Achievements and challenges about re-evaluation process of judges and prosecutors in the Republic of Albania

AuthorAferdita Maho/Besnik Maho
PositionJudge of the Administrative Court of First Instance Tirane, Albania/Professor at European University of Tirana &Luarasi University & expert to Magistrate School (Albania)
Pages135-151
Vo
l.
6
N
o
.
3
N
ovember, 2020
ISS
N 2410-391
8
A
cces on
l
ine at www.ii
p
cc
l
.or
g
1
35
A
cademic Journal o
f
Business,
A
dministration, Law and Social Sciences
II
PCCL Publishin
g
, Graz-
A
ustria
Achievements and challenges about re-evaluation process of
j
udges and
prosecutors in the Republic o
Albani
A
f
e
rd
i
t
a
M
a
h
o
Judge o
f
the
A
dministrative Court o
f
First
I
nstance Tirane,
A
lbania
B
e
sn
ik
M
aho
Pro
f
essor at
E
uropean
U
niversity o
f
Tirana &Luarasi
U
niversity & expert to Magistrate
School (Albania
)
Ab
str
a
ct
T
he constitutional re
f
orm related to the system o
f
justice conducted in 2016 in
A
lbania, was
welcomed with a positive enthusiasm by all stakeholders, civil society, business groups,
i
ncluding the political class who voted
f
or this re
f
orm unanimously.
O
ne of the goals of the implementation of this reform is not only the restoration of new
j
ustice institutions and the stren
g
thenin
g
of existin
g
ones but above all the re-evaluation of all
j
udges and prosecutors who are part of the judiciary in three main aspects: - asset valuation,
a
background, and integrity check to discover the links to organized crime and a qualif‌i cation
assess
m
e
n
t
.
T
he total number of all judges and prosecutors in the Republic of
A
lbania is over 800 subjects,
s
tarting
f
rom the courts o
f
the
f‌i
rst instance and the prosecutor's o
f‌f‌i
ces near them to the
Co
nst
i
t
u
t
io
n
a
l C
ou
rt
.
T
he re-evaluation process is carried out by two new constitutional institutions that are
e
stablished and function for a transitional period, the
I
ndependent Qualif‌i cation Commission
(
I
QC) as a f‌i rst instance with a mandate of 5 years, and the Special
A
ppeal Chamber (KP
A
) as
a
n appeal body with a 9-year term.
M
ore than three years have passed since the beginning of the activity of these two institutions
a
nd the results they have given are very signif‌i cant when almost half of the entire body of veto
m
agistrates has not gone through this process, while a considerable number of judges have
r
esi
g
ned.
O
n the other hand, many constitutional and legal issues have arisen concerning the vacancies
created in the Constitutional Court, the High Court, and other judicial and prosecutorial bodies,
the quality of the new magistrates who will become part of the judiciary, and meritocracy or
n
ot by those magistrates who have stayed in the system to those who have le
.
T
he results provided so far by the Qualif‌i cation Commission, The Special
A
ppeal Chamber,
have increased public conf‌i dence in the cleansing of the judiciary by judges and prosecutors
who do not deserve to be part of the judiciary, but at the same time there have been delays in
l
itigants, to get a faster and be er service due to vacancies created in the system and the loss
of real independence that must demonstrate magistrates who have not yet been re-evaluated
.
T
he purpose of implementing this reform is not only to meet one of the standards related to
the integration o
f
this country in the
E
uropean
U
nion but also to increase the quality o
f
service
i
n terms of ensuring the fair justice in favor of citizens and business groups.
I
t remains to be
s
een how this re
f
orm guarantees these goals with a positive character, based on the results that
have been produced during these
f
our years, as well as on what is intended to be achieved in
the future, for its f‌i nal implementation.
Ke
y
words:
A
chievements, Process of judges and prosecutors, Republic of
A
lbania
.
Vo
l.
6
N
o
.
