Supreme Court Judges Take Politics Into A Fight

TIRANA, June 18 – Following much pressure from the opposition the parliament voted Monday on some presidential decrees on the nomination of five judges for the Supreme Court.
They were all turned down in a move that was considered a big blow to President Bamir Topi (elected after serving as the governing Democratic Party deputy leader) and also a show of force from the Democratic Party’s Prime Minister Sali Berisha.
First it started after Topi issued the decrees without consulting the Democrats and the opposition, as it was supposed to be normally done according to an interpretation of the case from the Constitutional Court.
But soon the issue took political dimensions. The Monday voting also may damage the recent co-habitation of the two main political parties _ Democrats and Socialists _ that have been offering cooperation for the country’s main reforms, something which very likely also affected a positive response from NATO giving to the country the membership invitation in April.
Topi himself was very harsh in a reaction a day later saying it was a shame what the lawmakers had done.
Opposition Socialists considered such a move from the governing majority as another effort to take all the powers in the country under their control and such practices “seriously threaten the reform in the justice,“ according to Fatmir Xhafaj.
The five nominees for the new posts of judges also made a statement saying they were morally and humanly violated from the no-voting of the parliament. They said the parliament voted politically and considered all evaluation on them as damaging prejudgments.
The judicial system has always been the main shortcoming in the country’s integration efforts into the international institutions.
The judiciary also lacks the trust from the general public opinion in the country.
Parliamentary Speaker Jozefina Topalli denied such saying adding that the president should normally consult with the two main political groupings as it has been set a normal practice all these years.
In a surprise and very meaningful development President Topi was visited and held talks with European Commission Ambassador in Tirana Helmuth Lohan and the U.S. Ambassador John L. Withers on Tuesday.
There was no statement on the content of the talks but it was very obvious that could be considered as a show of support to the president, who is also head of the High Council of Justice, considered as the top judicial institution.
In a sign of his transparency President Topi nominated a nine-member team of consultants to discuss for 10 days over new Supreme Court judges before he decrees them. Their meetings will be open to the media.
The final consequence of all this political fight is more concrete at the Supreme Court, that now can hardly operate normally while lacking seven of its judges.