Albania Judges Call for Halt to Public Attacks

In an open letter to the President, parliament and the High Council of Justice the Union of Judges said international standards on the judicial system do not permit denigration of judges in public.

The union said: "Basic United Nations principles on the independence of the judiciary prescribe that 'complaints against judges in their professional capacity should be treated with speed and justice, based on appropriate procedure.

But judges have a right to a just hearing process, the union added. “The investigation should be kept secret in the preliminary phase, unless the judge asks otherwise,” it continued.  

The letter comes after Albania’s Minister of Interior, Saimir Tahiri, accused a number of judges of freeing criminals in a series of open letters addressed to the President and the High Council of Justice.

Judges, and the court system in general, have a poor reputation in Albania. According to Transparency International, Albania is the most corrupt country in Balkans and one of the most corrupt in Europe and the judiciary its perceived as one the most corrupt sectors of officialdom.

The Berlin-based watchdog organization’s “Corruption Perception Index” saw Albania drop in its rankings from 113th place out of 176 countries in 2012 to 116th position in 2013 - the worst performer in the region for the third year in a row.

In the organization’s 2013 Global Corruption Barometer, more than three-quarters of surveyed citizens perceive the judiciary to be corrupt, making it the most corrupt of the 12 institutions included in the survey for Albania.