Former Albanian Health Minister Ilir Beqaj, who has been held in pretrial detention in the city of Durres for more than a year, has raised concerns over defendants’ access to court case files.
In a public statement, Beqaj said authorities are starting 2026 by reopening a long-standing issue that, despite being basic and fundamental to due legal process, has remained unresolved for years.
According to Beqaj, case files are provided to defense lawyers in electronic format, while defendants themselves are excluded from directly reviewing their own files.
“For six years, dozens of criminal trials have been conducted at the Special Court. Case files run into thousands of pages, and the Special Prosecution delivers them to lawyers electronically, in PDF format, while also submitting printed copies to the court,” Beqaj said.