TIRANA, Feb. 16 – In Albania, special police forces searched the apartments of three out of five members of the Serious Crimes Appeals judging body, who last week accepted to shorten a life sentence for Dritan Dajti to 25 years in prison, although he is charged with killing four policemen ten years ago.
In the Vlora apartment of appeals judge Skender Damini, police found 17 thousand euros and some bullets, accompanying him for explanations at the Police Directorate in Tirana.
Three out of five members of the ruling body decided to sentence him with 25 years, accepting a shorter trial which does not come to power automatically.
The decision caused much controversy, with Justice Minister Etilda Gjonaj speaking of an “unacceptable scandal of intolerable size” and addressed the High Judicial Council to request disciplinary investigation and dismissal of judges.
Yesterday, the Prosecution of Serious Crimes opened criminal proceedings for allegations of corruption, against judges Skender Damini, Petrit Aliaj and Aleks Nikolla, while the Serious Crimes Court ordered the search of their apartments.
Special police forces showed their search warrants with the court order on Friday morning in the judges’ apartments in Vlora and Lezha.
The search ended around noon, while police reported that thousands of euros and ammunition were found in a judge’s apartment.
During the search in Damini’s apartment, police found 17,000 euros and some bullets.
The judge was escorted to Tirana’s police directorate, for interrogation. It is reported he stated that the money is his son’s and that he has the necessary documents to prove this, while the cartridges belong to a revolver that he once had with permission.
While his personal mobile was held for expertise, the judge was set free from the police station a few hours after he was interrogated, while no security measures have been taken against any of the judges.
Many judges have refused to deal with the Dritan Dajti case in the past ten years, while over 100 lawyers have refused to defend him.
