Is Assisted Suicide Legal In Albania? Criminal Code Analysis And Legal Penalties

Assisted suicide is not explicitly legal in Albania. Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (PAS) are deemed criminal offenses under Articles 76, 79, and 99 of the Albanian Penal Code and violate rules established in the Code of Medical Ethics (Article 39). While Albanian law does not punish assisted suicide when committed with the assistance of another person, cases involving physicians or family members actively causing death face prosecution under Albania’s homicide statutes with imprisonment ranging from 10-20 years.

Albania’s legal system creates uncertainty because doctors and medical staff are not aware of what to do in cases requesting withdrawal of treatment by unconscious patients. This gap leaves healthcare providers navigating unclear boundaries between criminal liability and ethical obligations.

What Is Albania’s Legal Status on Assisted Suicide?

Albania’s right to life is protected by Article 21 of the Constitution, and both passive and active euthanasia are considered criminal offenses punishable by law. However, the problem lies in the fact that such a definition is not found in the Albanian legislation—these actions are considered criminal by interpretation of the law.

The Albanian Criminal Code addresses end-of-life scenarios through three key provisions:

Article 76 (Murder): Intentional murder is punishable by 10-20 years imprisonment
Article 79 (Homicides in Specific Circumstances): Homicide against severely ill persons, when the victim’s attributes are evident or known, is punishable by no less than 20 years imprisonment or life imprisonment
Article 99 (Causing Suicide): Causing suicide or a suicide attempt by systematic maltreatment or other systematic misbehaviors which seriously affect dignity, committed by another person in dependence or with family/cohabitation relations, is punishable by 3-7 years imprisonment

Albanian law does not contain the term euthanasia, nor any other term which can sanction the end of life of a person who wants it. This absence creates prosecutorial challenges when courts must address compassionate homicide cases using statutes designed for conventional murder.

Is Assisted Suicide Legal in Albania? Criminal Code Analysis and Legal Penalties

What Are the Criminal Penalties for Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia?

If enforcers applied unqualified law, euthanasia cases would face Article 78 (premeditated murder) providing punishment with imprisonment from 15-20 years, or Article 79 (qualified murder) because euthanasia is carried out against persons with physical, mental, or serious illness.

Potential penalties for euthanasia and assisted death:

Premeditated murder (Article 78): 15-25 years imprisonment
Murder for interests or revenge: No less than 20 years or life imprisonment
Qualified murder (Article 79): No less than 20 years or life imprisonment
Causing suicide (Article 99): 3-7 years imprisonment

There is a discrepancy between social dangerousness of qualified murder (Article 79) and social dangerousness of euthanasia. Courts facing euthanasia cases confront difficult choices—applying severe murder penalties to compassionate acts performed at a suffering patient’s request seems disproportionate.

When the offence is committed on the request of the victim, which is given in free will and rationally, it cannot be claimed that it is acted against life protected by the Criminal Code as the most important legal relationship. This legal tension remains unresolved without specific euthanasia legislation.

Are There Regional Variations in Assisted Suicide Laws Across Albania?

No. Albania operates under a unified criminal code system with no regional exceptions. All 12 counties (qarqe) and 61 municipalities apply the same Penal Code provisions nationwide.

Albania responded to a 2003 Council of Europe survey stating “Assisted suicide as a term does not exist in our code of ethics or other legislation”, confirming the nationwide absence of medical aid in dying provisions.

While withholding or withdrawing treatment from a conscious patient is considered legal in Europe (ECtHR, Pretty v. the UK, application no. 2346/02, par. 63), different approaches have been applied for withholding or withdrawing treatment from an unconscious patient, physician-assisted suicide, or euthanasia, Albania has not established clear legal frameworks for any of these scenarios.

How Does Albanian Law Address “Murder at Request”?

Albanian law does not punish suicide, regardless of motive, by imprisonment or fine, giving priority to the freedom of individual more than his life. However, Albanian law does not punish assisted suicide, which is committed with the assistance of another person—this assistance may consist of spiritual assistance, as well as material aid.

