TRUTH REVELATION INSTRUMENTS IN POST-COMMUNIST ALBANIA: TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE NON-FEASANCE IN INVESTIGATING COMMUNIST CRIMES AND THE FATE OF MISSING PERSONS
1. Introduction. – 2. Evaluating the status of the right to the truth about serious human right violations in international law. – 3. Contouring the scope of the right to the truth about serious rights violations in international soft law. – 4. The politics of truth revelation about serious human rights violations in Albania. – 4.1. Finding the truth about past human violations by using criminal law. – 4.1.1. Overcoming the obstacles. – 4.1.2. Constitutional and legal basis. – 4.1.3. Evaluating the politics. – 4.2. The politics of truth about the missing persons from the communist era. – 4.2.1. Overcoming the obstacles. – 4.2.2. Constitutional and legal basis of the missing persons from the communist era. – 4.2.3. Evaluation of the policy. -5. Conclusions.
Abstract
Background:
During 45 years of dictatorship in Albania, many people were accused, convicted, imprisoned, exiled, or persecuted for “offences” of a political nature (under the communist law), thereby violating basic human rights. A series of legal measures have been enacted during the 30 years of democratic developments to deal with the bitter past and, especially, the crimes of the communist period.
Methods:
This study contributes to making a normative evaluation of the status of the right to the truth in international law. The paper focuses on the most important state obligations for giving effect to this right, such as the prosecution of serious violations of fundamental rights and the issue of missing persons. The study uses a qualitative interpretation of the Albanian legislation model built to unveil the truth regarding the violations that occurred during the communist regime, including criminal prosecution and trials and the issue of missing persons. The study is conducted based on a methodology that analyses four variables in each of these policies, specifically: the policies contributing to revelation, the legal and empirical challenges encountered, the constitutional and legal basis of these measures, and the results achieved in practice.
Results:
The measures set up along the democratic developments in Albania to investigate serious violations of fundamental rights committed by ex-communist officials did not contribute to achieving transitional justice goals.
Conclusions:
The crimes committed by ex-communist officials during the communist regime in Albania were never punished, and the truth about past atrocities while using the criminal law in Albania was never revealed. In Albania’s recent years, regardless of the change of trajectory in dealing with the issue of 6000 missing persons’ remains from the communist period, no tangible results are found, leaving the truth about their fate buried, turning it into a serious concern in the framework of guaranteeing human rights. Failure to account for the whereabouts and fate of the missing persons in Albania gives rise to a continuing situation in breach of the right to life.
During 45 years of dictatorship in Albania, many people were accused, convicted, imprisoned, exiled, or persecuted for “offences” of a political nature (under the communist law), thereby violating basic human rights. A series of legal measures have been enacted during the 30 years of democratic developments to deal with the bitter past and, especially, the crimes of the communist period.
Methods:
This study contributes to making a normative evaluation of the status of the right to the truth in international law. The paper focuses on the most important state obligations for giving effect to this right, such as the prosecution of serious violations of fundamental rights and the issue of missing persons. The study uses a qualitative interpretation of the Albanian legislation model built to unveil the truth regarding the violations that occurred during the communist regime, including criminal prosecution and trials and the issue of missing persons. The study is conducted based on a methodology that analyses four variables in each of these policies, specifically: the policies contributing to revelation, the legal and empirical challenges encountered, the constitutional and legal basis of these measures, and the results achieved in practice.
Results:
The measures set up along the democratic developments in Albania to investigate serious violations of fundamental rights committed by ex-communist officials did not contribute to achieving transitional justice goals.
Conclusions:
The crimes committed by ex-communist officials during the communist regime in Albania were never punished, and the truth about past atrocities while using the criminal law in Albania was never revealed. In Albania’s recent years, regardless of the change of trajectory in dealing with the issue of 6000 missing persons’ remains from the communist period, no tangible results are found, leaving the truth about their fate buried, turning it into a serious concern in the framework of guaranteeing human rights. Failure to account for the whereabouts and fate of the missing persons in Albania gives rise to a continuing situation in breach of the right to life.
About Authors
Bledar Abdurrahmani
Dr.Sc. (Law), Faculty of Law and Political Science, Aleksandër Moisiu University, Durres, Albania bledar_abdurrahmani@yahoo.com
https://orcid.org/0009-0004-6235-5189
Corresponding author, responsible for conceptualization, data curation, formal analysis, investigation, methodology, project administration, resources, supervision, validation and writing.
Tidita Abdurrahmani
PhD (Humanities), Assoc.Prof., Faculty of Technology and Business, Bedër University College, Tirana, Albania abdurrahmanitidita@yahoo.com
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9449-6884
Co-author, responsible for formal analysis, methodology, resources, validation and writing – review and editing.
Competing interests: No competing interests were disclosed.
Disclaimer: The authors declare that their opinions and views expressed in this manuscript are free of any impact of any organizations.
Copyright: © 2024 Bledar Abdurrahmani and Tidita Abdurrahmani. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
Dr.Sc. (Law), Faculty of Law and Political Science, Aleksandër Moisiu University, Durres, Albania bledar_abdurrahmani@yahoo.com
https://orcid.org/0009-0004-6235-5189
Corresponding author, responsible for conceptualization, data curation, formal analysis, investigation, methodology, project administration, resources, supervision, validation and writing.
Tidita Abdurrahmani
PhD (Humanities), Assoc.Prof., Faculty of Technology and Business, Bedër University College, Tirana, Albania abdurrahmanitidita@yahoo.com
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9449-6884
Co-author, responsible for formal analysis, methodology, resources, validation and writing – review and editing.
Competing interests: No competing interests were disclosed.
Disclaimer: The authors declare that their opinions and views expressed in this manuscript are free of any impact of any organizations.
Copyright: © 2024 Bledar Abdurrahmani and Tidita Abdurrahmani. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
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3. Aquinas T, ‘Summa Theologiae’ in Shawn Bawulski and Stephen R Holmes, Christian Theology: The Classics (Routledge 2014) 70, doi:10.4324/9781315816449-14.
4. Asllani DN, ‘Dilemmas in Using International Law for Pursuing the Communist Crimes: The Albanian Case’ in Grzebyk P (ed), The Communist Crimes: Individual and State Responsibility (Instytut Wymiaru Sprawiedliwości 2022) 25.
5. Austin RC and Ellison J, ‘Post-Communist Transitional Justice in Albania’ (2008) 22(2) East European Politics and Societies 373.
6. Bllaca E and Pilika A, The Unsolved Issue of the Missing Persons in Albania: A Comparative Study (Institutit për Aktivizëm dhe Ndryshim Social 2021).
7. Erebara G, Albanian Prosecutor Declines to Probe Communist-Era Disappearances (Balkan Transitional Justice, 22 October 2021)
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How to cite it?
- Abdurrahmani B and Abdurrahmani T, ‘Truth Revelation Instruments in Post-Communist Albania: Transitional Justice Non-Feasance in Investigating Communist Crimes and the Fate of Missing Persons’ (2024) 7(2) Access to Justice in Eastern Europe 10-38 https://doi.org/10.33327/AJEE-18-7.2-a000215
