“January 21st, UN Convention violated”

The experts, who preferred to remain anonymous, declared that the Tirana Court did not take in consideration a UN document signed by the Albanian Republic in connection with the basic principles on the use of force and firearms by law enforcement officials.

This document was adopted by the eighth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders.

Article 9 of this document foresees when weapons should be used or not by law enforcing agencies: “Law enforcement officials shall not use firearms against persons except in self-defence or defence of others against the imminent threat of death or serious injury, to prevent the perpetration of a particularly serious crime involving grave threat to life, to arrest a person presenting such a danger and resisting their authority, or to prevent his or her escape, and only when less extreme means are insufficient to achieve these objectives. In any event, intentional lethal use of firearms may only be made when strictly unavoidable in order to protect life.”

The UN document clearly states that in case of a situation as foreseen by point 9: “In the circumstances provided for under principle 9, law enforcement officials shall identify themselves as such and give a clear warning of their intent to use firearms, with sufficient time for the warning to be observed, unless to do so would unduly place the law enforcement officials at risk or would create a risk of death or serious harm to other persons, or would be clearly inappropriate or pointless in the circumstances of the incident.”

Experts: No similarities with “Carlo Giuliani’s case”.

Albanian legal experts say that the Judge Panel led by Judge Besnik Hoxha made a big mistake using the Giuliani and Gaggio case vs. Italy.

They listed five reasons why these decisions are not comparable.

1. Carabiniere Mario Placanica was inside his Jeep, surrounded by a large number of violent demonstrators, while the National Guard officials had taken safe positions inside the Prime Ministry’s building.

2. The Carabiniere had been injured twice. He was hit on the head by a stone and by a fire extinguisher on his foot. The National Guards were not injured, and this means that they didn’t react in self defence.

3. In the moment when he fired the shots, the Carabiniere was under another fire extinguisher attack. Protester Giuliani had it on his hands when he was shot and was about to commit the act. The National Guard officers never had their life in danger in their safe positions from where they fired.

4. Carlo Giuliani was wearing a mask to hide his identity. The four killed protesters had no masks and were easily identifiable.

5. Giuliani and the other protesters had stones, boards and pikes on their hands while approaching the Carabiniere’s vehilce. The four protesters killed on January 21st had nothing on their hand.

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