From: Exit Staff
Prosecutor Drops Case of President’s Charges against KED Chair over Constitutional Deadlock

Tirana Prosecutor’s Office dropped the case and argued it could not proceed with President Ilir Meta’s charges against the Chair of Justice Appointments Council (KED) Ardian Dvorani.

On Thursday, case prosecutor Alket Mersini argued that the newly established Specials Anti-corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SPAK) should handle the case, as Dvorani is a high official whose position falls in SPAK’s field of activity. SPAK was created to investigate crime and corruption of high officials.

President Meta filed charges against Dvorani for abuse of office and appropriation of a public title or office.

The core of Meta’s charges are the actions of Dvorani and the KED around the sending of the lists of the candidates for the Constitutional Court to the President and Parliament, which led to a de facto unconstitutional situation, in which both President and Parliament were forced to elect (within the 30-day constitutional deadline) two candidates each, in violation of the rotation prescribed by the Constitution.

The lawsuit comes after a deadlock in the Constitutional Court where two judges claimed the same seat, one elected by Parliament and the other by the President. Meta blames Dvorani deliberately arranging the deadlock.