Buried in Case Files, Lacking Security: Albania’s Courts Struggle in Dilapidated Buildings

On Monday morning, the lobby of the Court of Appeals of General Jurisdiction in Tirana is packed with people waiting for their court proceedings. Defendants, family members and lawyers first pass through security checks before being ushered into the waiting room, where the start of hearings is announced.

Built in 1957 to serve as a police precinct, the old three-storey building housing the Court of Appeals has extended its jurisdiction across the whole of Albania following the approval of the new judicial map in 2023.

But instead of resolving the backlog of cases, the situation at the Court of Appeals is now bordering on the impossible, due to a lack of space for its doubled staff and the files that have accumulated from across the country.

The court’s narrow corridors have now been turned into labyrinths crammed with case files, stacked in cabinets, on shelves and even on chairs. The air reeks of mould and damp.