Training and further education of the Albanian judiciary and Public Prosecutor’s Office

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Published: May 12, 2022

Between February and May 2022, the focus of IRZ's bilateral project work in Albania was the cooperation with the Albanian School of Magistrates, which is responsible for the education and training of the judiciary in the Republic of Albania.

Following a vetting procedure, the School of Magistrates then plays a central role in the re-staffing of judges and public prosecutors. The education and training capacities of the School of Magistrates have therefore been increased in recent years, and the demand for German and European expertise in legal training practice has also risen steadily. 

In this context, IRZ will continue to support the School of Magistrates in 2022 within the framework of its curriculum with the training and further education of judges and public prosecutors on various topics:

The judiciary and the media

On 10 February 2022, a first hybrid seminar on "The judiciary and the media" was held at the School of Magistrates. For the IRZ, Ms Brigitte Koppenhöfer, retired presiding judge at the Düsseldorf Regional Court, spoke on the (tense) relationship between the judiciary and the media regarding the press and public relations activities of the courts and criminal prosecution agencies. The event focused on Albanian, German and European best practices, legal bases, prerequisites and (crisis) strategies for proactive and procedural press and public relations activities.

Division of competences between administrative and constitutional jurisdiction

On 15 March 2022, IRZ organised another hybrid seminar with the Albanian School of Magistrates on the division of competences between the administrative court jurisdiction and constitutional court jurisdiction in Albania. Professor Michaela Wittinger, Professor of Constitutional Law at the Federal University of Public Administration in Mannheim, participated for Germany on behalf of IRZ. The main focus of the event was on the respective powers, the necessary delimitation of competences and the interaction between administrative court jurisdiction and constitutional court jurisdiction against the backdrop of the comparatively young administrative court jurisdiction, which was introduced in Albania in 2012 as a separate branch of the courts.

Cybercrime

On 28 March and 6 May 2022, IRZ hosted two hybrid events on the topic of "Cybercrime" in cooperation with the School of Magistrates. The subject of the seminars was the adaptation of the Albanian legal system to the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, with a particular focus on racist and xenophobic acts on the net (28 March 2022) and the issue of securing and using digital evidence in criminal proceedings (6 May 2022). IRZ was delighted that Mr Andreas May, Senior Public Prosecutor of the Central Office for Combating Cybercrime at the General Prosecutor’s Office in Frankfurt am Main accepted our invitation to present the German and European legal framework and the German practice from his expert viewpoint.

Around 80 representatives from the Albanian judiciary and Public Prosecutor´s Office took part in the four events, which were funded by the Federal Ministry of Justice. The seminars were held at the School of Magistrates, which encouraged a lively and trusting atmosphere for discussions and a vibrant exchange of expertise and experience between the Albanian participants and the German-Albanian contingent of speakers.