The right to freedom of expression and its limitations according to Albanian legislation

Abstract

The right to freedom of expression, not without purpose provided for in the first amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, is one of the main basic rights on which modern democratic states were founded. The enjoyment of this freedom is closely related to a series of other equally basic rights, such as freedom of belief, freedom of organization, the right not to be harassed for personal opinions, the freedom to be attached to a certain political party, etc (Salvatore, 2019). The right to freedom of expression is one of the oldest freedoms that arose as a result of freedom of religion, mentioned by the first Christian writers during the II-III century, and then during the conflicts between Catholics and Protestants in the centuries XVI-XVII. On the other hand, it was encouraged and elaborated by the great theorists of the freedom of scientific research (just think of Descartes and Galileo) and of political freedom (such as Milton). Later, the right of Freedom of Expression was elaborated by philosophers of the XVIII-XIX centuries such as Voltaire, Fichte, Benthan. In this sense, John Stuart Mill said that freedom of expression protects us from corrupt power, tyranny, and this freedom is one of the basic guarantees for an open and pluralistic society (Mihajllova, Bacovaska and Shekerxhiev, 2013). Since the circulation of ideas is a prerequisite for the communication of thought, the freedom of expression or manifestation of thought has always been considered by Italian constitutional jurisprudence as the cornerstone of the democratic system (Bin and Pitruzzella, 2012). Main objective of this manuscript is the analysis of the Albanian legislation and jurisprudence about the freedom of expression.