At the extraordinary general meeting of judges, following the murder of Judge Astrit Kalaja in the courtroom, the President of the Supreme Court, Sokol Sadushi, said that it is time for the justice system to react institutionally to the attacks coming from the media and politics.
"In every television dinner, in every panel where justice is discussed, a parallel trial is held against the judges and prosecutors of this country. These people, without responsibility, without ethics, without legal knowledge, have turned insulting judges into nightly entertainment, into a spectacle for the crowd. They have become spokesmen for the emotions of the moment, not the law, and have poisoned public opinion by destroying citizens' trust in justice," said Sadushi.
According to him, while the judges remain silent, politics "speaks every night, in every hall, on every screen, without any restrictions, with accusatory tones, with denigrating language, with labels and verdicts."
"While we bear the weight of responsibility, they hold the privilege of speech. This creates a moral inequality, which in the eyes of the public makes the magistrate weaker, more vulnerable, more exposed to attack.
We cannot allow this inequality to return to normality. We cannot remain silent forever in the face of insults made to the system, because institutional silence, when justice is attacked, is no longer a virtue, it is surrender.
The way we react must be institutional, unified and principled, not sporadic and random. There can be no random reactions, according to the pressure or emotions of the day," Sadushi concluded.
