TIRANA, Oct. 20 /ATA/ – Albania’s Ombudsman has raised concerns over overcrowding at Tirana’s Security Block detention facility and called for all police officers to display visible identification numbers, following monitoring of the treatment of people detained or injured during recent protests.
Ahmet Prençi, commissioner of the National Preventive Mechanism against Torture, which operates under the Ombudsman, said the findings were preliminary and that a more detailed investigation was under way.
Ombudsman teams inspected six police stations in Tirana, the Security Block and the Trauma Hospital on Oct. 19, he said.
Police detained 50 people that day, including 32 adults and 18 minors. Station No. 1 held 21 people, including eight minors; Station No. 2 held 19, including seven minors and two women; and Station No. 4 held 10, including three minors. No detainees were reported at stations No. 5 and 6.
The Security Block held 109 arrested people, including one minor and four women. At the Trauma Hospital, 34 people received medical treatment, including 21 police officers, seven protesters and five passers-by, Prençi said.
The Ombudsman’s office contacted 193 people who had been detained, arrested or admitted to hospital, including six women and 19 minors. It received 11 complaints – 10 at the Security Block and one concerning a minor at Station No. 1 – and launched administrative investigations into suspected human rights violations.
At Station No. 1, five of the eight detained minors alleged physical and verbal abuse by police officers. Signs of physical injury were found on two of them, Prençi said. A separate complaint alleged violence against a minor at the Security Block.
He said Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights prohibits torture and inhuman or degrading treatment without exception, while Article 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child requires humane treatment of people under 18.
Adults detained during the protests also alleged abuse during arrest, including the use of pepper spray and tear gas, being struck with tear-gas canisters, being dragged along the ground, and physical and psychological violence. One complainant alleged he was assaulted in an office at Station No. 4 where there were no security cameras.
Some adults and minors also reported being asked to unlock their mobile phones and allow access to personal data without a court order, including when no charges had been filed by prosecutors. Others said they had been taken to police stations without legal grounds despite being passers-by with no connection to the protests.
Prençi said officers without visible identification numbers had been found at police stations No. 2 and 4, while records of detained people contained gaps.
He warned that overcrowding at the Security Block, where around 109 people were being held, was compounded by shortages of beds, water, heating and medical care, making it difficult to safeguard detainees’ fundamental rights.
The Ombudsman called on the State Police to ensure that all officers on duty wear visible identification numbers and that police vehicles are identifiable during every operation.
The Interior Ministry was urged to take immediate action to ease overcrowding by reducing the number of detainees and transferring them to other facilities operating within their legal capacity.
Other recommendations included installing cameras in all detention and interview rooms and preserving footage from Oct. 19; prohibiting phone searches and requests for passwords without a legal basis or court order; and ensuring a parent or guardian and a psychologist are present during interviews with minors. The office also called for child-friendly explanations of rights before questioning and separate registers for minors.
Prençi urged regular training for police on the proportionate use of force and tear gas, complete detention records, and round-the-clock access to medical staff at detention facilities. All injuries should be medically documented in accordance with the Istanbul Protocol, he said.
The Ombudsman will monitor implementation of the recommendations and investigate alleged abuses on its own initiative. It also urged anyone who believes their rights have been violated by the State Police to file an individual complaint by telephone, through its official website or via social media.
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