TIRANA, May 4 /ATA/ – Supreme Court has set a clearer and more stringent standard for the use of pre-trial detention, requiring courts to provide specific and individualised reasoning when ordering the measure.
The Supreme Court’s United Colleges, sitting in a panel of 16 judges, issued a unifying decision on Monday aimed at harmonising judicial practice and strengthening safeguards for personal liberty.
The move follows an initiative by the court’s chief justice to address inconsistencies in how lower courts request, justify and apply pre-trial detention. The ruling seeks to align domestic practice with the Constitution, the Criminal Procedure Code and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights.
The court said existing practice required clarification and further development, stressing that detention – the most severe restriction on personal liberty – cannot be based on general or formulaic reasoning.
Instead, courts must provide concrete, case-specific and reviewable justifications.
The decision sets out three key principles.
First, pre-trial detention must be treated as an exceptional measure, not the default. Courts are required to carry out a genuine, individualised assessment in every case and must consider less restrictive alternatives.
The court overturned a previous approach under which judges were not required to meaningfully examine alternative measures, saying it was incompatible with both domestic law and the European Convention on Human Rights.
Second, detention may be ordered only when other measures are unsuitable.
Third, the burden of proof lies with the prosecution, which must justify both the imposition and continuation of pre-trial detention. Courts, in turn, are obliged to verify this necessity at every stage of proceedings.
The Supreme Court said the decision is intended to strengthen protections for personal liberty, raise the standard of judicial reasoning and ensure greater consistency, predictability and proportionality in judicial practice.
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