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Lawyers: Delayed justice has social and economic consequences

2023-11-21 19:03:00, Aktualitet CNA

In Albania, delays in delivering justice, according to jurists, are having consequences in the economic and social life of the country. In the justice system, the departure of judges and prosecutors as a result of the vetting process has created gaps and citizens are not getting justice within a reasonable time. The Court of Appeal in Tirana, the only one of its kind in the country, has the lowest number of judges in office compared to other courts, while the stock of files has been increasing. The Supreme Judicial Council told VOA that it is developing a strategy to reduce the backlog of cases in all courts.

In Albania, the justice system continues to be stuck by the impasse of empty seats as a result of the departure of judges and prosecutors from the vetting process. Today in this system, 39% of judges and 31% of prosecutors are missing, and the situation appears to have worsened compared to two and a half years ago.

In addition to shortages, the judiciary is facing a new structure after the adoption of the new judicial map that halved the number of courts in the country. Today, after several months, the Supreme Court of Justice has reached the conclusion that in most of the courts, the new map brought equal distribution of justice and balancing the number of judges with the files under review, as well as an increase in the number of completed cases in some court. And yet citizens continue to face delays in getting justice.

Arben Resuli, runs a modest commercial activity in the field of recycling. For more than a year, he has been waiting for the decision from the administrative court of first instance in Tirana after his lawsuit against the state structures that suspended his license after an inspection.

"The expertise was in my favor, but I also asked for the economic damage. Meanwhile, a year has passed and I have a revoked license. I can't export. If I don't export I'm bankrupt. I have 10 workers that I have to keep because I have a contract with them, at least until the end of this year, but you can't work at a loss and with a future that you can't predict. I don't know when the trial ends, I should have made the decision in 30 days. I don't believe that the state is interested in closing the activity" - said Arben Resuli, administrator of the company "Rea" shpk, for the Voice of America.

In two of the largest courts in the country, the one of first instance in Tirana and the one of Appeal, the number of cases examined and closed, in the first 9 months of this year, compared to that of a year ago, was smaller. In both these courts, the number of completed cases decreased by 17 and 25%. On the other hand, the stock of files in the Court of Appeal in Tirana continues to grow and has reached over 37 thousand from about 33 thousand that was in February of this year when the implementation of the new judicial map began.

"There has been an economic blockade here, we come out and say we want foreign investments, the money is here, but it is a blocked issue. Today, in our courts, you find cases between commercial companies, between a commercial company and the state, there are people employed there. If the case goes on for 10 years, society says I'm closing it, I'm leaving Albania," lawyer Blerta Kraja said to the Voice of America.

"In the best case, it takes 10 years, in the worst case, I don't know how much it takes," says Alban Çaushi, a lawyer.

He notes with regret that there is a negative impact on the social and economic life of the country, due to delayed justice. Many properties have been blocked, he says, for this reason.

"These are character disputes regarding the recognition of property, the acquisition of property and wealth of citizens. Of course, their entry into civil circulation is prevented, because they are items that are blocked when there is a dispute. Since we do not have a culture of settling disputes in commercial arbitration, the business settles the agreements in court. We see that there are capital blockages, increase in obligations towards those who are debtors to their creditors, due to the interests that are calculated in the future. So all this is a consequence that falls on the economic and social life of the country" - argued Alban Çaushi, lawyer.

The KLGj told the Voice of America that it has set up a working group and is analyzing the progress in several courts of the country in order to draw up a strategy for reducing the backlog of cases. According to the council's projections, after three years it is intended to fill the entire judicial body, taking into consideration the flows from the magistracy school and the expectations that some judges may be reinstated by the special Appellate Panel.

According to the statistics compiled by the Voice of America, the situation in some courts of the country is more serious.

The Court of Appeal, the only one of its kind in the country, has the biggest shortcomings. Currently, there are only 24 judges out of the 78 that should be there in total, so it works with 30% of the team, while in other courts the average number of judges on duty ranges from 60-100%. According to experts in the field, this is also related to the specificity of appointments in this court. Opportunities are limited as candidates must be magistrates with at least 7 years of experience. And yet experienced lawyers think solutions exist.

"From the point of view of the constitution, you can become a member of the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court, it is enough to have worked for 15 years, to be a prominent lawyer, to have worked as a lawyer and lecturer, or so on. It is also enough to be a prominent jurist to be a senior inspector of justice. In this

meaning is the whole mass of lawyers, we have 3 thousand active lawyers. There are very good lawyers in the legal community. They may have extensive experience and would be an interesting input into the system. The solution is a constitutional change in the criteria of who can be a judge and a prosecutor, so they will not only be from the magistracy school. The experience in Albania has shown that the constitution is changed overnight, when politics has interests", continued Blerta Kraja, lawyer.

The vice president of the Supreme Judicial Council, Ilir Rusi, told the Voice of America that no extra-legal solutions can be found, but the possibilities of restoring the scheme of delegation of judges to the Court of Appeal are being looked at, and that there are high expectations for the number of files reviewed. in this court may increase significantly by the end of the year.

"During this year, we have promoted 3 judges and we currently have 13 other processes for the promotion of judges in the Court of Appeal of General Jurisdiction. The main purpose is to evade backlogs. Depending on these issues, it can be estimated that through the delegation scheme, judges who meet the criteria will also be included in the Court of Appeal of the General Jurisdiction", said Ilir Rusi, Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council, for the Voice of America.

Today, jurists are raising concerns about the consequences that the state budget may have in the future, from not providing justice within a reasonable time. The Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has started issuing decisions to compensate the citizens in Albania affected by the exceeding of reasonable trial terms./ VOA