Decision of the Court of Cassation, VI Criminal Section, No. 29622 of 10 June 2016

The case concerned an application of declaring enforceable in Italy a criminal judgement pronounced in Albania against an Italian citizen, also for the purposes of the transfer of latter, in accordance with the Italy-Albania additional Agreement to the European Convention on the transfer of sentenced persons. The Court of Cassation stated that Italian court could not assess the substantive criminal law of the requesting State. For the same reason, the extinction of the crime because of statutory limitations in Italy was irrelevant, because the Albanian legislation did not provide same prescription. In its decision, the Court of Cassation further noted that the right of the accused to a defense had been fully guaranteed in accordance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the ECHR, despite the proceeding was conducted in absentia.