The Constitutional Court of Albania has repealed an article in the Law on State Police that granted it the right to wiretap, surveil and track citizens without a warrant from the prosecution office.
The Socialist majority granted extra powers to the police in February 2020, when the Constitutional Court was not functional due to the decimation of its members by the vetting.
Prosecution offices opposed the legal amendments, which President Meta vetoed and returned the law to parliament for review. He argued that it violates the separation of powers and independence of the judiciary.
In February 2021, Albania’s Ombudsman and the Albanian Helsinki Committee asked the Constitutional Court to strip the police of these newly granted rights for being in violation of the Constitution.
In their ruling on Monday, the court stipulated that Article 131 of the law restricts the constitutional right to privacy, and dropped the said amendments.
Read more:
