A report published by the Environmental Resource Center on the role of the Prosecution in environmental justice in Albania highlights the fact that the majority of criminal proceedings related to environmental crime cases do not end in trial, but remain pending or are closed without effective punishment.
A report by the Environmental Resource Center (REC Albania), published within the framework of the "Environmental Justice in Albania" project, highlights concern regarding the high number of criminal reports on environmental crimes in the General Jurisdiction Prosecutor's Offices of Tirana, Elbasan, and Korça, which do not end in trial, but are dismissed or suspended without further prosecution.
"In 2024 in Tirana, out of 62 air pollution reports, none were sent to court and only 1 proceeding was dismissed, the rest remained pending or under investigation," write the findings of the report on the low number of effective criminal prosecutions.
"This calls into question not only the investigative capacity of the prosecution, but also the practical functioning of justice for environmental crimes," the report cites on the disturbing reality encountered in the country's prosecution offices.
According to the report, the main causes that hinder the effective prosecution of these environmental criminal cases are the lack of specialized expertise in the relevant prosecution offices, the shift in focus to other criminal cases following the justice reform, the lack of cooperation between state institutions that cover environmental violations, as well as the poor transparency and accountability of the actors involved in the process.
"Many cases are initiated, but are suspended or dismissed for various reasons such as lack of evidence, procedural obstacles, lack of expertise," the Environmental Resource Center report quotes, adding that the high rate of non-conclusion of investigations with judicial punishment damages the public perception of environmental justice.
According to the study, District Prosecutors' Offices do not have special sectors profiled solely for environmental crimes, and environmental issues are usually assigned to prosecutors from general sectors.
"The exception is the Tirana Prosecution Office, which since July 2023 has created a section for environmental crime, which, however, is not exclusively dedicated to this field, as it also covers other criminal offenses," it is written about the findings of the report's authors.
This lack of expertise further leads to difficulties in collecting evidence and, as a result, the dismissal of numerous cases because it is not possible to scientifically document the damage or the cause-and-effect relationship with the criminal offense.
Under these conditions, prosecutors have a need for specialized scientific expertise on environmental crime, which they are forced to find privately.
"Prosecutors are forced to contract expertise from private entities, which often have very high financial costs and there is a problem with the impartiality of private expertise," the report emphasizes, implying that this further raises suspicions about compromising the expertise process, on which the fate of the investigation depends.
Not only the lack of expertise, but also the lack of monitoring equipment when it comes to quantifying environmental damage, leads to an inability to collect irrefutable evidence needed for effective criminal prosecution.
On the other hand, justice reform is another factor that has influenced the shift in focus of priority criminal cases, putting corruption and organized crime in the foreground, and leaving environmental crimes in the shade.
The reduction in the number of active prosecutors due to the 'Vetting' process has also led to an increase in the workload for the remaining prosecutors who deal not only with environmental issues, but also with serious crimes.
"This may explain why in Tirana none of the air pollution proceedings were brought to court, as pursuing them required time and resources that the overburdened prosecution does not have enough," the report quotes.
Another factor that influences the low rate of effective criminal prosecution is the lack of cooperation between the relevant institutions dealing with environmental violations.
The report's data shows that the State Police is the only referrer of environmental criminal offenses to the Prosecutor's Office, while other institutions such as municipalities or inspectorates are almost non-existent in their denunciation role.
"The lack of contribution from the State Environmental Inspectorate, the National Environmental Agency, and other agencies such as those of forests, waters, and waste in the referral of criminal offenses also speaks of a serious impasse in inter-institutional cooperation," the findings cite.
"Legally, the inspectorate must file criminal charges for serious environmental violations it finds; in practice, either these cases are not being identified by it, or the procedure to forward them to the prosecutor's office is not being followed," monitoring data show.
Similarly, the lack of accountability and transparency from businesses and activities reported as infringing or involved in the criminal offense contributes to the lack of irrefutable evidence.
The report shows that private businesses often hide evidence of the pollution they cause to the environment, while citizens who must testify about them are often intimidated by various actors.
"It is found that environmental crimes may be linked to profit motives by companies or intertwined with other criminal offenses such as economic gain from water treatment cost savings, corruption, or lack of industrial safety measures," the data on the causes of the lack of accountability by private businesses that commit environmental violations emphasize. /BIRN/
