European Court Rejects Albanian Ex-Judge’s Appeal Against Sacking

The Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday dismissed claims by former judge Altina Xhoxhaj that her rights to a fair trial and to respect for private and family life were violated in 2018 when she was fired from the Albanian Constitutional Court after an investigation showed she owned properties whose cost could not be justified by her income.

The ECHR said in a statement that the official bodies that vetted Xhoxhaj had been "independent and impartial" and that "the proceedings had been fair".

"The court furthermore considered that the dismissal from office had been proportionate and that the statutory lifetime ban imposed on the applicant on rejoining the justice system on the grounds of serious ethical violations had been consistent with ensuring the integrity of judicial office and public trust in the justice system, and thus had not breached her rights under Article 8 [of the European Convention on Human Rights]," the statement added.

Albania undertook an extraordinary re-evaluation of all its judges and prosecutors in 2016 as part of a general overhaul of its justice system.

During the process, a total of 109 judges and prosecutors were dismissed, 111 were confirmed in their posts and 46 decided to resign to avoid scrutiny.

Some 20 of those who were dismissed have applied to the ECHR, claiming their dismissal was disproportionate, and that the process they faced was unfair.

The US ambassador to Tirana, Yuri Kim, hailed the ECHR decision in a Twitter post. "Vetting proceedings leading to dismissal of Constitutional Court judge were fair and dismissal proportionate," Kim wrote.

The justice reform was sponsored by Albania's Western partners and is being monitored by a joint mission made up of...