Extradition Lawyer in Tirana: The Court and Local Procedure

The working English label “Tirana Judicial District Court” describes the predecessor court, not its current official name following the 2023 judicial-map reform. Before filing anything, identify the actual court, the kind of arrest, the time of arrest and the file number. The local procedure below explains how to do that without confusing a detention hearing with a final decision to surrender someone abroad.

Which Tirana court and prosecutor should receive the file?

The 2022 judicial-map decision reorganised general-jurisdiction courts; the Tirana first-instance court has territorial coverage for Tiranë, Kamëz, Vorë and Krujë municipalities. That last municipality matters: Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza (TIA) is at Rinas, about 17 km outside the city, and falls within the reconfigured Tirana court area rather than being allocated by its marketing name alone. The exact place and legal ground of arrest still control the initial judicial referral under Criminal Procedure Code article 495. Where jurisdiction cannot otherwise be identified for a pre-request measure, article 494(3) expressly points to the Tirana court as a fallback; this is not the same as automatically sending every airport arrest there.

The prosecutor's national directory lists the Tirana general-jurisdiction prosecution office. Its involvement does not mean that every international case in the city belongs to the general court: allegations assigned to specialised anti-corruption and organised-crime authorities require a separate jurisdiction check. The underlying file and judicial assignment are decisive, not the city where a police notice was issued.

Arrest at Rinas: the first 96 hours are not a surrender deadline

Article 495 deals with temporary arrest by judicial police following an international arrest warrant. The arresting authority must promptly alert the prosecutor and Minister of Justice. The prosecutor must bring the arrested person before the court for the territory of arrest within 48 hours; that court must validate or reject the arrest and decide on a coercive measure within 48 hours after the prosecutor's application. These are separate clocks. If the arrested person is an Albanian citizen and no bilateral treaty provides for extradition of nationals to that requesting state, article 495(3) directs immediate release; counsel must check the actual treaty and citizenship evidence rather than assume an absolute nationality rule. The Albanian-language statutory text says orëve (hours); an English online rendering mistakenly says “forty-eight days” for the first period.

These are statutory outer limits, not a guarantee that an officer will disclose every paper to a family member immediately. If the person was not arrested under article 495 but is already subject to a court-ordered measure under articles 493–494, article 496 provides a hearing to establish identity and record possible consent as soon as possible, no later than three days after execution of the measure. The defence lawyer receives at least 24 hours' notice of those actions. Counsel must first determine which procedural route is actually in use.

Where the Rinas arrest joins the ordinary extradition case

The Criminal Procedure Code, articles 488–499, and Law No. 10 193/2009 on jurisdictional relations with foreign authorities (as amended, including Law No. 97/2021) govern the relevant stages. Under article 492, the Ministry normally transmits an accepted foreign request within ten days through the Prosecutor General to the competent prosecutor; the latter brings it before the court. Law No. 10 193/2009 article 37 requires the assigned judge to schedule the merits hearing within five days after the prosecutor's application is lodged, while Code article 497 requires at least ten days' notice before the merits hearing. Scheduling within five days does not mean the hearing must finish within five days.

Article 33 of Law No. 10 193/2009 separately allows transmission to take up to 15 days when the acts are voluminous or need translation. Counsel should confirm the date on which the Ministry received the request; neither transmission period is an arrest-release clock.

Under article 492(5), the interested person and defence may inspect and copy the deposited documents and submit observations during the ten-day period following notification of the filing. A practical distinction matters in Tirana: a police arrest, a hearing reviewing custody, a subsequent hearing on admissibility of extradition, and the ministerial surrender order are four different events. Ask for the documents for each rather than treating one court date as proof that delivery to a requesting state has been approved. For the full national sequence consult extradition from Albania.

What custody clock is running, and which court can change it?

Article 495(4) requires revocation of arrest where the Ministry does not ask for its continuation within ten days of the court's validation. Under article 494(6), a provisional coercive measure is revoked if the formal request and supporting documents do not reach the Ministry within 18 days, and in any event a maximum of 40 days, from arrest. Which provision applies depends on the actual provisional-arrest route and treaty framework, not an assumed universal maximum.

