The Prosecution for Serious Crimes has today responded to the accusations of Prime Minister Edi Rama, reminding him that the role of judge is not part of his function as Prime Minister. The Prosecution claims that through his behavior in the Tahiri case the Prime Minister shows that even after the judicial reform justice will be controlled by politics.
The Prosecution for Serious Crimes understands that since the beginnings of this investigation it would be confronted with a frontal political attack because the person under investigation is a former Minister of Interior and current deputy in the Parliament of Albania.
But this doesn’t prevent it from turning to the Parliament of Albania with a request to authorize the arrest the person under investigation, because […] there exist legal conditions and circumstances which necessitate [such] measures.
So, in a public manner, the Prime Minister took on the role of judge, an attribute that doesn’t belong to him, neither according to the Constitution nor according to the law.
In our evaluation, this public position of the Prime Minister is a clear signal that the war against high-level corruption, which is the aim of the judicial reform, will be controlled by politics.
If the investigations of the Prosecution will be accompanied with flagrant interventions of politics, then the aim of the judicial reform to fight high-level corruption and impunity will be a challenge that will not be successfully confronted.
The Prosecution of Serious Crimes announced that it will continue its investigation of the Tahiri–Habilaj affair and that “political declarations and pressures will not threaten the investigative process.”
Prime Minister Rama immediately responded to the declaration, stating that it wasn’t the role of the Prosecution to exchange words in public with politicians. He also expressed surprise at the claim that he tried to intimidate the Prosecution:
By urging on speedy, serious, and exhaustive investigation of the issue that relates to Saimir Tahiri, as well as sincerely believing that with the acceptance of the prosecution’s request, the parliamentary majority has given the organ of the accusation a big support to bring the investigation to conclusion. The Prime Minister of Albanian wishes this organ good work.
