“January 21st, free and complete investigation”

In an interview for Top Channel, the Spokesperson for Commissioner Fule, Peter Stano, says that it is very important for the Proecution to work free of any political interferences.

TCH: How do you value the recent developments in Albania, the experience of the January 21st events?

Peter Stano: The European Union and the European Commission have said several times for this unfortunate event that happened last year, that it is necessary to do everything possible in order to shed light on what happened, to clearly state what happened and investigate it, in order to have a comprehensive independent investigation which is crucial, very important. The appropriate state authorities need to work on this, that means that General Prosecutor Office, and for this comprehensive independent investigation to be credible, it is necessary that the authorities, that means the General Prosecutor’s Office, to work free from political interference.

TCH: Do you agree with the Prime Minister’s accusations that the Prosecutor is biased in this investigation?

Peter Stano: I can only repeat that for us it is important that these events are investigated thoroughly, comprehensively, independently, by the appropriate authorities. And it is important that the authorities that are investigating these are working free from any political interference. This is very important. For the work of this Prosecutor Office to be credible, this work needs to be free of any political interference.

TCH: Given Albania’s aspiration for EU membership, how do you see the official support of the USA in this investigation?

Peter Stano: We are obviously not commenting on individual support of individual countries, but in general, I can only say that we are seeing it as a positive development, for the efforts of the judiciary to investigate not only the killings, but also the violence that occurred during these events. If a foreign credible expertise it’s at hand, it is advisable to use this expertise.

TCH: How important is justice for Albania’s EU road, not only for this tragic event, but also for the Gerdec explosion, where 26 people lost their lives, four years ago.

Peter Stano: Without being able to comment on every single incident, we are of course stressing that it is important to investigate everything. I can tell you what is important for you… the rule of law and the judicial system. These are very important chapters. And the rule of law is very important for the European Union, for the EU Commission, and of course the Commission is following every effort, every step of the government in Albania but also in other countries, because the rule of law is a very important principle for the EU, and especially in the accession process, that this has something to do, it depends and it is connected together with the European values, with the European standard, and it is very important, in order to guarantee the citizens the freedoms and the rights based on the European standards. It is important that the rule of law, in every accession country, is put on the standards of the European Union, and the independent judiciary belongs to it, as belongs the investigation of every event which involves infringement of citizens rights, when people are harmed or when people are killed.

Prepared by Arta Tozaj

Top Channel