Murder at request is found only when the patient due to his physical handicap is unable to kill himself, i.e., to find the sweet death. In such cases:

Courts must give decisions—they cannot refuse on the ground that the law is absent or incorrect. Courts should refer to provisions which are more lenient than those of Article 78 or 76 of the Criminal Code when facing murder committed under a clear and continuous request by the seriously ill patient.

In countries that have legalized euthanasia, the main executioner is the physician. In Albania, the doctor is still a public service officer, meaning physicians face enhanced penalties under paragraph dh of article 50 of the Criminal Code (aggravating circumstances) when committing acts of euthanasia.

What Does Albanian Law Say About Withdrawing Life-Sustaining Treatment?

Part of the legal doctrine believes that withdrawing treatment cannot be punished because despite the facts being similar to criminal offences—such as homicide by request of the victim or homicides committed in other specific circumstances—there is the exculpation act of fulfilling a duty (Article 21 PC).

The Strasbourg Court has recognized the right to not be treated by ruling that there would be no violation of Article 2 (right to life) of the ECHR if life-supporting medical equipment were to be withdrawn from a patient in a vegetative state.

By applying the medical jurisprudence of the ECtHR, the withdrawal of life-supporting medical equipment should be considered legal. Therefore, physicians should not be liable for intentional homicide (Article 76 PC), homicide committed in other specific circumstances (Article 79 PC), or for homicide by request of the victim (Article 99 PC).

However, a part of the legal community argues that humans do not have the moral right to die and therefore in the case of an unconscious patient, even if the patient has durable power of attorney or advance directives, withdrawing treatment would violate the right to life.

Have There Been Any Court Rulings on Right-to-Die Cases in Albania?

No documented court cases specifically address assisted suicide or euthanasia legalization in Albania. Euthanasia has been the subject of long discussions, but without any legislative result.

Albania reported a small number of cases where people who performed “mercy killing” were charged with criminal offenses, with many convicted persons having been found to have diminished responsibility and if convicted at all, convicted of manslaughter, and not all convicted persons sentenced to prison.

The absence of an ad hoc Law ruling instructional medical directives creates legal uncertainty, leaving Albanian courts without clear precedent when families request withdrawal of life support or physicians face prosecution for end-of-life decisions.

What Are Healthcare Provider Liabilities Under Albanian Law?

Euthanasia and PAS are in violation of rules established in the Code of Medical Ethics (Article 39). Physicians who assist in ending a patient’s life face:

Criminal prosecution risks:

Intentional murder charges: 10-20 years imprisonment under Article 76
Qualified murder charges: No less than 20 years or life imprisonment under Article 79
Aggravated penalties for public officials: Additional penalties apply to physicians as state service officers
Professional ethics violations: Medical license revocation and professional sanctions

Albanian criminal legislation testifies for the emergency of amendment and adoption of more refined solutions. The current framework forces prosecutors to apply harsh murder penalties to physicians acting out of compassion at terminal patients’ requests.

Albanian doctors and medical staff are not aware of what to do in the case of a request to withhold or withdraw medical treatments by unconscious patients, creating professional paralysis when families make end-of-life requests.

How Have Albanian Courts Interpreted Constitutional Rights to End-of-Life Decisions?

Albania’s right to life is protected by Article 21 of the Constitution, but courts have not developed significant jurisprudence on end-of-life autonomy or dignity-based arguments for assisted death.

In recent decades, the patient-physician relationship has been transformed in Albania from a communist ideology to a neoliberal approach to the ethical principle of patient autonomy where the main focus is the broader concept of wellbeing.

This transformation has not yet reached Albanian legal frameworks. The manuscript investigates the Albanian legal system, documents published by the National Ethics Committee and the National Committee of Health, as the two main advisory public bodies on health issues, as well as the national medical jurisprudence and the Code of Medical Ethics, revealing gaps in advance directive recognition and patient autonomy protections.

Are Advance Directives or Living Wills Recognized in Albania?

No comprehensive legal framework exists. The absence of an ad hoc Law ruling instructional medical directives creates legal uncertainty for patients wishing to document end-of-life preferences.

