The Appeal Chamber is an independent constitutional institution established to carry out the Transitional Re-evaluation of Judges and Prosecutors in the Republic of Albania in reviewing appeals against the decisions of the Independent Qualification Commission. The Appeal Chamber adjudicates disciplinary misconducts of Constitutional Court judges, members of High Judicial Council, High Prosecutorial Council, the Prosecutor General and the High Justice Inspector. It reviews appeals against decisions of the High Judicial Council, the High Prosecutorial Council and the High Justice Inspectorate imposing disciplinary sanctions against judges, prosecutors and other inspectors.
The President of the Special Appeal Chamber, Mr. Sokol Çomo, and the judges of the Chamber, Ms. Albana Shtylla, Ms. Ina Rama, Ms. Mimoza Tasi, Ms. Natasha Mulaj, and Ms. Rezarta Schuetz, following a meeting with the EU Ambassador in Tirana, Mr. Silvio Gonzato, underlining the European Union’s strong support for the vetting process until its completion.The President of the Special Appeal Chamber, Mr. Sokol Çomo, and the judges of the Chamber, during a meeting with the EU Ambassador in Tirana, Mr. Silvio Gonzato, emphasizing that the vetting process remains the backbone of the justice reform and that its completion is a fundamental step in Albania’s EU accession process.The President of the Appeal Chamber, Mr. Sokol Çomo, after a metting with the European Union Ambassador to Tirana, Mr. Silvio Gonzato, and the Chargé d’Affaires of the United States Embassy in Albania, Mrs. Nancy VanHorn. “You have our full support, we will be present throughout the completion of the vetting process,” he stated. “Your commitment to completing it within the constitutional mandate shows strength and should serve as an example for other justice institutions”, said Ms. VanHorn – 12 March 2025Members of the vetting institutions, International Observers of the International Monitoring Operation and heads of justice institutions after the conference “7 years of transitional re-evaluation of judges and prosecutors in the Republic of Albania”, held on the occasion of the closure of the activity of the Independent Qualification Commission and the Institution of Public Commissioners – December 16, 2024The President of the Special Appeal Chamber, Mr. Sokol Çomo, during his speech at the conference “7 years of transitional re-evaluation of judges and prosecutors in the Republic of Albania”, held on the occasion of the closure of the activity of the Independent Qualification Commission and the Institution of Public Commissioners – December 16, 2024 The Chair of the International Monitoring Operation Valentina Superti after a meeting with the members of the three vetting bodies, underlining the importance of the completion of the vetting process and continuation of the good implementation of the justice reform, for the benefit of the Albanian citizens.
13 February 2024The President of the Appeal Chamber Mr. Sokol Çomo and judges of the Appeal Chamber following a meeting held with deputies of the Legislation Committee of the Assembly of Kosovo, focusing on the vetting process, exchange of experiences in this field, challenges of the process, mechanisms and the legal framework – December 11, 2023The President of the Appeal Chamber Mr. Sokol Çomo and judges of the Appeal Chamber during a meeting held with deputies of the Legislation Committee of the Assembly of Kosovo, focusing on the vetting process, exchange of experiences in this field, challenges of the process, mechanisms and the legal framework – December 11, 2023On 15 November 2023 a delegation from the Special Appeals Chamber of Albania, headed by its President, Sokol Çomo, paid a working visit to the Court where it was greeted by President Síofra O’Leary and took part in roundtable discussions with judges of the Court and members of the Registry. The President of the Appeal Chamber, Mrs. Albana Shtylla, during the solemn opening hearing of the 2022 judicial year of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), held in Strasbourg, France. Albania was represented also in this with the President of the Constitutional Court, Mrs. Vitore Tusha and the Vice President of the Supreme Court, Mr. Sokol Sadushi – June 24, 2022The President of the Appeal Chamber, Mrs. Albana Shtylla, during the solemn opening hearing of the 2022 judicial year of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), held in Strasbourg, France, attended by representatives of the highest courts of the 46 member states of the Council of Europe, as well as various local, national and international authorities – June 24, 2022The President of the Appeal Chamber, Mrs. Albana Shtylla, during the solemn opening hearing of the 2022 judicial year of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), held in Strasbourg, France, attended by representatives of the highest courts of the 46 member states of the Council of Europe, as well as various local, national and international authorities – June 24, 2022The President of the Appeal Chamber, Mrs. Albana Shtylla, during the solemn opening hearing of the 2022 judicial year of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), held in Strasbourg, France, attended by representatives of the highest courts of the 46 member states of the Council of Europe, as well as various local, national and international authorities – June 24, 2022The President of the Appeal Chamber, Mrs. Albana Shtylla, during the solemn opening hearing of the judicial year 2022 of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), held in Strasbourg, France, attended by representatives of the highest courts of the 46 member states of the Council of Europe, as well as various local, national and international authorities – June 24, 2022May 4, 2022
The President of the Appeal Chamber, Mrs. Albana Shtylla, and the AC judges welcomed today a Moldovan delegation led by the Minister of Justice, Mr. Sergiu Litvinenco, with the goal of exchanging the best practices and learning how the vetting process works, the legal framework, the mechanisms and institutions involved, implementation results, as well as the public perception of this process.
