"Civil Attitude", has monitored the behavior of the State Police during the protests against the increase in prices, which were held in several cities of Albania in the months of March and April.
The report analyzes a series of violations affecting two fundamental rights, freedom of the press and freedom of assembly.
Megi Ndregjoni told Citizens Channel that irregularities were observed in the arrests of over 50 citizens during the nine days of protest: "there is a legal deficiency which the court has highlighted through its decisions".
Another violation found by the report is the lack of identification tools by the police officers, a behavior which goes against the law no. 18/2014 "On the State Police".
"Freedom of assembly"
During the civil protests against the price increase, the right to assembly was violated. This is one of the main findings of this report. The Albanian Committee of Helsinki made the same conclusion in its report. In March 2022, KSHH published a report about police violations in arresting protesters.
The violations found were: escorting and arresting protesters without cause, transferring those arrested in violation of the law, escorting two minor citizens, lack of hygienic and sanitary conditions in the police station and lack of space, procedural irregularities in verified cases, the exercise of violence etc.
In relation to the justification of the illegal protest, the report of the Civic Center states that "The Constitutional Court over the past year abolished from the Criminal Code, the phrase 'without obtaining permission from the competent body'”. The CJK stated that the word "permission" is used in the Criminal Code, while the word "notice" is used in the law on gatherings.
"This creates legal uncertainty for citizens, as words have different meanings", the report says, adding that organizers should not obtain permission to organize a protest as this fundamentally infringes on their freedom, "but they must notify the competent authorities in writing".
"Stopping and arresting protesters is an open violation of the right to assembly, this was said not by the Albanian state but by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).", the author of the report Megi Ndregjoni explained to Citizens Channel.
She argues that the protest in question was apparently peaceful, adding that "it is enough to look at the footage, where you can see citizens who have gone out with their children, their families, there is a very noticeable distance between them and the policemen, there is no violence against the policemen".
The ECtHR in principle asks the authorities to balance the right of those who want to protest and those whose right to movement is violated.
Ndregjoni clarifies that the ECHR has several standards if the protest should be dispersed, which are related to:
- the duration of the traffic interruption
- the knowledge that the authorities have about the protest
- if the traffic jam is serious
"Freedom of the media"
Another area monitored in these protests is the violation of media freedom.
The report concluded that the police prevented the media from doing their work, highlighting the case of Syri TV and JOQ, adding that preventing journalists from gathering information and reporting during protests is a violation of Article 10 of the ECHR on freedom of expression.
Ndregjoni emphasizes the importance of the journalist's duty to convey the news to the citizens and adds that "State intervention without right and without any legal basis, as well as the reason they are arresting someone because they are reporting, is a violation of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights".
Finally, the report recommends that "it is necessary for the State Police to be trained on the ECHR standards regarding arrests and detentions and when to use violence".
He also recommends that citizens should not get permission to protest, "yesr must notify the Police Directorate of the place and time of the protest".
"For more than 10 months, the Assembly has not approved changes to the Criminal Code according to the decision of the Constitutional Court", the report continues.
He completed master's studies in Investigative Journalism at the Department of Journalism at the University of Tirana. She has been working as a journalist for five years, where she previously covered issues of politics and parliamentary activity, in print and online media. She is currently a journalist at Citizens.al, where she covers various social issues related to the transparency of institutions. At Citizens.al, she leads the podcast "The Unheard" and is engaged as a manager of projects related to the support of investigative journalism.
