Seminar on constitutional complaints for the Albanian legal profession

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Published: February 27, 2023

On 12 October 2022 IRZ, in cooperation with the Albanian Bar Association, organised an advanced seminar for Albanian lawyers on the subject of “constitutional complaints”.

The event followed a series of seminars on constitutional complaints that were launched in 2018. After the events were held online between 2020 and early 2022 due to the pandemic, the 14th seminar in the series in Vlora (Albania) was again held as a face-to-face event and therefore attracted great interest among the Albanian legal profession.

Prof Dr Maksim Haxhia, President of the Albanian Bar Association, and Frank Hupfeld, Head of the IRZ's South East Europe II and South Caucasus section, opened the seminar in front of 32 Albanian and 3 Kosovan lawyers. The IRZ invited Prof Dr Jan Bergmann, Presiding Judge at the Administrative Court of Baden-Württemberg and Prof Dr Arta Vorpsi, Professor of constitutional law, on the European dogmatics of human rights, to give presentations on the test schemes in the violation of fundamental freedom and equality rights and the admissibility requirements of the Albanian constitutional complaints system. The theoretical basics were explored using concrete case studies and practical exercises.

In particular, the event offered the opportunity for a practice-oriented and comparative exchange of experience and expertise between German and Albanian legal practitioners to familiarise themselves with the specific features, prerequisites and practical significance of constitutional complaints.

The series of seminars was held to examine the change in the Albanian constitution in 2016, through which Albanian citizens may address individual constitutional complaints directly to the Albanian constitutional court.