The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ruled in favour of a former prosecutor who was dismissed during the EU-backed vetting process in Albania, but the ruling noted it does not reflect on the process as a whole in the country.
Albania has been undertaking a vetting process since 2016, which foresees the evaluation of every judge and prosecutor in terms of wealth, reputation, and qualifications. The process is a little over halfway complete and has seen more than half the judiciary resign or be dismissed, bringing the High Court and Constitutional Court to a standstill for a period and resulting in a significant case backlog in all court structures.
Former prosecutor Antoneta Sevdari was dismissed in 2019 over an issue with her declaration of assets and a violation of public trust in justice. In particular, the ruling said she had failed to submit documents relating to her husband’s taxes paid as an immigrant in Greece and while working in Saudi Arabia.
The Strasbourg Court found the dismissal “disproportionate” but said her case should be considered exceptional.
“The court considers that, based on the overall assessment of the particular circumstances of the case, the dismissal of the applicant, based essentially on the fact that she was unable to prove that her husband paid taxes on part of the income from the activities of legally in the past two decades and in the absence of any indication of bad faith or intentional violence on the part of the applicant himself, it was disproportionate to the legitimate aims of the vetting process,” said the court’s decision.
It also found a violation of her right to private life and ordered the payment of expenses worth €24,600.
The ruling stated, however, that “the court does not consider that the functioning of the current vetting process in Albania in general, based on the Constitution and the Vetting Law, shows any such systemic problem of compliance with the requirements of the convention.”
While the vetting process is considered a success in Albania by the EU and the US, neighbouring countries that have expressed interest in a similar initiative have been discouraged by EU officials.
Justice ministers from Kosovo and North Macedonia told a panel in 2021 in Tirana that EU officials had discouraged them from conducting vetting as such reforms may lead to too many dismissals and dysfunctional courts and prosecution offices, as was the case in Albania.
(Alice Taylor | Exit.al)
Source: euractiv.com
