Albania’s Prosecutor General Olsian Cela presented the 2022 annual judicial activity report to parliament on Monday, noting a 162% increase in registered proceedings following the EU and US-backed justice reform, which is still ongoing.
The justice reform project aims to vet more than 800 judicial staff, stamp out corruption in every aspect of public administration and justice, and increase prosecution rates, including those of corrupt officials.
While progress has been slow, leading to an extension of the mandate in 2022, the figures from the last 12 months sparked optimism in parliament.
Justice Minister Ulsi Manja said, “Seven years after the approval of the constitutional and legal package of justice reform and five years from the moment of the establishment and making functional of the new bodies of justice, some things are known, have been said eloquently in every national and international media about justice reform.”
Statistics announced by Cela included 91.35% of all cases being sent for trial, including 262 criminal proceedings for corruption with 201 defendants registered and 169 proceedings with 187 defendants sent for trial. In terms of convictions, he said the increase was almost four-fold.
In addition, four former senior officials were convicted of corruption, with a further 25 under investigation. These processes take place under the jurisdiction of the Special Court Against Organised Crime and Corruption (SPAK).
“SPAK continues to consider its institutional independence essential by its constitutional functions. It is in the process of approving the regulation for the evaluation system of the work results and the integrity of the investigators in the National Bureau of Investigation. SPAK is creating a system for digitising information and data related to criminal proceedings,” head of SPAK Altin Dumani said.
Manja added that justice reform is necessary to restore citizens’ trust in the system and that vetting judicial staff for professionalism, assets, and reputation is the right way to go about it. He did, however, state there are some challenges.
“It is now the turn of the new justice bodies to take care that every citizen in the Republic of Albania when they go to the court’s doors and the prosecutor’s office, finds justice, not injustice. At this stage, the reform is being consolidated,” Manja said.
As for the future of justice reform, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Group of the ruling Socialist Party, Taulant Balla, said that any changes to the system would be made in consultation with the US and EU.
“One thing to know from here on out is we do not make changes in the justice reform without agreeing with the USA and the EU. This week, a meeting with international friends, without whom we cannot do the reform, and if there is the political will, we can approve them in the last session or at the start of September,” he said.
(Alice Taylor | Exit.al)
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