On October 6, Astrit Kalaja, judge of the Albanian Court of Appeal, was shot in the Tirana courtroom where he was overseeing a case on property disputes. International Commission of Lawyers. Kalaja died of his wounds and two others were injured in the shooting. The 30-year-old suspect has been arrested.
Kalaja’s murder quickly became a lightning rod for nationwide dissatisfaction with the Albanian judiciary.
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Police monitor the area outside the Tirana Court of Appeal after a judge was shot dead in Tirana on October 6, 2025. A man on trial opened fire in a courtroom in the Albanian capital Tirana, killing Court of Appeal Judge Astrit Kalaja, who was presiding over the man’s case when the man opened fire, police said. (Adnan Beci/AFP via Getty Images)
“As a result,” Nesho said, “public confidence in the justice system has been seriously eroded, with institutional dysfunction reaching a level where some parts of society feel compelled to take the law into their own hands – a dangerous sign of democratic backsliding.”
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Berisha said the “clear support the act has received,” including the creation of a now-inactive GoFundMe to support the killer’s legal rights, demonstrates a “protest against a dysfunctional judiciary, against a corrupt and politicized justice system.”
Berisha said judicial reforms “left the country without a constitutional court and without a supreme court for more than five years,” creating a “staggering backlog” of about 200,000 cases. He said the process of vetting judicial staff turned into “a witch hunt for perceived magistrates [to be] independent or potentially right-leaning.”
According to Berisha, this led to the ‘weaponization of the judiciary against the opposition’.
Democratic Party lawmakers (left) watch their colleagues from the ruling Socialist Party vote in Tirana, Albania, on February 22, 2024. (Armando Babani/AP Photo)
A 2020 report on US aid to Albania details US and EU efforts to “restore the integrity of the Albanian legal system”. The report states that USAID helped the Supreme Court set up a process to hear 72% of the 35,000 backlogged cases.
It also explained that 125 of the 286 judges and prosecutors who had undergone vetting procedures were “dismissed for unexplained wealth, ties to organized crime, or incompetence”, while 50 judges chose to resign rather than undergo vetting.
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Berisha claimed that, in the wake of the reforms, it now takes about 15 to 20 years for legal disputes to be resolved. “Justice delayed is justice denied,” Berisha said.
Muçi said the backlog in the courts is about 150,000 cases. He also noted that the closure of five courts of appeal and some district courts has “almost blocked citizens’ access to justice.” He also explained that most courthouses do not “meet the necessary safety conditions and standards.”
“Citizens do not believe in the justice system,” Muçi said.
Albanian President Ilir Meta holds an American flag as he delivers a speech during a rally in Tirana on March 2, 2020. (Gent Shkullaku/AFP via Getty Images)
After Kalaja’s murder, the Korça Bar Association and the National Bar Association of Albania boycotted court proceedings on October 9 and 10. Director Nevzat Tarelli of the Korça Bar Association said this Albanian news channel CNA that Kalaja’s murder underlined the need for greater security and confidence in judicial personnel. He also said that “people who expect justice in a timely manner, if they do not receive it, no longer have confidence in justice.”
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A State Department spokesperson declined to respond to questions about the success of U.S.-backed judicial reform efforts in Albania or the problems Kalaja’s killing has highlighted.
“We express our deepest condolences to the victims of this attack and their families and strongly condemn the use of force against judges and prosecutors,” the spokesperson said.
