TIRANA, August 26 – Justice Minister Toni Gogu called for a broader assessment of Albania’s justice reform. He said the assessment should cover more than the number of cases resolved, their duration and the quality of rulings. It should also reflect citizens’ experience when they first contacted the justice system.
In his second editorial in the series “Notes on Justice”, titled “Justice does not begin in court”, Gogu focused on access to justice. He highlighted legal information, free legal aid, mediation, digital services and the language used by institutions. He said citizens did not separate their experience at the first point of contact from the final court decision.
Gogu therefore argued that legal aid, mediation, information and electronic services should not be treated as merely administrative functions. He described them as the citizen’s first contact with justice. He also addressed digitalisation and said its value depended on whether it brought the state closer to citizens.
The minister argued that a digital platform requiring legal expertise to use could become a new obstacle. At the same time, he stressed that improving access would not affect judicial independence. He said institutions remained responsible for making information understandable and services accessible.
Gogu concluded that access to justice was a daily test of whether the rule of law was applied in practice. He said the decisive test was not formal assessments but whether citizens found the doors of justice open or closed.
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