Different from other times, this year’s meeting of the judicial body has
been followed by strong messages from the international
representatives, who mentioned even prison for corrupted judges and
prosecutors, besides being fired.
The US Ambassador, Donald Lu, encouraged corrupted judges to quit right away or very soon they might even go to prison. Lu added that judges with integrity should become the new symbol of justice.
“Change is coming for honest judges. I trust that most of them are honest professionals who want to be proud of their profession. I know it is hard to be a honest official in Albania, because you salary is not rewarding and there is huge pressure for important decisions, for the wrong reasons. You deserve to get promoted based on merit and experience. You should be the symbol of the new justice system in Albania, rather than today’s image of corrupted judges who keep Cartier watches”, Lu said.
The participating judges seem to have expected this declaration. Different from the other times, this time they were not wearing brand suits and watches. Even their luxury cars were not to be seen around this time.
The EU ambassador, Romana Vlahutin, said that if she would be a judge in Albanjia, she would support the reform and look for an evaluation.
“Judges in a functioning democracy should be protected by any kind of pressure or blackmail”, Vlahutin said.
While corruption was the key word, the Prosecutor General said he was against generalization, since these prosecutors and judges are the ones who have sentenced criminals and Parliament Members.
The Minister of Justice, Ylli Manjani, said that for politicians is the easiest thing to say all judges are corrupted, but his ministry will try to make the right ones be saved from corruption and generalization. Manjani said trial delays leave room for corruption.
Xhezair Zaganjori, President of the Constitutional Court, said that being under pressure, Albania should not experiment with new models that have not been practices in other countries. He said that the Albanian judges are interested to have a constitutional law that incorporates international standards and adopts models that have been proven successful.
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