For measures under article 493, if proceedings before the relevant first-instance court have not concluded within three months from the measure taking effect, the measure is revoked; a prosecutor may seek an extension of no more than one month for particularly complex checks. Article 493 also contains distinct three-month limits for appellate or High Court proceedings, measured from the respective receipt of the case file. Those clocks concern restraint, not an automatic dismissal of the extradition application.

Under article 493(5)–(6), the court dealing with the coercive measure also examines the extradition request, with the appeal court responsible while the case is before it. If custody is revoked or changed, ask counsel to confirm the merits case status separately; release alone is not a decision refusing extradition.

Visits, an interpreter and counsel: practical Tirana access

The General Directorate of Prisons identifies IEVP Jordan Misja (313) in Tirana as a remand/transit institution. Its published family-visiting period is Monday–Saturday, 08:00–14:00, with four visits a month. This is a facility's published schedule, not proof that a particular arrested person is held there or that a visit can be made without clearance. The prison administration explains that visitor identity is checked and meetings are registered; belongings are controlled, and individual institutions regulate their procedures. Counsel should check detention location through the custodial record and arrange confidential professional access through the applicable institution rules.

Proceedings are conducted in Albanian. Under Code article 8, a person who does not speak it can use their language with an interpreter, be informed about the case through interpretation and translation, and the state bears those language costs. Under article 496, a lawyer must be appointed if the person has none for the specified hearing. A relative should relay the person's language, any urgent medical information and their lawyer's details, but should not substitute a family translation for a court interpreter.

A hypothetical arrest and the documents that change the next step

Hypothetical example: a Georgian national lands at Rinas and is temporarily arrested on an international warrant issued following proceedings abroad. Their sister in another country knows only that the traveller was taken by police. She should first establish the time and location of arrest, secure the name of Albanian counsel, and have counsel ask the Tirana court registry whether an article 495 validation application was filed. If a measure was made, obtain its operative text and determine whether the Ministry has sought continuation; only then check whether a formal request has arrived. The nationality of the traveller does not by itself tell the family the merits of the foreign case or prove a lawful basis for surrender.

For a lawyer or family member contacting Tirana counsel, assemble the following:

• Full name as recorded by police, aliases or spelling differences, date of birth, all citizenships and a copy of available identity papers.
• Arrest date, exact clock time and place (airport terminal, municipality or another location), police document numbers and current custody location.
• Any court ruling, extradition request, foreign warrant or hearing notice, including dates of service and the language received.
• Foreign criminal-case or judgment details, any documents supporting a mistaken-identity concern, and the name of counsel in the requesting state.
• Health or interpretation needs and one reliable family contact for court and prison communications.

Keep written copies and a dated chronology. Avoid signing a supposed “routine” consent before understanding its consequences: article 44 of Law No. 10 193/2009 distinguishes simplified extradition consent, which can include waiver of the speciality protection, from an ordinary hearing. The law treats the recorded consent and waiver as irrevocable; it is not the same as agreeing to be questioned or identifying oneself. For remedies and refusal grounds, see challenges to extradition from Albania.

If the first-instance court rules: what happens to the Tirana file?

Code article 498(5) provides a ten-day appeal period for a decision on extradition to the court of appeal. The defence must verify the legally effective starting point from the actual decision, its deposit and notification; do not calculate it from the day a family member hears about it. Appeals against orders validating arrest or imposing coercive measures arise separately under article 495(5). The unified general-jurisdiction appeal court sits in Tirana, but it is a different institution from the first-instance court.

After a court decision permitting extradition becomes final, article 499 gives the Ministry of Justice 30 days from finality to decide whether to order surrender, with a related release consequence for a person under restraint if it fails to decide in time. A favourable court ruling is not itself an instruction for airport police to hand the person over. Counsel needs to track judicial finality and ministerial correspondence separately. A Red Notice is not an EU European Arrest Warrant: Albania is not an EU member and its cases follow extradition mechanisms and applicable treaties, including, where relevant, the European Convention on Extradition and Albania's declarations. The country guide addresses those instruments beyond this local court map.

This site can coordinate cross-border defence planning with counsel qualified in Albania; for an initial case review use the confidential request form.