The Socialist Party Parliamentary Group proposed amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code that protect ministers and some other senior officials from suspension from office through an initiative that aims to weaken the special anti-corruption structure.
Prime Minister Edi Rama urgently formalized on Monday a legal initiative to strengthen the immunity of his government cabinet and several other senior officials as a response to the measure of suspension from duty of the government's number 2, Belinda Balluku.
At a meeting of the Socialist Party parliamentary group, led by Prime Minister Rama, the Socialists announced that they would amend Article 242 of the Criminal Procedure Code, removing the right of the courts to issue suspension decisions against the Prime Minister, ministers, the President, the Ombudsman and the head of the Supreme Audit Office.
The proposed legal changes, which according to experts go against the rhetoric of the fight against corruption and give additional immunity to government members, come after the Constitutional Court rejected Rama's claims that the suspension of Balluk by the Special Court was a violation of the constitution, due to lack of a quorum.
However, during the parliamentary group meeting, Rama insisted that the proposal had nothing to do with the specific case.
"Whoever links it to the specific case is making a mistake, the specific case has its own path, it has nothing to do with the suspension. But the suspension is unacceptable, and for this reason we will deal with the suspension to reject, with the will of the majority in the assembly, interference in the territory of the executive branch," Rama emphasized.
The leader of the largest opposition party, Sali Berisha, described the law as yet another obstacle to Albania's integration into the European Union.
“Rama closed the doors to Albania’s integration into the European Union,” Berisha told reporters in a reaction after the proposal was published. “In the eyes of the world, Edi Rama is telling Albanians that he personally and his criminal organization and ministers are above the law, they are above everything else in this country and cannot be investigated,” Berisha added.
Former Minister of Justice, Ulsi Manja, who presented the amendment, indicated that it was only an intervention in the Criminal Procedure Code. Article 242, which so far only prohibits the suspension from office of “persons elected according to the electoral law”, adds a number of executive positions. “This measure does not apply to persons elected according to the electoral law, including the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, Members of the Government Cabinet, the Ombudsman, the Head of the Supreme Audit Institution, members of the Constitutional Court”, the proposal states.
The intervention was one of the alarms raised by analysts and experts after the recent elections, in which the Socialists secured an overwhelming majority in the Assembly. They warned that the target of the supermajority would be the justice system. Prime Minister Rama has long been engaged in a campaign of attacks and rhetoric against the courts, the prosecution and special magistrates. /BIRN/