The Law should detail the formalities that the instructional medical directives must contain. Legal scholars have proposed that Albanian law adopt frameworks similar to Italian Law of December 2017, where the importance of adequate medical information is emphasized (Article 4), or Germany, where citizens can write living wills even without preventive medical information (Article 1901a BGB).

The previously expressed wishes relating to a medical intervention by a patient who is not, at the time of the intervention, in a state to express his or her wishes shall be taken into account (Article 9 Oviedo Convention), but Albania has not implemented specific legislation giving legal force to advance directives.

What Are Recent Legislative Developments on Medical Aid in Dying?

Albanian criminal legislation testifies for the emergency of amendment and adoption of more refined solutions, but no legislative proposals currently advance assisted suicide legalization.

While Western European countries’ end-of-life decisions have become a matter of public policy, Albania has not followed this trend. Several Western European countries—such as the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, Germany, or Switzerland—have legalized forms of PAS or euthanasia, while Albania maintains criminal prohibitions.

In September 2019, the Italian Constitutional Court recognized some type of PAS by declaring the unconstitutionality of parts of Article 580 of the Italian Penal Code. In February 2020, the German Constitutional Court declared the unconstitutionality of Section 217 German PC that prohibits assisted suicide, if conducted “on business terms,” since this is not aligned with the combined interpretation of Article 2(1) with Article 1(1) German Basic Law.

Albania has observed these developments but has not initiated similar constitutional challenges or legislative reforms.

How Does Albania’s Assisted Suicide Law Compare to European Neighbors?

In Europe, there are just a few countries that allow assisted dying, and many of them only changed their legislation recently. Both euthanasia and assisted suicide are illegal in most countries.

Neighboring countries’ status:

Greece: Article 301 of the penal code states that whoever gave help in suicide is punished by imprisonment
North Macedonia: Assisted suicide prohibited under homicide statutes
Kosovo: No specific assisted suicide legislation; prohibited under murder laws
Montenegro: Euthanasia and assisted suicide illegal

The Netherlands was the first country in the world to decriminalize euthanasia in 2002, with the Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide (Review Procedures) Act, while Albania maintains criminal prohibitions without exceptions.

Albania’s 2003 Council of Europe response confirmed “Assisted suicide as a term does not exist in our code of ethics or other legislation,” and all these terms are known in Albanian medical practice, especially during these ten years, but they are not yet applied in practice, except some cases of so-called palliative effort.

What Should Terminal Patients in Albania Know About Their Legal Options?

Albanian law provides extremely limited end-of-life autonomy. Patients facing terminal illness have no legal pathway to request assisted death without exposing physicians and family members to criminal prosecution.

Current legal options:

Palliative care: Legal and increasingly available
Refusal of treatment (conscious patients): Likely protected under European human rights frameworks but unclear in Albanian law
Natural death (withdrawal of futile treatment): Legally ambiguous; depends on physician interpretation and family agreement
Active euthanasia or assisted suicide: Illegal and subject to criminal prosecution

The emotional and mental condition of the terminal patient is too heavy, and he is likely to end his life and the unbearable suffering coming out of it by committing suicide. While suicide itself is not criminal, serious disease is a very strong motive to commit suicide, and anyone assisting faces potential prosecution under Article 99.

What About “Suicide Tourism” for Albanian Citizens?

Switzerland’s laws regarding euthanasia are among the most lenient in the world. This permission extends to international patients as well, which has led to a cottage industry of “suicide tourism” in which individuals travel to Switzerland to end their lives.

Albanian citizens theoretically could travel abroad to jurisdictions permitting assisted suicide, but:

Financial barriers limit access to Swiss assisted suicide facilities
Language and cultural obstacles complicate the process
Albanian law does not explicitly address citizens who travel abroad for assisted death
Families assisting with travel arrangements could face Article 99 prosecution

UK lawmakers voted to move forward with historic new assisted dying legislation in November 2024 that would allow terminally ill adults to request help to end their lives in England and Wales, potentially creating future options for Albanian citizens with UK residency.

Is Reform Likely in Albania?

