Albania MPs Call for Top Justice Officials to Go

The parliamentary investigative commission, which has been boycotted by the opposition Democratic Party, is expected to recommend the dismissal of the deputy chairman of the High Council of Justice, Elvis Cefa, and one of its members, Lulzim Lecaj.

The commission accused Cefa and Lelcaj of directing the work of the Council in breach of the constitution. The Council is also accused of promoting its members to key positions in the judiciary in contravention to the law.

"These breaches of the law were done intentionally," Spartak Braho, a member of the commission said on Friday. "We didn't have a Council but a gang that controlled the justice system in Albania," he added.

Both Cefa and Lelcaj have denied wrongdoing. During the commission's hearings they called the probe politically motivated, accusing the ruling centre-left majority of Prime Minister Edi Rama of trying to put the justice system under its control.

The High Council of Justice, HCJ, an institution headed by President Bujar Nishani, acts as a sort of governing body for the judicial system. The deputy chairman is selected by parliament and runs the institutions and its inspectorate at an administrative level.

Cefa was elected deputy chairman of the HCJ in 2013, with the votes of the Democratic Party, which is now in opposition.   

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