Legal advisers of the Constitutional Court of Albania took an important step toward ensuring more consistent protection of the right to liberty and security. They enhanced their knowledge on the application of the European Court of Human Rights’ case law and standards under Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights at the domestic level. The training helped participants better identify relevant European Convention principles and use the European Court’s reasoning in their own decisions, in the efforts to strengthen the protection of individual rights in Albania, in line with European standards.

Through expert presentations, case studies, tailored exercises and discussions, participants deepened their understanding of procedural guarantees under Article 5. These include ensuring that any restrictions on liberty are lawful, necessary, well-justified, and subject to fair judicial review. The training also addressed the standards for imposing, reviewing, modifying or ending measures that restrict a person’s liberty, based on Strasbourg case law.

The activity benefited from the expertise of a seconded judge to the Registry of the European Court, and a local Judge from the Tirana Court of First Instance. By linking European Court standards with the Albanian constitutional practice, the training reinforced the role of the Constitutional Court as a domestic guarantor of fundamental rights.

This activity was jointly organised by the Council of Europe project Strengthening the capacities of the Albanian judiciary to better apply standards on the right to liberty and security, funded by the Human Rights Trust Fund (HRTF), and the Action Improving the protection of the right to property and facilitating execution of ECtHR judgments in Albania (D-REX III), implemented within the joint European Union and Council of Europe programme Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye.