Transitional Justice in Albania: The Politics of Truth Revelation about Past Human Violations Through Access to The Secret Files and Preservation of the Collective Memory

Abstract

During 45 years of dictatorship in Albania, many people were accused, convicted imprisoned, exiled, or persecuted for “offenses” of a political nature thereby violating basic human rights. Victims of violence, their descendants, and society as a whole have a legal right, even a moral one, to learn the truth regarding past human violations. International law, through its mechanisms, has made a valuable contribution, not only through shaping the instruments that contribute to the unveiling of the truth about communist crimes but also through fostering progress in the respective jurisdictions. Within the scope of the state's responsibilities in unveiling the truth about communist crimes, Albania has built its model through the adaptation of a series of legal and institutional measures. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the Albanian model of truth revelation, focusing especially on the politics of preservation of the archives providing access to them, and protecting historical collective memory. The study supports the hypothesis that transitional justice remains an open process because the relevant mechanisms created to make justice and reveal the truth about the bitter past have produced incomplete and insufficient results. The paper also argues that during these 33 years of democratic developments in Albania, the legal system of information on secret service files has been only recently properly contoured and the challenge remains its implementation in practice, meanwhile, the collective memory as a form of justice for the communist crimes in Albania has not yet served its basic mission.

Received: 17 January 2024 / Accepted: 12 April 2024 / Published: 5 May 2024