Top Channel, TV Klan, Vizion Plus, Report TV, News 24, A2 CNN and Klan News — submitted a letter to the High Judicial Council (KLGJ) on 11 June 2026 calling for cameras to be allowed in court proceedings. Addressed to the KLGJ and copied to the country’s higher and special courts, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, and the Council of Europe office in Tirana, the letter asks the Council to issue a clearer interpretation of its own rules so that journalists can cover hearings without routine and unexplained refusals. The intervention comes as several high-profile trials draw public scrutiny.
At the centre of the complaint is the KLGJ’s 2023 standard guide on relations between courts, the public, and the media, which the broadcasters argue is being applied in a way that reverses its intent. The guide treats open hearings and the right to information as the rule, yet in practice, the letter states, access is handled as an exception. The broadcasters point to refusals of camera access that recycle reasoning from decisions taken months earlier rather than assessing each request on its merits, to judges barring the recording of entire sessions when a single party objects despite a provision allowing only partial recording, and to prosecutors and defence lawyers objecting to recording even though the guide states they may not. They further note that no Albanian court operates a central audiovisual system, that audio recordings are released only to parties in a case, and that journalists are now prevented from making their own audio recordings or consulting case files, including in digital form.
Full letter in Albanian here.
A full assessment of the letter’s claims against European standards would require closer legal analysis, but a preliminary reading suggests the elements rest on differing footing. The principle of open justice is well established: hearings are public by default under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and Council of Europe Recommendation Rec(2003)13 expects courts to provide sufficient access for journalists and to make reporting-relevant information available on request. The European Court of Human Rights has, in certain circumstances, also recognised a qualified right of access to official information for journalists reporting on matters of public interest. The position on filming and recording appears more conditional, as the same Council of Europe text treats courtroom recording as something to be permitted by law or judicial authorisation rather than guaranteed, which leaves states a degree of discretion. What these standards appear to require in any case is that restrictions be individualised, reasoned, and proportionate.