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For the "glass cage"

2026-04-28 12:08:00, Opinione Ardi Stefa

There is a tendency in recent days to see the "glass cage" in a courtroom as a means of punishment and lynching against a defendant who has held the highest positions in the state. And the "glass cage" is seen as a prejudiced punishment of a process that should be cold, rational and fair.

However, the problem is not the glass cage. The problem is the history that brought us there.

I am in favor of placing Ilir Meta and all those like him today and tomorrow behind such a cage in the courtroom, not because I want him to be humiliated and humiliated, but because I want for the first time in this country to function a symbolism that justice has lacked: real equality before the law.

Because the problem is not just what Ilir Meta has done or not done. The problem is what he represents: a model politician who has spent decades surviving every scandal, every accusation, every crisis, not because of his innocence, but because of the system. A system that could not judge him, because it was built to protect him.

For decades, Albanian politics has lived outside any "cage". It has been above the law, above the institutions, above the very logic of the state. It had built a reality where the ordinary citizen entered the court with his head bowed, while the politician entered with an escort and came out with statements to the media. One is judged, the other performs.

The glass cage is not a punishment. It's a message.

The message is that finally, even those who have been at the highest levels of power are no longer inviolable. They are no longer an "institution" in themselves. They are no longer a figure who uses the state and power as a personal shield.

Ilir Meta is currently a defendant. Until the verdict is announced, he is not considered guilty. However, he is a defendant. And this, in Albania, is a revolution.

For the first time, the citizen sees something he has never seen before: a man who was at the top of the state, physically confined within a controlled space, without access to the usual stage of political arrogance. Without microphones to play the victim, without a crowd to pressure, without the luxury of transforming a trial into a rally.

Opponents of this idea talk about dignity. But what kind of dignity is this that is fanatically preserved only for the powerful? Where was this concern for dignity when ordinary citizens were treated as guilty without even being tried? Or is dignity a privilege that is activated only when politics is involved?

Theoretically, a defendant should be treated with the utmost dignity and without prejudice. In Albanian practice, a powerful defendant has always used dignity as a shield and prejudice as a weapon. He has delegitimized the institutions before they judge him.

Therefore, the glass cage has another function, it neutralizes the political spectacle inside the courtroom.
It strips the figure of its aura. It reduces it to what it should be: an individual before the law.

It's not ideal. It's not elegant. It's not the standard we would like for a consolidated democracy. But Albania is not there. And to act as if it is is a deception.

In a normal country, the glass cage would be redundant, because the law would be strong enough to not need symbols. But Albania is not there yet.

In Albania, justice must not only be done, but also be seen to be done.

And yes, appearances matter. Because for years we have seen the opposite: a Justice that was nowhere to be seen, an impunity that was everywhere to be seen.

Putting Meta behind a glass cage should not be seen as revenge. It should be considered a belated act of normalcy. An attempt to tell the public: “This (and his ilk) is no longer untouchable. This (and his ilk) is no longer an exception.”

Opponents say: “It is inhumane and beyond standards!” But inhumane is a justice system that has been selective for years. Inhumane is a system where the strong are left untouched and the weak are oppressed. The cage, in this sense, does not diminish Meta’s dignity; it simply equates him with that of citizens who have never had the luxury of political immunity.

And let's be honest: In Albania, where even being summoned to the prosecutor's office is treated as heroism, any form of discipline towards the government seems extreme. We are so accustomed to impunity that any sign to the contrary seems excessive.

If this seems difficult to us, maybe the problem isn't the cage. Maybe the problem is that we've been used to its absence for too long.