Civil society organizations are following with concern the events of recent months and days about information made public in the media and in SPAK releases, regarding the investigation of some high-level officials and some administrators and leading officials in the business sector, on issues of corruption and the violation of equality in tenders involving very high amounts of funds.
From the very start, we wish to emphasize that we respect the principle of the presumption of innocence of every individual, independently from their status as an individual with knowledge of an event, an individual under investigation, an individual indicted for criminal acts in the field of corruption or the abuse of the law and interferences in tenders and public procurement.
At the same time, keeping in mind our public interest in the strengthening of the rule of law and functional democracy, as well as the important contribution that civil society organizations have made in the context of justice reform, with monitoring, discussions, and addresses regarding issues of corruption and the integrity of high-level elected or appointed officials, we express our concerns and recommendations as follows:
- The executive and legislative branches should respect the principle of the separation and balance of powers, especially that of the independence of the prosecution office and the court.
- There should be no public pressure on the bodies of the justice system, neither by the Prime Minister, nor by politicians and other officials, as the Constitution and our system guarantee that every citizen, including high-level officials, have the right and access to defense with a lawyer in all procedures against them, and also have the right to appeal intermediate and final decisions of the prosecution office and the court, to a higher court. Every prejudicial statement in such a situation creates the perception of public defense of these citizens that are accused or under investigation and of an infringement of the legitimacy of the justice bodies.
- In the circumstances where institutions for governing the justice bodies have been established, everyone has the right to set these bodies into motion, if these are committed by magistrates; such violations are sanctioned with disciplinary measures.
- We express concern about the departure from the territory of the country of individuals who are under investigation by SPAK and ask the State Police to make transparent the conditions and circumstances in which these citizens departed, escaping investigation and a close encounter with justice, whether for these citizens there were measures to forbid their exit from the territory or measures of personal security. This is not the only precedent in a country where the force of the law and effective coordination among authorities should operate.
- We ask the Council on Rules, Mandates, and Immunity to review with impartiality and in accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code and the Assembly’s Rules, the SPAK request to authorize the lifting of the mandate of Deputy Prime Minister Ms. Belinda Balluku, who has been indicted for the criminal offense “Violation of equality of participants in public tenders or auctions.”
- We express concern that, unlike democratic countries, in Albania, the institution of resignation in such instances is still a missing practice by high-level officials, in contravention also of ethical codes in decision-making, the executive, and institutions, as the application of this contemporary standard would help justice bodies to investigate in an independent and comprehensive manner these functionaries, and would also be a display of the integrity of these very officials and individuals who are accused or under investigation, until there is a final decision by the justice bodies.
Albania has opened the negotiation chapters with the EU and without treating this as a slogan, but as a national priority, it is to be expected that it applies higher standards of transparency, accountability, political maturity, and institutional integrity, especially in our priority challenge against corruption and strengthening the rule of law.
In this context, the trust of the public in the justice institutions and bodies is very important, in the circumstances where recent cases of corruption rightfully create concern about large abuse of public funds committed with taxes paid by them.
Our organizations are independent and impartial and therefore this statement is not in favor of any party, movement, initiative or periodical political protest, but it is a principled position that aims to position civil society organizations on the side of the new justice institutions and the principles of good governance and functional democracy, for which in 2016, a profound and comprehensive consensual reform was undertaken, which sought to break the myth of impunity by making justice independent from politics and the objective investigation of any public official involved in such corruption schemes.
Signatory organizations:
Albanian Helsinki Committee
Institute for Political Studies
Center for the Study of Democracy and Governance
Albanian Institute of Science – Open Data Albania
Civic Resistance
European Movement in Albania
