During a speech given at the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the School of Magistrates, US Ambassador Donald Lu strongly criticized the Albanian justice system.
There are some famous names of Albanian criminals, like convicted drug trafficker Emiljano Shullazi, whom the media claims continues to carry out drug and arms trafficking from his pre-trial detention cell. Or Lul Berisha, the head of the violent Durres gang who was mistakenly released from prison early by prison officials. This resulted in the arrest of the director of the prison and the prison lawyer, but Lul Berisha mysteriously remains free. And finally the magician Klement Balili, an international drug trafficker wanted by Greece and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, but who has managed to escape Albanian justice for 18 months through the incompetence of prosecutors, the police and the Ministry of Justice.
Ambassador Lu called upon the police to establish order in the country and fight criminal gangs as the only possibility to clean Albania from drugs, crime, and corruption:
According to U.S. State Department reports, Albania is a center of organized crime activity which includes trafficking in drugs, weapons, and prostitution. Four major clans control 20 crime families that manage criminal operations that include human trafficking, blackmail, car theft and money laundering. Albania has a substantial black market for smuggled goods, primarily tobacco, jewelry, stolen cars and mobile phones. The country remains at significant risk for money laundering because of rampant corruption and a weak legal system. […]
But the biggest and most difficult challenge remains ahead of Albania – the fight against organized crime. Until the big fish are arrested, prosecuted and go to jail, the cannabis will return, judges will be bribed, and government officials will be corrupted.
He also denounced the fact the majority of those arrested “escape” justice and receive no sentence, while not a single “big fish” has been caught:
Albania’s criminal leaders are seldom arrested and almost never prosecuted. In 2016, the police arrested 1,349 people for offenses linked to drug trafficking. Less than 100 of these arrests led to drug trafficking convictions in the Serious Crime Court. Even more troubling, there were zero convictions, zero arrests, and zero prosecutions, of any big fish for organizing, leading or financing drug trafficking organizations in 2016. And there were also zero in 2015.
The strong statements of the US Ambassador, directed not only to the judicial branch but also to the Albanian government, come after a week in which gang violence rose back to the surface, with several attacks in the last few weeks.
