Former Minister of Health, Ilir Beqaj, who is being tried for the "Sterilization" concession affair, has reacted through a status on social networks published by his lawyer, Ermal Yzeiri.
Beqaj claims that he is being denied the right to effective protection, as in detention he is not given the opportunity to have a laptop without internet access.
"For 6 years, dozens of criminal trials have been taking place in the Special Court. The files are thousands of pages long and the Special Prosecution Office delivers them to the lawyers in electronic form, in PDF format, while it also sends printed copies to the Court. Meanwhile, the detained defendant remains practically excluded from reading his file, as the Penitentiary Institution does not provide him with a computer without internet access, even in a special area of the institution and for a limited time, under the monitoring of penitentiary personnel.
"But how can lawyers prepare an effective defense for defendants when the accused himself fails to read any of the acts in his court file?! If the accused does not know what thousands of pages of charges, evidence, wiretaps and statements contain, how can he make an informed decision about seeking a summary or ordinary trial?! Can a process where the accused has not read his file be called due process?" writes Beqaj.
The former minister claims that no law or regulation prohibits the use of a computer without internet, but it is the institutions that are avoiding responsibility.
"But why all this disregard for the legitimate and basic request of the detained defendants? Is it intended that the defendant get tired, demoralized, accept the summary trial without knowing his file? Is it intended to reduce the quality of the defense by turning it into a formality? Maybe. Because there is no other legal and logical explanation. The law is blamed for a prohibition that it does not foresee. Institutions avoid responsibility. The court hides behind its finger. And thus, a fundamental right is eroded every day, without noise. Then who can a detained defendant turn to for a fundamental right of his that is ignored every day without noise?", says Beqaj.
He says that "it is time to end processes that do not guarantee the accused real access to his file."
Ilir Beqaj is being tried for the Sterilization case, while preliminary hearings are examining SPAK's allegations regarding the abuse of EU funds, while he was heading the SASPAC agency.
