TRUTH REVELATION INSTRUMENTS IN POST-COMMUNIST ALBANIA: TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE NON-FEASANCE IN INVESTIGATING COMMUNIST CRIMES AND THE FATE OF MISSING PERSONS

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.