Seizure Order Against Albanian News Portal Condemned

Lapsi.al editors and co-owners Andi Bushati and Armand Shkullaku after meeting prosecutors at the Special Structure Against Corruption and Organized Crime, SPAK, who ordered them to hand over the controversial database. Photo: LSA

Experts and rights organisations called it a blatant attempt to intimidate journalists in breach of their human rights and the principles of the European Court of Human Rights, ECHR.

Prosecutors launched an investigation after Lapsi.al revealed the existence of a massive database purportedly belonging to the ruling Socialist Party containing information on each voter, including background, voting history, family links or employment status.

Prosecutors ordered Lapsi.al to hand over the database but the editors refused, saying that could expose their source or sources.

"The intervention of the prosecutors and the court against Lapsi.al's right to report on a matter of public interest is just another attempt by those in power to intimidate the media," Flutura Kusari, a legal advisor at the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, ECPMF, told BIRN.

"Instead of investigating the breach of privacy by the Socialist Party, they are attempting to intimidate journalists and their sources," Kusari added, saying that the decision contravenes the standards of the ECHR.

Dorjan Matlija, a human rights lawyer in Tirana, told BIRN that the court decision was based on flawed reasoning.

"The prosecutors have other possibilities to investigate the matter based on the accusations of the opposition Democratic Party against Prime Minister [Edi Rama] and other officials," Matlija said.

He added that before approving such a request, the court should have considered the need to protect the sources, an...