In the last six months, the State Police has identified thousands of cases of illegal construction and land occupation, but the number of officials prosecuted for abuse of office can be counted on the fingers of one hand - which, according to lawyers, shows a lack of seriousness in enforcing the law.
Almost every day, Prime Minister Edi Rama posts videos from the actions of the Inspectorate of Territorial Protection to free public spaces and sidewalks from bar tents with signs like "No rest" or "We walk without stopping."
Since the beginning of July, the IMT action has identified and disrupted thousands of such illegal cases, but only a small percentage of them have been accompanied by legal processes, while the number of proceedings against public servants tasked with guarding the territory can be counted on the fingers of one hand.
According to data that BIRN obtained from the State Police, out of 1,254 cases of illegal construction found during the six-month period from February 20 to August 20, only 378 cases belong to the period of the action to liberate public spaces.
Meanwhile, 324 cases of the criminal offense of land occupation were found for the 6-month period, of which 182 cases belong to the months of July and August.
According to the State Police, 1,305 people have been prosecuted in six months, of whom 36 have been arrested and 32 have been declared wanted by the police. About 28% of those prosecuted belong to the period July - August 20; respectively, with 377 prosecuted, of whom 21 have been arrested and 14 have been declared wanted.
The protection of the territory is guaranteed by law and the main responsible institutions whose function is to protect public property and prohibit, prevent or control illegal construction and land occupation are the Inspectorates of Territory Protection at the municipalities.
However, State Police data show that only three cases of the criminal offense of abuse of office were found during this period, with three people arrested and three others prosecuted at large.
A week ago, the Police arrested an employee of the Inspectorate of Territory Protection in the Municipality of Tirana and prosecuted two others, after they were accused of demanding a bribe of 100 thousand lek in exchange for permission to set up tents. Meanwhile, the Police Supervision Agency announced on September 3 that it had arrested a citizen for illegal construction in a protected area in Tropoja and that it had prosecuted a police officer and an employee of the National Agency for Protected Areas on suspicion of abuse of office.
Lawyers assess that this data shows a lack of seriousness in law enforcement regarding the neglect of state officials' responsibility for public spaces.
“Implementing the law through campaigning and in a selective manner is very dangerous for two reasons: the lack of legal certainty for the citizen who is allowed to engage in illegality by misusing his property, and secondly, it educates the official to behave as a vassal of his boss, not of the law,” lawyer Eugen Beçi told BIRN.
"If it is not a propaganda campaign, this campaign of demolishing thousands of unauthorized buildings should be an indicator of the total failure of all institutions that control the territory, and the list of people who have abused their office should not be 7 or 8 officials, but hundreds of them," he concluded.
BIRN