Moldova has launched an ambitious reform of the justice system aimed at fighting corruption and functioning of rule of law. One of the specially impacting reforms promised to the Moldovan public is the vetting process, the assessment of the integrity of judges and prosecutors, and ousting those judges and prosecutors who fail passing this process.
The Moldovan delegation headed by the Minister of Justice included also members of the High Judicial Council, the High Prosecution Council, as well as heads and legal advisors of the departments of these institutions, who were informed about the progress of the vetting process to date as an essential part of justice reform in Albania.Members of the vetting institutions and representatives of the International Monitoring Operation, after a meeting with the Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement in the European Commission, Mr. Oliver Varhelyi, who assessed the results of the vetting process as essential for a justice system of judges and prosecutors with integrity. The Commissioner stated in a twitter post, “Reconfirmed EU’s full & strong support. Integrity of judges & prosecutors is key to future of Albania in the EU” – April 28, 2022.Members of the vetting institutions and representatives of the International Monitoring Operation, after a meeting with the Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement in the European Commission, Mr. Oliver Varhelyi, who assessed the results of the vetting process as essential for a justice system of judges and prosecutors with integrity. The Commissioner stated in a twitter post, “Reconfirmed EU’s full & strong support. Integrity of judges & prosecutors is key to future of Albania in the EU” – April 28, 2022.Members of the vetting institutions and representatives of the International Monitoring Operation, after a meeting with the Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement in the European Commission, Mr. Oliver Varhelyi, who assessed the results of the vetting process as essential for a justice system of judges and prosecutors with integrity. The Commissioner stated in a twitter post, “Reconfirmed EU’s full & strong support. Integrity of judges & prosecutors is key to future of Albania in the EU” – April 28, 2022.On Friday 23.07.2021, at 10:00, the Appeal Chamber reviewed in camera the case (JR) no.2/2021 dated 14.01.2021. The final decision was announced on 23.07.2021
Status: Concluded The President of the Special Appeal Chamber, Mrs. Albana Shtylla during her speech held at the roundtable discussion “5 years of Justice Reform; Consolidation of the system through the new Inter-Sectorial Justice Strategy 2021 – 2025”- 23 July 2021The President of the Special Appeal Chamber, Mrs. Albana Shtylla during the roundtable “5 years of Justice Reform”, organized by the Ministry of Justice, which was attended by the US Ambassador to Tirana, Her Excellency Mrs. Yuri Kim, EU Ambassador His Excellency Mr. Luigi Soreca and the heads of justice institutions – July 23, 2021President of the Special Appeal Chamber, Mrs. Albana Shtylla during the activity on the presentation of the monitoring report of the HJC and the HCP, organized and hosted by the Albanian Helsinki Committee – 23 June 2021President of the Special Appeal Chamber, Mrs. Albana Shtylla during the activity on the presentation of the monitoring report of the HJC and the HCP, organized and hosted by the Albanian Helsinki Committee – 23 June 2021President of the Special Appeal Chamber, Mrs. Albana Shtylla and the Head of the OSCE Presence in Tirana, His Excellency Ambassador Vincenzo Del Monaco, during a meeting, where they discussed regarding the challenges of the re-evaluation process and the support possibilities by the OSCE for this purpose President of the Appeal Chamber Mrs. Albana Shtylla and the German ambassador in Tirana His Excellency Mr. Peter Zingraf, during the meeting on the progress of the re-evaluation process and the importance of reviewing cases of disciplinary jurisdiction – 26 October 2020President of the Appeal Chamber Mrs. Albana Shtylla with the Head of the High Judicial Council Mrs. Naureda Llagami, Head of the High Prosecution Council Mr. Genti Ibrahimi and the High Inspector of Justice Mr. Artur Metani, during a meeting on the actions taken regarding the proceedings and adjudication of cases within the disciplinary jurisdiction – October 2020Representatives of the re-evaluation institutions in the joint meeting with the Commissioner for Enlargement of the European Union, Oliver Varhelyi and the Head of the International Monitoring Operation Genoveva Ruiz Calavera, where it was reiterated the strong support for the re-evaluation process – 7 October, 2020President of the Appeal Chamber Mrs. Albana Shtylla, President of the Independent Qualification Commission Mrs. Pamela Qirko and the President of the High