acts between consenting adults in private, but increased the number of criminal offences punishable by the death penalty. However, on 29 June Albania acceded to the Council of Europe and undertook to introduce immediately a moratorium on executions and to abolish the death penalty in time of peace within three years. In July it signed the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. In September Parliament adopted a law calling for the investigation of crimes against humanity committed under communist rule from 1945 to 1991. Subsequently, in November and December, criminal investigations were opened against many former high officials and eight were arrested pending investigation in connection with the mass internment of political opponents in that period. In July former President Ramiz Alia was released after his sentence was reduced under provisions of the new Criminal Code; three co-defendants whose sentences had not yet expired were similarly released (see Amnesty International Report 1995). However, in November, three separate investigations were started against him and against former Prime Minister and Socialist Party (SP) leader Fatos Nano and others, in connection with the shooting of demonstrators and people attempting to flee the country in 1991. In February Theodor Bezhani and three other members of the Greek minority convicted in 1994 were released after the Court of Cassation, the country's supreme court, gave them suspended prison sentences (see Amnesty International Report 1995). Two convicted prisoners of conscience were held during the year. One of them was Fatos Nano, who was convicted in 1994 on charges of "misappropriation of state property" and "falsification of documents" (see Amnesty International Report 1995). In March his sentence was reduced by two years under an amnesty. In June a court in Tepelene rejected his request for release under provisions of the new Criminal Code. In September Parliament dismissed the President of the Court of Cassation, which was due to review the case. Judge Zef Brozi had expressed the view that Fatos Nano's conviction was unsound. In December Fatos Nano's sentence was reduced by eight months by presidential pardon, leaving him three years still to serve. In April Ilir Hoxha, the son of Enver Hoxha, the former communist leader of Albania, was arrested after a magazine published an interview in which he defended his father's record and criticized that of President Sali Berisha. In June a court in Tirana sentenced him to one year's imprisonment for "inciting hatred against a section of the population" under Article 266 of the (new) Criminal Code. In July this sentence was upheld on appeal. Other prisoners of conscience included three men from Saranda arrested in September after distributing anti-American leaflets described as "anti-constitutional". They remained in detention pending trial. In September Vladimir Qirjaqi and three other people were briefly detained on charges of "anti-constitutional activity": they had published a tourist guide of Gjirokastër which included a photograph of Enver Hoxha, a native of the town. At least 10 men were detained between September and December for up to 48 hours on suspicion that they had shouted or written slogans "slandering" President Sali Berisha. Scores of others were briefly arrested in connection with SP meetings which the authorities said had not been properly registered in advance. In November police in Vlora and Durrës arrested and briefly detained some 50 people who tried to lay wreaths on the graves of partisans who died in the Second World War. Independent journalists complained of official intimidation and several were prosecuted for "slandering" officials or state security police officers. Others complained that they had been arrested, questioned or beaten by police in connection with articles they had written. Among them was Ilir Babaramo, who in October was detained for several hours in Gjirokastër after writing an article about official corruption. There continued to be frequent reports that police had beaten or otherwise ill-treated people during arrest or in custody. Many of the victims were members or supporters of the SP or other opponents of the government. For example, in January some 30 young people from Rrogozhina were detained by police in Kavaja on their return from a meeting of socialists in Tirana. Three of them, Afrim Sula and two friends, who were detained until the following morning, were allegedly ill-treated by police officers. They were accused of disturbing the peace and summarily fined. In June, 30 members of the Orphans' Association in Korça (nearly all women), went on hunger-strike in support of their association's demands for government economic assistance. Within 24 hours police had evicted them from the premises where they were holding their hunger-strike, reportedly beating some of them, including Zef Mirashi, the association's President, with rubber truncheons. In June and July protests over land issues at Bathore and at Bovillë led to violent clashes between police and protesters, with injuries on both sides. Protesters who were arrested alleged that they were subsequently beaten or otherwise ill-treated in police stations. In August police reportedly used rubber truncheons to break up an SP meeting in Pogradec which called for the release of Fatos Nano. In September, shortly before the Court of Cassation was due to review the case of Fatos Nano, police surrounded the court stating that they had been ordered to prevent three court officials, who had been dismissed by the Minister of Justice the previous day on political grounds, from entering court premises. As one of these officials attempted to enter the court, police dragged him into a police car and took him to a police station where he was held for about 12 hours. Judge Bardha Selenica and another court official were reported to have been physically ill-treated by police on the same occasion. In many other reported incidents of ill-treatment, there appeared to be no political motive. For example, in June Ardian Pasha and Halit Dede quarrelled with an off-duty police officer in a billiard hall in Burrel. Afterwards they fled to the home of a friend, Ethem Neta. The three were subsequently arrested and severely beaten by police. As a result of his injuries, Ethem Neta was hospitalized for nine days. There were also complaints that convicted prisoners or prisoners in pre-trial detention had been ill-treated. Prisoners who went on hunger-strike in May in Shkodër police station in protest against poor food and ill-treatment were allegedly punished by being chained hand and foot for 24 hours. In July prisoners in Korça prison who had protested against poor conditions were reportedly severely beaten by police. One of them, Ardian Munushtiri, was said to have been badly injured. In November, five police officers were found guilty of "abuse of authority" in connection with the death of a prisoner in Vlora police station in 1994. They were sentenced to one year's imprisonment each, but were immediately released after their sentence, which they had partly served in pre-trial house arrest, was suspended. Five death sentences for murder were passed during the year and one man was executed. In June Amnesty International published a report, Albania: Failure to end police ill-treatment and deaths in custody. The organization said that reports pointed to a pattern of police ill-treatment which was often tolerated by the authorities. Amnesty International called on the authorities to investigate complaints thoroughly and impartially and to ensure that officers responsible for abuses were brought to justice. In July Amnesty International wrote to President Berisha urging the release of Fatos Nano. The organization stated that after examining the documentation of this case it had concluded that the charges against him were not substantiated by the evidence and were politically motivated. The organization also called for the release of Ilir Hoxha, imprisoned for the non-violent exercise of his right to freedom of expression. In August the Minister of Justice, in a letter to Amnesty International, denied that Fatos Nano and Ilir Hoxha had been imprisoned for their political views. He stated that the independence of the judiciary was inviolable in Albania. In September the organization expressed concern about reports that police had ill-treated three officials of the Court of Cassation and said that the context of this incident indicated that the principle of independence of the judiciary was under threat.