The Special Anti-Corruption and Organized Crime Prosecution has ordered the immediate execution of a court order demanding an Albanian media to submit the evidence of how they got in possession of an alleged document containing the personal data of 910,000 people.
Lapsi, the media in question, published what they claim to be the prosecutor Enkeleda Millonai’s order, adding that their servers, phones, and other equipment will be seized.
The media portal claims that Judge Iliriana Olldashi decided on Sunday that Lapsi must submit the leaked database of more than 910,000 Albanian citizens which was allegedly compiled illegally by the government with data from the Civil Registry.
It contains personal information including IDs, phone numbers, and employers names – all data that could have only been obtained illegally from public institutions, according to Lapsi.
The database was created and used for electoral purposes by the ruling Socialist Party, they claim.
It said in the original report published one week ago that the PS had a special office at its headquarters, fully equipped with people and electronic equipment to process and work with the data for election purposes.
The prosecution first said they were looking into the public information on the issue, and only several days after the publication of the scandal they interrogated the owners of Lapsi on Friday, journalists Andi Bejtja and Armand Shkullaku.
They were asked to reveal the source and submit the database but they refused.
The court then ordered them to submit the electronic file but they again refused, arguing that they have to protect their source, which could be revealed if the database is submitted to the court.
The Albanian law provides that the court may compel journalists to indicate the source if it is necessary to prove the offense.
Within the media community, forcing a journalist to reveal sources is considered as a serious violation of their ability to work and could constitute as having a chilling effect.
Lapsi wrote on Monday that they remain firm in their refusal to submit the database and thus reveal their source. They further claimed that in the meantime prosecutors have not investigated the crime allegedly committed by officials of the ruling Socialist Party, whom the media alleges to have obtained the personal data of all Albanians to use for electoral purposes.
It remains unclear if prosecutors have taken any action against politicians or political parties allegedly involved in the scandal. The only move they have made public so far has been against Lapsi and its journalists.
