(Finance) – It was approved by the Council of Ministers, on the proposal of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Antonio Tajani, the Minister of the Interior Matteo Piantedosi and the Minister of Justice Carlo Nordio, a bill ratifying the Protocol between the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Albania and the Government of the Italian Republic for the strengthening of collaboration in migration matters, done in Rome on 6 November 2023. The text authorizes the ratification of the Protocol, orders its execution and introduces provisions for coordination, organisation, personnel and expenses, jurisdiction and for the identification of the applicable law, including substantive criminal and criminal procedural law.
Immigration regulations and related procedures – The clause is introduced to equate the areas envisaged by the Protocol to the border or transit areas envisaged by Legislative Decree 28 January 2008, n. 25, in which the completion of accelerated procedures at the border is expected. These areas are assimilated respectively to hotspots and detention centers for repatriation referred to in the Consolidated Law on Immigration. Only migrants boarded on vehicles of the Italian authorities outside the Italian territorial sea or those of other European Union member states may be taken to the Albanian areas. The application of Italian (and therefore European) legislation regarding immigration and the admission of foreigners into the national territory is sanctioned towards these migrants, with the simultaneous explicit identification of the jurisdiction of the Court of Rome. It is envisaged that only in exceptional cases will it be possible to transfer the migrant from the Albanian facilities to corresponding facilities located in Italian territory, at the disposal of the Italian manager of the centre: in these cases, the persistence of the detention title and the continuation of the procedure started is foreseen, without the need to start it from scratch.
Migrant rights – Respect for all the rights provided for by the general (Italian and European) regulations on the matter is guaranteed for migrants present in the structures of the Protocol. To guarantee the immediate establishment of the defense and technical assistance relationship, the methods with which the migrant can remotely issue the special power of attorney to the defender are regulated. The person in charge of the structure located in Albanian territory is responsible for adopting all the necessary measures to guarantee the timely and full exercise of the migrant’s right of defense, also ensuring the latter the right to confer confidentially with his lawyer using audiovisual methods. . The participation of the defender in the hearings will always be guaranteed in the same way. It is also expected that the National Guarantor of the rights of persons deprived of personal liberty will carry out its functions in the areas located in Albanian territory.
Construction of structures – The text dictates the regulations for the construction and management of structures located in Albanian territory, providing for this purpose a general derogation clause, in the matter of public contracts, from any provision of law other than criminal law, of the code of anti-mafia laws and of mandatory constraints deriving from membership of the European Union.
Organization and staff – As regards administrative discipline, the competence of the Prefect, the Police Commissioner and the Territorial Commission (with the ad hoc constitution of specific sections) of Rome is identified for the measures to be adopted towards migrants. The establishment of a coordination and liaison unit under the Rome Police Headquarters and – at the structures located in Albania – of a judicial police unit, a penitentiary police unit and a specific maritime, air and border.
Center security and criminal jurisdiction – It is established that the migrant who commits a crime within the structures of the Protocol will be punished according to Italian law if there is a request from the Minister of Justice (without prejudice to the need for a complaint from the offended person, in the case of a complaint-proceeding crime) . The Minister’s request is not necessary for crimes punishable by imprisonment for a minimum of 3 years. This regulation does not apply to crimes committed against an Albanian citizen or the Albanian State, for which the applicability of Italian criminal law remains governed by the provisions of the Italian Criminal Code already in force. For all other types of crimes committed abroad, the general regulations provided for by the Italian Criminal Code remain applicable.
Procedural discipline – In general, the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure apply; when criminal jurisdiction is exercised, the judicial authority and the judicial police directly carry out their respective functions also in the areas of the Protocol (therefore, without the need to resort to the instrument of the letter rogatory); notifications are carried out by operators of the judicial police unit established in the Protocol areas and communications and deposits can always be carried out electronically;
in cases of flagrant arrest or detention, it is expected that the personnel of the judicial police unit will transmit the report, within forty-eight hours, to the public prosecutor of Rome and that, in the following forty-eight hours, the validation hearing will take place (Court of Rome);
the validation hearing always takes place remotely, with the methods generally established for acts carried out remotely, by the Code of Criminal Procedure; upon completion of the validation, where the judge applies the precautionary measure of custody in prison, the suspect is transferred to suitable facilities located in the Protocol areas. When the judge orders a measure other than precautionary custody in prison or the release of the arrested or detained person, the migrant is expected to remain subject to detention in facilities in Albania; for the entire duration of detention instrumental to the completion of the accelerated border procedure (four weeks), the criminal proceedings are suspended, without prejudice to the possibility of carrying out urgent actions; it is expected that the judge will pronounce a sentence of non-proceeding when proof of the execution of the perpetrator’s repatriation is acquired, with two exceptions: 1. crimes for which compulsory arrest in flagrante delicto is foreseen; 2. defendant subjected to the measure of precautionary custody in prison, until the measure is revoked or declared extinct.