Judicial Council Mrs. Naureda Llagami, during the meeting coordinated for the acceleration of the re-evaluation process for the candidacies from the judicial system, for members of the High Court – 7 October, 2020Representatives of the re-evaluation institutions in the joint meeting with the Commissioner for Enlargement of the European Union, Oliver Varhelyi and the Head of the International Monitoring Operation Genoveva Ruiz Calavera, where it was reiterated the strong support for the re-evaluation process – 7 October, 2020Meeting with her Excellency, the US Ambassador to Albania Mrs. Yuri Kim, held in the Appeal Chamber premises, where it was discussed on the progress of the vetting process and where USA reassured their full support for the continuation of this process – 22 May 2020Meeting with her Excellency, the US Ambassador to Albania Mrs. Yuri Kim, held in the Appeal Chamber premises, where it was discussed on the progress of the vetting process and where USA reassured their full support for the continuation of this process – 22 May 2020Meeting at the Italian Embassy with representatives of the Italian High Council of Judiciary – November 2019 The President of the Appeal Chamber Ms. Natasha Mulaj meeting the EU Ambassador in Tirana, Mr. Luigi Soreca. The focus of the meeting was to providing priority to the vetting of the candidates for the new justice institutions – 28 June 2019Strong support to re-evaluation bodies by EU member states representatives (COWEB/COELA) during an official visit to Tirana – 26 March 2019The President of the Appeal Chamber Natasha Mulaj during an informative meeting with COWEB/COELA representatives, providing an overview of the vetting process so far – 26 March 2019The President of the Appeal Chamber Ms. Natasha Mulaj during a meeting with the representatives of German Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs chaired by Mr. Stephan Brandner discussing on the current progress of the re-evaluation process – October 29, 2018The President of the Appeal Chamber with the representatives of the other re-evaluation institutions and IMO representatives after a meeting with the Director for Western Balkans at the Directorate General for European Neighbourhood Policy & Enlargement Negotiations Genova Ruiz Calavera and European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality Věra Jourová. Mr. Florian Ballhysa, Public Commissioner, Ms. Natasha Mulaj, President of the Appeal Chamber, Ms. Susanne Schütz, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Albania, Mr. Heiko Maas, German Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Ms. Genta Tafa Bungo, President of the Independent Qualification Commission, during the meeting held at the premises of the Appeal Chamber.Public Commissioner Mr. Darjel Sina, Judge Rezarta Schuetz, Public Commissioner Florian Ballhysa, Judges Albana Shtylla, Ina Rama, Luan Daci and Ardian Hajdari, during the inauguration ceremony of the new premises of the Appeal Chamber and Public Commissioner.The President of the Appeal Chamber Ms. Natasha Mulaj meeting US Ambassador Mr. Donald LuThe President of the Appeal Chamber Ms. Natasha Mulaj holding the speech during the inauguration ceremony of the new premises of the Appeal Chamber and Public Commissioner.The President of the Appeal Chamber, Mrs. Natasha Mulaj is holding a speech during the inauguration ceremony of the premises where the Independent Qualification Commission shall exercise its activity. The President of the Appeal Chamber, Mrs. Natasha Mulaj is participating in the discussion of draft-budget of re-evaluation institutions for year 2018 at the meeting of the Parliamentary Commission of LawsThe President of the Appeal Chamber, Mrs Natasha Mulaj the Director of Albanian School of Magistrates, Mr, Sokol Sadushi and the President of the Independent Qualification Commission, Mrs. Genta Tafa Bundo are attending the ceremony on the 10-year anniversary of establishment of Commissioner’s Office on the Right to Information and Protection of Personal Data
Today, on 30.06.2023, at 11 h, was held the session for the election of the President of the Special Appeal Chamber, who shall exercise this office for a 3-year mandate, as of 27.07.2023.
Upon the secret ballot procedure, which took place in the presence of the international observers of the International Monitoring Operation, the candidate Mr. Sokol Çomo was unanimously elected.
This result was approved upon the decision of the Meeting of Judges no.60, dated 30.06.2023.
Mr. Sokol Çomo shall take the office of the President of the Appeal Chamber on 27.07.2023, when the term of the incumbent President Mrs. Albana Shtylla shall terminate.
Gjykata Kushtetuese Komisioni i Pavarur i Kualifikimit Institucioni i Komisionerëve Publikë Ministria e Drejtesise Gjykatat e Republikës së Shqipërisë Këshilli i Lartë Gjyqësor ILDKPKI
