Lalla, new prosecutor general, takes office

TIRANA, Dec. 11 – A new prosecutor general came to office this week, giving an end to a debate whether the previous Adriatik Llalla, new prosecutor general had constitutionally ended her mandate before she was replaced.
Last week, parliament voted Friday for Adriatik Llalla to replace Ina Rama.
Only the governing Democrats and their smaller allies casted their ballot for Llalla as the opposition Socialists said before they would abstain because the early replacement was unconstitutional. They added they had nothing against Llalla as a person.
Rama had also been nominated by the Democrats five years ago. After a friendly start, she fell out of favor with Prime Minister Sali Berisha, especially after she tried to prosecute those responsible for the Jan. 21, 2011 opposition protest that resulted with the death of four of its supporters. Berisha directly accused Rama and also then-President Bamir Topi of siding with the opposition in an effort to topple him. He gave no further proof he was serious in such accusation but relations between them were totally frozen.
The new GP, Llalla, now faces has a big test in the investigation of the Jan. 21 events and those of the Gerdec ammunition factory blast in 2008, which killed 26 people. Both cases are political hot potatoes, involving the ruling coalition and the opposition. Ina Rama did not appear to satisfy the dead victims’ families, representatives said.
And fighting corruption remains a big test to every official in this country, especially for Llalla, who before was head of the government institution of accountability for all public officials showing their income and property.
Earlier this month Transparency International issued its annual ranking of corruption and Albania’s situation had become worse, slipping further behind in the fight against bribe-taking and related crimes. Transparency International said Albania ranked 113 out 176 countries in its corruption perception index, down 18 positions from last year.
No high official has been sentenced on corruption charges in the country and that remains one of its Achilles’ heel points in the democratic progress.
Llalla said in his opening remarks in the post that fighting corruption among the prosecutors remained its primary task at the moment so that the people’s trust into them is turned back.
“Prosecutors take decisions based on the law, they are independent of crime and politics and free to take any decisions dictated by the law and their inner convictions,” Llalla said.
The international community has always paid much respect and attention to the work of this institution.
The U.S. Embassy congratulated his appointment as Prosecutor General. In a statement they said that, “We will lend full support to his efforts to pursue aggressively the prosecution of corruption, organized crime and malfeasance.”
The embassy also continued further to urge Llalla to “exercise the utmost effort to conclude successfully the trial of those responsible for the reprehensible violence of January 21, 2011.”