President, gov’t clash over justice system

TIRANA, Oct. 26 – Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri has sent a letter to President Bujar Nishani protesting against the activity of some judges and prosecutors who, the letter says, had either violated the laws or had been soft in punishing alleged criminals arrested by police.
President Nishani, the parliamentary republic’s head of state, also serves as head of the High Council of Justice, or the KLD, the ruling body of the justice system in Albania.
The minister numbered 25 cases in which prosecutors and judges had openly behaved contrary to the law, according to him.
He asked the president and the KLD to punish the responsible judges.
Bringing justice to the international standards has been set as a main priority by the government and demanded by the international community, especially the European Union, which Albania wants to join one day.
The president and the government don’t see eye to eye on the justice system and political conflict has plagues the two sides, as the Socialist-led government accuses the center-right president of serving the interests of his former party, the opposition Democrats.
Nishani answered the minister’s letter saying he would forward the concerns to the Justice Ministry, adding he would be open mediate between the two ministries to better coordinate their work. The response was meant to be ironic as there is split in the government views.
The president was elected in the post by the main opposition Democratic Party when they were in power two years ago. Nishani has now turned into a top representative for that party, often involved in a tit-for-tat political clash with the leftist government.
The minister responded to the president saying that it would be important that such prosecutors and judges who “recycle criminals in the society without being punished as the law requires,” were punished too.
The minister said that the president’s role in that post of the KLD is key and added that such a situation was also presented to the KLD by the Justice Ministry and not paid attention.
“An active action and in time, not only a public response, to take over concrete measures would be the answer the citizens would wait for,” wrote the minister.
In another sign of the clash with the president, the leftist governing Socialists on Thursday turned down two candidates for the post of judges at the Supreme Court. They were proposed by the president and all of them, five in total, have been turned down by the Socialists, saying the president avoids coordination on proposing new members with the parliament.
The Socialists also fear the president will make it difficult for the government to replace the central Bank of Albania governor. While the government may elect, with the votes in parliament where they have the majority, the new members of its supervisory board and the governor, it is up to the president to nominate the governor.