3
N
ovem
b
er
,
2020
A
cademic Journal o
f
Business,
A
dministration, Law and Social Science
s
II
PCCL Publishin
g
, Graz-
A
ustri
a
I
SSN 2410-391
8
A
cces online at www.ii
p
ccl.or
g
1
36
I
ntr
o
d
u
ct
io
n
S
ince Se
p
tem
b
er 2017, t
h
e moment
I
QC starte
d
exercising its com
p
etencies, it
h
as
g
iven two
h
un
d
re
d
an
d
ninet
y-
t
wo
(
292
)
eva
l
uations
:
-
one
h
un
d
re
d
an
d
twe
l
ve (112)
j
u
d
ges an
d
prosecutor
s
have success
f
ull
y
p
assed
t
h
e ve ing (59 ju
d
ges & 53
p
rosecutors);
-
one
h
un
d
re
d
an
d
t
h
irty (130)
j
u
d
ges, prosecutor
s
,
members o
f
the Constitutional
Court an
d
t
h
e Su
p
reme Court
h
ave
b
een
d
ismisse
d
by
t
h
e
I
QC an
d
KP
A
-
sixty-two (62)
j
u
d
ges, prosecutors
,
f
ormer legal advisors, members o
f
the
Constitutional Court, and the Su
p
reme Court, as well as members o
f
the
I
ns
p
ectorate at
I
LD, have resigned
f
rom the review
p
rocess
.
During three
y
ears of activities of the re-evaluation bodies, 2
/
3 of the entire judicial
and
p
rosecution bodies have either been dismissed or have resigned without
f
acing
th
e re-eva
l
uation
p
rocess
.
O
ne hundred and ninet
y
-two (192) vacancies
f
or judges and
p
rosecutorscreated in
t
he judicial s
y
stem are the result o
f
the im
p
lementation o
f
the constitutional and legal
r
e
f
orm injustice that was undertaken in 2016
.
I
t s
h
ou
ld
b
e un
d
er
l
ine
d
t
h
at internationa
l
p
artners
h
ave
pl
a
y
e
d
an
d
are
pl
a
y
ing an
im
p
ortant role in the outcome o
f
the re-evaluation o
f
judges and
p
rosecutors.
The biggest judicial re
f
orm since the
f
all o
f
communism, a good exam
p
le
f
or the rest
of
the Western Balkan states that are in the
p
rocess o
f
the
E
uro
p
ean integration and
f
earless
f‌i
ght against the corru
p
tion and organized crime – that is how the ex
p
erts
and the
E
uro
p
ean di
p
lomats have been re
f
erring to the judicial re
f
orm that started in
A
lb
a
n
ia
i
n 2
0
14
1
.
The assistance o
f
E
uro
p
ean
U
nion and
U
S
A
ex
p
erts who have assisted in the
strengthening o
f
the judiciar
y
bodies in
A
lbania a
er the
f
all o
f
communism through
O
PD
A
T,
U
S
AI
D, an
d
EU
R
A
L
IU
S
p
rograms,
h
ave seen t
h
at
b
e
y
on
d
t
h
e various
l
egal re
f
orms and
p
romises taken b
y
the judiciar
y
itsel
f
legislative and executive,
t
he increase in the inde
p
endence o
f
the judiciar
y
, the
p
ro
f
essionalism, and honest
y
of
justice o
f‌f‌i
cials has le
much to be desired, des
p
ite
f‌l
agrant cases or numerous
c
om
p
laints
f
rom citizens and business grou
p
s.
I
n earl
y
2017, just six months a
er the ado
p
tion o
f
constitutional amendments related
t
o justice re
f
orm, the
U
nited States
E
mbass
y
revoked non-immigrant visas
f
or some
A
lbanian judges and
p
rosecutors a
er concluding that these o
f‌f‌i
cials did not
q
uali
fy
fo
r th
e
s
e
v
i
s
a
s.
The
U
S
E
mbass
y
took this action ahead o
f
the ex
p
ected ve ing
p
rocess, which will
assess the links o
f
certain o
f‌f‌i
cials to corru
p
tion, as well as in res
p
onse to a case
involving
f‌l
agrant abuse o
f
an o
f‌f‌i
cial visa b
y
a high-level
p
rosecutor and his wi
f
e,
wh
i
ch l
e
d t
o
th
e
r
e
v
o
c
a
t
io
n
of
th
ei
r v
i
s
as
2
.
This stance o
f
the
U
nited States
E
mbass
y
was an alarm bell that showed that
c
onstitutiona
l
an
d
l
ega
l
c
h
anges wou
ld
not just sta
y
on
p
a
p
er,
b
ut wou
ld
b
ring t
h
e
1
h
p
s://euro
p
eanwesternbalkans.com/2019/11/13/ve ing-
p
rocess-in-albania-the-marching-failure
/
2
h
p
s://www.droni.al/2017/01/26/ambasada-amerikane-f‌i llon-ve ingun-refuzon-vizat-
p
er-disa-
p
rokurore-dhe-gj
yq
tare-sh
q
i
p
tare
/

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