Council of Europe says Albania’s lustration law not up to international standards

TIRANA, Jan 19 – The Council of Europe says that Albania’s recently approved law removing from public positions people linked with the former Communist secret police does not meet the criteria used by democracies, human rights and the rule of law.
In late December, Albania passed the law despite criticism from opposition parties and concerns within the international community. The law automatically came into force Thursday, though it was not decreed by the country’s president.
“I understand the effort to establish the truth and sanction those who violated human rights during this period. But any such effort must comply with Council of Europe standards of democracy, human rights and the rule of law. Against this background, I have some concerns that the lustration law adopted on 22 December by the Albanian Parliament does not meet these criteria,“ said Council of Europe Secretary General Terry Davis in a statement Friday.
The law applies to all former members and associates of the Sigurimi secret police, from November 1944 when Albania was liberated from Nazi occupiers until the collapse of Communism in December 1990.
Davis expressed his concern about “the very broad reach of the law in terms of the categories of officials who may be affected and the fact that it includes people currently holding office; the fairness and proportionality of the lustration proceedings; the severity of the sanctions foreseen and the fact that there is no time limit.“
Albania’s new law had “some important discrepancies with regard to the Resolution on measures to dismantle the heritage of former communist totalitarian systems as adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in 1996.“
The resolution clearly stated that any individual lustration measures should not last longer than five years, that the lustration process should end by 31 December 1999, and that lustration should not apply to candidates in elections.
“None of these guidelines have been taken into account by the Albanian lustration law,“ said Davis.
The opposition Socialists and other smaller parties refused to attend Parliament sessions discussing the law, saying they feared the law would be exploited by Prime Minister Sali Berisha’s Democrats to punish political opponents.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the United States and Europe urged a postponement of the debate.
For more than four decades, until 1990, Albania was a xenophobic Communist dictatorship in which the secret services wielded vast power.
The Council of Europe is ready to provide advice and assistance to Albanian authorities in finding ways to achieve the legitimate objective of dealing with the past in full compliance with Council of Europe standards, said the statement.
Reacting to the statement, Berisha said that Davis was not well informed, as the law would apply only for five years, adding the country definitely needed the law in order to get rid of its communist past.