Joakin Urias, the Spanish expert who led the European mission of
assistance at the Justice System Euralius 3, says in an interview for
Voice of America that the situation of the judiciary in Albania is very
bad.
“The general situation of the judiciary is very bad. I don’t want to be pessimistic, but the situation has not improved in the past four months. Justice needs to be the key institution of the rule of law, an institution that guarantees that people are respecting the law. The situation in Albania is such that the justice is unable to guarantee citizens to feel protected from the rule of law. Due to the lack of efficiency and other missing elements in justice, the Albanian citizens don’t feel they are living in a country based on the rule of law”, Urias declared.
According to him, corruption remains the first problem. “Corruption is not only what people think, taking money, but also in the fact that many court verdicts are based on political influences. Corruption includes political interventions as well, each time that a verdict is not based on law but on other interests”, Urias underlined.
He says that the government’s justice budget is the lowest in Balkan. “The organization of courts is not the right one. The problems are corruption, public intervention, low budget and inefficient organization”, Urias declared.
Joakin Urias also speaks about the political interventions in the system, with appointments serving to exchange avors.
“Sometimes a judge is not appointed by paying, but by having political support. I will give you an example that has been watched by all international organizations. All judges who have been part of difficult trials, or about matters that made people really angry, such as “Gerdec” or “January 21st”, all judges got promoted after the verdicts”, Urias declared.
According to him, the main interventions in the judiciary should be the reformation of the Constitution. The Supreme Court matter should be separated from the Parliament. The High Council of Justice should change, since it is the institution that guarantees the independence of judges, but Urias says it does not do that.
The Spanish expert who led the “Euralius 3” mission says that the HCJ should avoid the participation of the President and the Minister of Justice, because they are both politicians.
“The Constitution must foresee that the HCJ members who do not respect the law should be fired”, he declared.
Urias underlined the position of the Prosecutor General, who, according to him, should have the support of all political forces, not only that of the majority.
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