The European Court of Human Rights has found a violation of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights in the case of Manjani v. Albania, assessing that the refusal to admit Shiqiri Manjani to the School of Magistrates due to a sentence served when he was a minor and for which he had been legally rehabilitated was disproportionate.
The case relates to Manjani's application in 2020 for the three-year training program at the School of Magistrates for the prosecutor profile. He had declared himself that in 2006, when he was only 15 years old, he had been convicted of theft, but that he had subsequently been rehabilitated under the Criminal Code. However, after verifications, the High Prosecutorial Council decided not to accept him into the program, arguing that a person with a criminal conviction could not become part of the justice system.
The decision was later upheld by Albanian courts, including the Supreme Court and ultimately the Constitutional Court, which in 2023 dismissed his appeal.
However, Strasbourg concluded that the Albanian authorities had not carried out an individualised and comprehensive analysis of the applicant’s situation. According to the European Court, the Albanian institutions had failed to take into account several essential elements: his age at the time of the offence, the fact that it was a non-violent offence, the passage of many years without any other offence and his legal rehabilitation.
An important element of the Strasbourg decision is the reference made to the dissenting opinion of Judge Marsida Xhaferllari in the Constitutional Court, mentioned in point 10 of the decision.
In this minority opinion, Judge Xhaferllari criticized the way the Albanian courts had reasoned their decisions. According to her, the ordinary courts had ignored the fact that the High Prosecutorial Council had essentially implemented legal changes that at the time existed only as draft amendments, while the High Court had itself created the appearance of a retroactive application of the law, using the interpretation of the provision that had been amended later.
According to Xhaferllari, the majority of the Constitutional Court had also failed to strike a real balance between the public interest and the applicant's rights, failing to explain why his ban on entering the Magistrate's Office was proportionate to the principle of human dignity, especially given his age at the time of the incident and the limited ability of a minor to fully understand the consequences of his actions.
She also emphasized that the evolution of the Albanian juvenile justice system, in particular the 2017 reform of juvenile criminal justice, should be taken into account. These reforms aim precisely to ensure that an offense committed by a minor does not produce permanent consequences throughout life and to specifically protect their private life and their reintegration into society.
According to her, the courts had not explained whether there was any real basis to assume that Manjani posed a risk to the integrity of the justice system or that his admission to the Magistracy could damage public trust. This deficiency in the analysis is precisely what Strasbourg later highlighted.
The European Court found that the absolute ban on entering the Magistrates' School, based solely on an offense committed as a minor and for which the person had been rehabilitated, was disproportionate and contrary to the right to respect for private life.
As a result, the Court ruled that Albania should pay Manjani 4,500 euros for non-pecuniary damage, while emphasizing that the most appropriate form of reparation would be for the Albanian authorities to reconsider the case in accordance with the standards of Article 8 of the Convention.
Essentially, the Strasbourg decision does not call into question the importance of integrity for judges and prosecutors, but emphasizes that even in these cases the state cannot apply automatic bans without individual analysis, especially when it comes to an offense committed by a minor and a person who has been rehabilitated and has built a regular legal career.