Albania should study the perception of Albanians regarding euthanasia and whether the Albanian legislation should include this form of soft death. Public opinion data remains limited.

Capital punishment in Albania was abolished for murder on 1 October 2000, and Albania ratified Protocol No. 13 to the ECHR in 2007, abolishing capital punishment under all circumstances. This demonstrates Albania’s capacity for progressive criminal justice reform.

In 2013, after a horrific child murder case, Prime Minister Berisha stated “Albania is a member of the Council of Europe and we cannot reinstate the death penalty”, showing Albania’s commitment to European human rights standards.

However, Albania’s legal system has not addressed end-of-life decisions as a matter of public policy, and no parliamentary proposals currently seek to legalize medical aid in dying.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is active euthanasia legal anywhere in Albania?

No. Both passive and active euthanasia are considered criminal offenses and are punishable by law throughout Albania. Albanian law does not contain the term euthanasia, nor any other term which can sanction the end of life of a person who wants it.

Can Albanian doctors legally withdraw life support?

Withdrawal of life-supporting medical equipment should be considered legal by applying medical jurisprudence of the ECtHR, and physicians should not be liable for intentional homicide or homicide by request of the victim. However, the absence of an ad hoc Law creates legal uncertainty since doctors and medical staff are not aware of what to do in cases of requests to withhold or withdraw medical treatments.

What penalties do physicians face for performing euthanasia?

Physicians performing euthanasia face Article 76 charges (10-20 years imprisonment) or Article 79 charges (no less than 20 years or life imprisonment) depending on circumstances. As public service officers, doctors face aggravating circumstances under paragraph dh of article 50 of the Criminal Code.

Are there any exceptions for terminally ill patients?

No legal exceptions exist. Murder at request is found only when the patient due to his physical handicap is unable to kill himself, but this still constitutes criminal homicide under Albanian law. Patient consent and terminal illness do not provide legal defenses to murder charges.

How does Albanian law treat family members who assist in suicide?

Article 99 punishes causing suicide or suicide attempt by systematic maltreatment or other systematic misbehaviors which seriously affect dignity, committed by another person in dependence or with family/cohabitation relations, with 3-7 years imprisonment. However, Albanian law does not punish assisted suicide when assistance may consist of spiritual assistance or material aid, creating ambiguity about family member liability.

Does Albania recognize medical advance directives?

No comprehensive framework exists. The absence of an ad hoc Law ruling instructional medical directives creates legal uncertainty. Legal scholars propose that Albania should detail the formalities that instructional medical directives must contain, but no such legislation has been enacted.

What are “instructional medical directives” and are they binding in Albania?

Previously expressed wishes relating to a medical intervention by a patient who is not, at the time of the intervention, in a state to express wishes shall be taken into account (Article 9 Oviedo Convention). However, Albanian law has not implemented specific provisions making advance directives legally binding on healthcare providers.

Conclusion: The Legal Reality of Assisted Suicide in Albania

Albania’s right to life is protected by Article 21 of the Constitution, and both passive and active euthanasia are considered criminal offenses punishable by law. Albanian law does not contain the term euthanasia, nor any other term which can sanction the end of life of a person who wants it—such actions are considered criminal by interpretation of the law.

Albanian criminal legislation testifies for the emergency of amendment and adoption of more refined solutions, but reform remains unlikely in the near term. Healthcare providers navigate unclear boundaries, families face prosecution risks when assisting terminal patients, and patients have no legal pathway to choose dignified death.

The absence of an ad hoc Law ruling instructional medical directives creates legal uncertainty since doctors and medical staff are not aware of what to do in cases requesting withdrawal of treatment. Until Albania enacts comprehensive end-of-life legislation, the legal status of assisted suicide remains criminally prohibited with prosecution risks extending from 3 years to life imprisonment depending on circumstances.

Legal Disclaimer: This information is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Consult an attorney specializing in healthcare law, end-of-life law, or Albanian regulations for specific legal guidance on your situation. Albanian laws and enforcement practices may change, and this article reflects the legal status as of October 2025.

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Is Assisted Suicide Legal in Albania? Criminal Code Analysis and Legal Penalties