The last execution of a civilian carried out in Albania was a double hanging on June 25, 1992, where brothers Ditbardh and Josef Cuko were hanged in the public square of the southern town of Fier.[1] Capital punishment in Albania was abolished for murder on 1 October 2000, but was still retained for treason and military offences. The reason for the abolition of the death penalty in Albania as well as in other European nations is the signing of Protocol No. 6 to the ECHR.
Under communism, Albania highly used capital punishment from 1941 to 1985.[2] [3]
In 2007 Albania ratified Protocol No. 13 to the ECHR, abolishing capital punishment under all circumstances and replacing it with life imprisonment in the statute books.