At AIDSSH, you can apply for the following certificates:
1. Prison-Mine
2. Internment-Exile

Required documents:
1. The person themselves
2. A representative with a power of attorney/authorization

Who can apply:
1. The person themselves
2. A representative with a power of attorney/authorization

Processing time for applications related to internment certificates and prison periods:
If the request to the Authority is for an internment certificate, the processing time is 10–14 days.
If the request to the Authority is for the prison period, the processing time is 14–30 days.

How to apply:
-Online (to apply online, click here) here)
-At the AIDSSH institution
Institution address: Administrative Unit No. 4, St. Kongresi i Manastirit, “Skënderbej” Garrison, Tirana Reception office: Directorate of Information, “Citizen Requests and Rehabilitative Services Sector”
Institution address: Administrative Unit No. 4, St. Kongresi i Manastirit, “Skënderbej” Garrison, Tirana

By post to the address: Administrative Unit no. 4, Rruga e Dibrës, “Skënderbej” garrison, Tirana

• This service is free of charge.
• How to proceed in case of a complaint (new application)

In order to increase the quality of service and to assist as much as possible the process of rehabilitation of former political persecuted persons, AIDSSH has proposed several legal amendments.

1. Fixed compensation amount established by law instead of the current daily compensation

1. Fixed compensation measure determined by law instead of the current compensation. With the aim of recognizing the fact of internment in barbed-wire camps and the fair compensation of persons who suffered in these camps, through the maximum use of available documentation from before and after 1991, AIDSSH suggests, in the draft decision “On the proposal of the draft law ‘On some additions and amendments to Law no. 9831, dated 12.11.2007, “On the compensation of former political prisoners of the communist regime”, as amended’”, addressed to the Ministry of Justice, as follows: Revision of the provisions of Law no. 9831/2007 with the aim of addressing the above-mentioned problem and enabling the benefit, even of a symbolic amount, for anyone who suffered in internment camps with barbed wire, for whom it is possible to extract information from available archival sources. The amendments may affect Article 1, paragraph 2, Article 3, Article 4, Article 6, letter “b”, and Article 20, with the aim of (1) providing for the possibility of verifying various documents (as mentioned above) and reaching a conclusion on internment in barbed-wire camps as a result of verification and analysis of data from these documents, as well as (2) for cases of the impossibility of evidencing the exact number of days spent in internment in barbed-wire camps, providing for a fixed compensation measure determined by law instead of 1000 lekë per day as is the current provision. “On the proposal of the draft law ‘On some additions and amendments to Law no. 9831, dated 12.11.2007, “On the compensation of former political prisoners of the communist regime”, as amended’”, addressed to the Ministry of Justice, the following:
Revision of the provisions of Law no. 9831/2007 to address the aforementioned issues and to allow anyone who suffered in barbed-wire internment camps, and for whom information can be obtained from available archival sources, to benefit, even symbolically.
1. Fixed compensation measure determined by law instead of the current compensation. With the aim of recognizing the fact of internment in barbed-wire camps and the fair compensation of persons who suffered in these camps, through the maximum use of available documentation from before and after 1991, AIDSSH suggests, in the draft decision “On the proposal of the draft law ‘On some additions and amendments to Law no. 9831, dated 12.11.2007, “On the compensation of former political prisoners of the communist regime”, as amended’”, addressed to the Ministry of Justice, as follows: Revision of the provisions of Law no. 9831/2007 with the aim of addressing the above-mentioned problem and enabling the benefit, even of a symbolic amount, for anyone who suffered in internment camps with barbed wire, for whom it is possible to extract information from available archival sources. The amendments may affect Article 1, paragraph 2, Article 3, Article 4, Article 6, letter “b”, and Article 20, with the aim of (1) providing for the possibility of verifying various documents (as mentioned above) and reaching a conclusion on internment in barbed-wire camps as a result of verification and analysis of data from these documents, as well as (2) for cases of the impossibility of evidencing the exact number of days spent in internment in barbed-wire camps, providing for a fixed compensation measure determined by law instead of 1000 lekë per day as is the current provision.

2. Recognition and compensation for persons born in internment or under 15 years of age during internment

AIDSSH has noted the difficulty of documentation and obstacles to compensation for persons who were born in internment or were minors at the time of internment, since the administrative acts or official documents required by the current legal framework were for the parents; for those born or minors in internment, there are no individual acts of this nature. Moreover, Instruction no. 2, dated 4.1.1992, in point 10 thereof, provides that the time of internment and deportation for political motives is not recognized as length of service prior to the age of 15.
AIDSSH suggests, in the draft decision “On the proposal of the draft law ‘On some additions and amendments to Law no. 9831, dated 12.11.2007, “On the compensation of former political prisoners of the communist regime”, as amended’”, addressed to the Ministry of Justice, an explicit legal provision for the benefit of compensation for those born or those who were minors in internment.

3. Additional time for verification and documentation purposes

AIDSSH has noted that the necessary verifications for all potential beneficiaries of the law, including those who may be added if the above suggestions are taken into consideration, require their time. Consequently, it is suggested that the deadline proposed by the Ministry of Justice, in Articles 19 and 23, be 31 December 2025, a deadline which may also be taken into consideration in transitional provisions.

4. Prioritization of relatives of victims killed or executed during 30.11.1944–01.10.1991, redefinition, and revision of compensation amounts

Based on concerns conveyed by interest groups such as associations of former political persecuted persons, we suggest evaluating the possibility of amendments to Articles 7 and 8 of Law no. 9831/2007 with the aim of (1) as high a harmonization as possible of the definition, in Article 8, of the “circle of family members” and the circle of heirs with the Civil Code, for the purpose of benefits under Article 7, as well as (2) revision of the compensation measure under Article 7.
The compensation measure should not be equated with that of 8 years of unjust imprisonment, but at minimum with that of the maximum sentence of 25 years of imprisonment. Such a change, if realized, would need to be accompanied by necessary transitional adjustments that take into consideration, among others, the benefits and current beneficiaries under the provisions in force and the benefits that would be added by the change of the provision (including procedure and deadline for such a benefit). AIDSSH suggests that this category be included in the circle of priority categories.

5. Remaining compensations

As a result of concerns articulated by interest groups, AIDSSH suggests that consideration be given to accelerating the process of payment of remaining compensations according to priority categories and prioritization of categories. For beneficiaries for whom, due to age or health condition (both when the beneficiary is the former persecuted person themselves and for family members of victims killed or executed), full receipt of the compensation measure appears to have a low probability, consideration should be given to the possibility of payment of the remaining amount in a single disbursement rather than in installments, at the earliest possible time.

6. Compensation for forced labor during imprisonment

For all former political persecuted persons who, under the conditions of serving their sentence, also performed forced labour (such as in mines), AIDSSH suggests considering the possibility of a fixed monthly payment as compensation for forced labour, which does not affect other existing benefits.