On the 19th of April, the Rome Court of Appeal ruled that detaining an asylum seeker in the Gjader detention center in Albania is unlawful under current Italian law. The decision highlights a critical legal gap in the Italy-Albania Protocol, which allows for the transfer of certain migrants to Albanian detention centers managed by Italian authorities.
The court found that once a person expresses intent to seek asylum, even while detained in Albania, their legal status changes and Italian asylum procedures must apply. The protocol and its ratifying law, however, only cover individuals intercepted at sea or already in Italian detention for deportation, not new asylum seekers detained abroad.