THIRD SECTION
CASE OF FORTUZI v. ALBANIA
(Application no. 29237/18)
 
 
 
 
 
 
JUDGMENT
 
STRASBOURG
22 April 2025
 
This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision. In the case of Fortuzi v. Albania,
The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting as a Committee composed of:
 Lətif Hüseynov, President,
 Darian Pavli,
 Úna Ní Raifeartaigh, judges,
and Olga Chernishova, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to:
the application (no. 29237/18) against the Republic of Albania lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) on 12 June 2018 by an Albanian national, Mr Gazmend Fortuzi (“the applicant”), who was born in 1937, lives in Tirana and was represented by Ms S. Mëneri, a lawyer practising in Tirana;
the decision to give notice of the complaints concerning the length of proceedings concerning the applicant’s property rights, and the applicant’s right of access to the Constitutional Court to the Albanian Government (“the Government”), represented by their Agent, Mr O. Moçka, General State Advocate, and to declare inadmissible the remainder of the application;
the parties’ observations;
Having deliberated in private on 18 March 2025,
Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE
1. The application concerns administrative proceedings and a civil claim by which the applicant challenged an administrative decision dismissing his claim for restitution of property. The applicant complained about the length of these proceedings and his lack of access to the Constitutional Court. 2. In 1995 the applicant submitted a request with the Durrës Regional Office for Restitution and Compensation of Property (hereinafter the Durrës Office), seeking restitution of some property his father had sold to third parties. The applicant’s request was denied on 28 June 2007, and in July 2007 the applicant lodged an appeal with the Tirana Agency for the Restitution and Compensation of Property (hereinafter the “Tirana Agency”). On 13 September 2007 the Tirana Agency denied the applicant’s request as well. 3. On 10 May 2010 the applicant brought a civil action in the Tirana District Court, asking for the annulment of the above-mentioned administrative decisions, and recognition of his ownership on the property at issue. The Tirana District Court dismissed the applicant’s claim on 21 October 2011. 4. On 4 November 2011 the applicant lodged an appeal against the first instance decision. In the proceedings before the Tirana Court of Appeal the applicant asked for adjournments of hearings on 17 May, 7 and 20 June and 17 July 2012 because of his lawyer’s absence. On 20 November 2012 the Tirana Court of Appeal upheld the contested decision. 5. On 20 September 2014 the applicant lodged a further appeal with the Supreme Court, which dismissed it on 8 December 2015. The Supreme Court’s decision was not served on the applicant. 6. On 8 November 2016 Law no. 99/2016 of 6 November 2016 was published in the Official Journal. It shortened the time-limit for lodging a constitutional complaint from two years to four months “of obtaining knowledge of the interference [with a constitutional right or freedom]” (konstatimi i cënimit). It also provided that the new time-limit should enter into force on 1 March 2017. 7. The applicant learned of the Supreme Court’s decision on 22 June 2017 when he obtained the decision from the Registry of the Tirana District Court. 8. On 21 October 2017 the applicant lodged a constitutional complaint. It was dismissed by the Constitutional Court on 7 December 2017 as being lodged outside the four-month time-limit, counting from the date the contested Supreme Court’s decision had been adopted. 9. The Government claimed that the applicant had received the Constitutional Court’s decision on 7 December 2017. The applicant claimed that he had received it on 12 December 2017, and submitted a notification of the Constitutional Court that the decision of 7 December 2017 was sent to the applicant on 12 December 2017. 10. On 28 March 2023 the applicant died, and his wife, Ildika Fortuzi, and his children, Gledion Fortuzi, Eldira Fortuzi and Adhurin Fortuzi, expressed a wish to pursue the application.

Outcome for Article 6: violation