Tirana, Albania (Tirana Echo) – As the US Ambassador in Albania Donald Lu has publicly clashed with the country’s General Prosecutor Adriatik Lalla over the legality of his actions, the Speaker of the Albanian Parliament Ilir Meta has backed the latter arguing that GP Llalla has respected the law in his proposals for the Council of Nominations in Justice.
A day earlier, US Ambassador to Tirana Donald Lu fiercely accused General Prosecutor Llalla that he is standing against Justice Reform in the country by violating the Constitution and only proposing 3 names for the 3 vacant positions in the temporary Council of Nominations in Justice, without any transparency in the process of selection.
During a press conference Speaker of the Albanian Parliament Ilir Meta said:
“We clarify that the Constitution in point 3 of article 149/4 determines that the Council of Nominations in Justice is composed of 9 members, from which one is selected from the General Prosecutor, while two others are chosen from the prosecutors working at Appeal Courts. Also according to point 5 of this same article, the criteria candidates should fulfill to be included in the ballot are specified by law”.
Meta went on explaining that the secondary legislation (Law no. 115/2016, Article 221 ) on the governing bodies over the justice system has outlined the ‘additional criteria’ to be used for the names included in the ballot process, which was conducted on January 27.
Such criteria, said Speaker Meta “includes a minimum of 10 years of legal practice, a full degree from the School of Magistrates and an ‘excellent’ professional and ethical evaluation. This same article of the law says that if one of these criteria is not fulfilled, the candidates are barred from the ballot”.
According to its Speaker, the Parliament was concerned by allegations of deliberate lack of transparency and competition, prompting its General Secretary to request further information from the Prosecutor’s Office to determine whether any candidates had deliberately been removed from duty during the past few months in order to prevent them from being involved in the selection process.
“According to our official correspondence with the Office of the General Prosecutor, there were no other candidates from this office to have completed the School of Magistrates, therefore to fulfill a legal criteria imposed by the Parliament of Albania with the assistance of OPDAT and EURALIUS missions, while from the Appeals Prosecutors there were similarly no other candidates to fulfill the same criteria” – said Meta during his press conference in Tirana.
In clear show of defiance of US Ambassador Donald Lu’s accusations against General Prosecutor Llalla, Speaker Meta confirmed that the General Prosecutor has acted in accordance and in a transparent manner with the Constitution and the subsequent Law passed by Parliament with the assistance of US and EU missions.
In addition, said Meta, no prosecutor has complained about the validity of the procedures and the ballot which took place earlier this week for the selection of members for the Council of Nominations in Justice, which is the first body to be erected ahead of the crucial Vetting process which will scan all judges and prosecutors who intend to enter the new justice institutions. This process will be accompanied by an International Monitoring Operation (IMO) which will ensure that any nominations are done with the ‘blessing’ of the US and the European Union, which have been the main sponsors of the much needed justice reform in corruption rigged Albania.
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