CoE welcomes Albania’s suspension of the lustration law

STRASBOURG, Feb 17 – Two co-rapporteurs of the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) for Albania, Jaakko Laakso (Finland, UEL) and David Wilshire (United Kingdom, EDG) hailed the decision of Albania’s Constitutional Court to suspend the implementation of the controversial Lustration Law as a welcomed development.
“The Court has used its power to suspend implementation until it has taken a final decision on the complaints lodged by the Socialist Party, the Association of Judges and the Albanian Helsinki Committee,” said Laakso and Wilshire.
The co-rapporteurs were in Albania a week ago calling on Albanian authorities to suspend its application until the Constitutional Court decided and also added they would also ask the Venice Commission to give its opinion on the issue.
They urged the Constitutional Court to refer the law to the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission to advise on its compliance with European legal, democratic and human rights principles and standards.
They said they were delighted that the court has now done so.
Commenting on the announcement of the court’s decision, the co-rapporteurs said that they were relieved that a way had been found to pause and reflect on the details of this very controversial law.
“Nobody is saying that Albania should not have a lustration law of some sort and experts are offering to help implement one. However some of the details of the current law really do need modification,” said Wilshire.