TIRANA, June 8 – Two groups representing judges in Albania have asked the country’s highest court to void certain aspects of the justice reform vetting process, which aims to rid the system of corrupt judges and prosecutors.
Albania’s National Association of Judges and the Union of Judges have filed a joint motion at the Constitutional Court seeking to void two laws of justice reform, including the much debated vetting law.
The filing was made on June 1, but it was only made public a week later after journalists dug it up, leading local media to interpret it as “a secret motion.”
The justice reform, which was approved in full only last month, is seen as key to Albania’s progress toward EU integration, as graft in the judiciary is one of the largest problems the country has faced during its post-communist transition.
However, the judges groups say some aspects of the reform are unfair, and they are asking the country’s highest court to void certain parts of the Law on Judicial and Prosecutorial Status Bodies and the Law on the Provisional Reassessment of Judges and Prosecutors in the Republic of Albania, known widely as the Vetting Law.
It is the second such motion by the two associations, which also filed a motion in the fall of 2016 against the vetting law. The Constitutional Court court decided not to rule on that first motion.
However, the judges groups were able to get some provisions of another act, the Law on the Status of Judges and Prosecutors in the Republic of Albania voided through another motion.
In their request to the Constitutional Court, the two judges associations seek to void some provisions regulating the vetting process of judges and prosecutors in terms of their potential links to organized crime. They want a shorter timeframe for the scrutiny and firmer evidence to be used.
A provision of the law that is challenged by associations as unconstitutional relates to the defining contacts between judges and prosecutors and people associated with organized crime. They note that the evidence that can be used in the vetting process is not enough to prove association under the country’s constitution.
The groups also reject the idea of having a deadline for resignations to avoid a full vetting process. Under the law the judges and prosecutors have three months since the law’s approval to resign to avoid the investigation.
The motion also includes several other regulations related to the vetting process and the bodies in charge of it.
The copy of this latest motion was first made public by two nonprofit media outlets, the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network and the Voice of America.
