Court suspends Italian plan to hold migrants in Albania

The top court ordered a hearing next month to decide whether the deal violates Albania's constitution.

Under the agreement, the Italian government will build two centres in northern Albania to process 36,000 people hoping to reach Italy a year.

But the opposition in both countries and rights groups have criticised it.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her Albanian counterpart Edi Rama signed the agreement last month.

Under the deal, some 3,000 people a month who had attempted to reach Italy by sea would be detained in two processing centres near the north-eastern port of Shengjin while their asylum claims were examined.

The centres would be paid for by the Italian government and would be under Italian law. Italian staff would be responsible for operations and would have immunity from Albanian law in certain cases.

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