The High Inspector of Justice has recommended to the High Judicial Council the dismissal of Judge Markelian Kuqo for realising on parole a convict serving a life sentence.
In February 2019, the Korça judge released Gerd Gjinarari, known as one of the “strongmen of Tirana”, who was sentenced for murdering Naim Zyberi in Italy in 1997.
Gjinarari was sentenced to life in prison in 2001 in Italy, and he was transferred to an Albanian prison in 2014 to serve his sentence.
Four years later, Gjinarari requested to be released on parole. After 10 hearings, Judge Markelian Kuqo accepted his request.
Kuqo argued that the convict “had made efforts to overcome the consequences of his criminal offense,” and that he had “normalized relations with the family of the person he murdered.”
Following the convict’s release on parole, the Ministry of Justice requested an investigation into the case.
