Today, the High Court published its statistics for 2018. These show that in 2018 the High Court has been able to process a mere 1,673 cases, while 8,536 new cases were registered. This is the result of the vetting, which has reduced the current number of High Court judges to 3: Edmond Islamaj, Xhezair Zaganjori, and Ardian Dvorani. Appeals against Islamaj and Zaganjori are still pending at the Special Appeals Chamber.
The backlog of the High Court is currently 28,863 cases, nearly triple the amount of 11,357 art the beginning of 2015.
Although already since 2015 there was an annual net increase of the High Court’s backlog due to understaffing and inefficient bureaucracy, the justice reform has further exacerbated the problem, with a steady decline in processed cases.
New members of the High Court are appointed by the President, after a proposal by the High Judicial Council (KLGj), which so far has not started the formal procedure to propose new candidates.
