Monitoring SPAK and the Special Court: Building At
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Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected] COLLECTION OF CASE REPORTS AND UPDATES JULY 2020 – APRIL 2021 PROJECT: “Monitoring SPAK and the Special Court: Building a track record of prosecutions and convictions?”, supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, through the MATRA funds. Implemented by: The Center for Legal and Social Studies (LSSC) MAY 2021 Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected] SUMMARY This collection of case reports and updates is produced by the Center for Legal and Social Studies (LSSC), in the framework of the project: “Monitoring SPAK and the Special Court: Building a track record of prosecutions and convictions?”, supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, through the MATRA funds. In total there are 40 case reports and/or updates of indictments/ convictions prosecuted by SPAK and adjudicated by the Special Court (First Instance and Court of Appeals). The cases selected are mostly of a high profile, either due to the public officials involved, or because of the important trend they represent in tackling organized crime and corruption. The independent comments provided for each case aim to evaluate, from a qualitative perspective, whether these two new institutions are delivering concrete results, worthy of building a track record against organized crime and corruption. The reports are published periodically and can be found in Albanian and in English at: https://lssc-al.com/activities/?lang=en Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected] ROLLING TRACK RECORD REPORT July 2020 Prepared and published by: Legal and Social Studies Center, 01 August 2020. Project: “Monitoring SPAK and the Special Court: Building a track record of prosecutions and convictions?” Table of Contents Case 1 - SPAK v. Saimir Tahiri & Jaeld Çela 2 Case 2 - SPAK v. Ilirjan Memia and related persons Adriatik Memia, Lindita Memia 5 Case 3 - SPAK v. Gentjan Duraku 8 Case 4 - SPAK v. Adriatik Llalla 10 Case 5 - SPAK v. Luan Daci 12 Case 6 – Albanian Electiongate: SPAK v. Shpëtim Stafa, Elidon Stafa, etc. – Lack of subject-matter competence. 15 1 Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected] Case 1 - SPAK v. Saimir Tahiri & Jaeld Çela: Ex Minister of Interior Tahiri back to square one? Keywords: Saimir Tahiri, SPAK, Special Court against Corruption and Organized Crime, ex- Albanian Minister of Interior, drug trafficking. 1. Facts: Saimir Tahiri served as an SP appointed Minister of Interior for approximately 4 years, from 2013 to March 2017. The first public accusations against him started in 2015, when an ex-police officer in exile, Mr. Dritan Zagani accused Tahiri of using his own personal car to help the Habilaj brothers (his cousins) undertake international drug trafficking operations towards Greece. However, the main developments pertaining to this case started 2 years after such allegations. Tahiri was dismissed as Minister of Interior on 11 March 2017. In October of that same year, Moisi Habilaj and other members of his criminal band were arrested in Italy under charges of narcotics trafficking. The Catania Prosecution Office in Italy mentioned in its investigation the name of Tahiri as then Minister of Interior. On November 2017 an Italian journalist of MeridioNews, published the interception files on the Habilajs and stated for the Albanian media, that these interceptions included references made to the ex-Minister of Interior Tahiri as being involved in facilitating drug trafficking. The interceptions showed the Habilajs claiming to control the police and to have spies in a military radar station to help direct their operations. At the same time, the Albanian police arrested a citizen named Orest Sota, known for his connections to Tahiri. The police found 800,000 Euros in cash in his car and two boat operating licenses belonging to ex Minister Tahiri. In May 2018 Tahiri resigned from his MP post, a position he held despite all the investigations against him. In July 2018, the then Prosecution for Serious Crimes petitioned the Court to have Tahiri arrested, but the Court was sufficed with issuing a house arrest warrant. By the end of February 2019, the Prosecution sent the case to the First Instance Court for Serious Crimes. (Apart from Tahiri, a police chief named Jaeld Çela, who was first adjudicated while missing, is the other co-defendant in this case). 2. Procedural history: 2 Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected] The final charges against Tahiri were “Narcotics trafficking in cooperation with others, in the form of a structured criminal group”, “Structured Criminal Group”, and “Criminal offences conducted by a criminal structured group”. The Prosecution asked for a total of 12 years imprisonment for Tahiri, which would then be reduced to 8 years, due to the request to proceed with a so called “abbreviated trial”, as per articles 403 et seq. of the Albanian Criminal Procedural Code (CPC). This form of trial means that the court proceeds with the evidence as it stands, with no further evidentiary inquiries. Although not an admission of guilt, such proceedings are often perceived by the public at large as convenient for guilty defendants, due to its benefit of a reduced sentence. On September 2019, the First Instance of the then Court for Serious Crimes, found Tahiri guilty of abuse of office, sentencing him to 5 years in prison, converted to three years of probation. All three prosecution charges against Tahiri were dismissed. The main rationale for the verdict was that while there was not enough evidence to establish the initial three charges, there was evidence supporting abuse of office by Tahiri. The court found that, despite Tahiri denying there was any relationship between him and the Habilajs, from the analyzed evidence, there was indeed a state of established relations and ties between the Habilajs and Tahiri, while he was serving as Minister of Interior. The case was appealed to the Special Court of Appeals against Corruption and Organized Crime by both, the Prosecution and the defendants. 3. Issue/s: The main legal issues which the Special Court of Appeals dealt with, were: a) whether Tahiri was guilty of abuse of office, instead of the other three charges brought forward against him by the Prosecution, and b) whether there were any procedural grounds to nullify the first instance verdict? 4. Holding: The Special Court of Appeals, in a unanimous decision, on 26.06.2020 decided to reverse verdict no. 60 of 19.09.2019 of the then Serious Crimes Court of First Instance, (now Special Court of First Instance against Corruption and Organized Crime) and remand it for re-adjudication to a different panel of the same court. 3 Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected] 5. Rationale: First, the court considered the reason put forward by Tahiri in his appeal that, as long as Catania`s Preliminary Investigation Judge in Italy had not found any evidence against him, the current court case in Albania violated the ne bis in idem principle (which means that no legal action/no sanction can be instituted/ rendered twice for the same cause of action). The court concluded that such an argument was unfound, reasoning that the Catania decision did not constitute a final binding verdict, in order to produce the effect required by Tahiri. Secondly, the court found there were no charges of abuse of office brought in by the Prosecution and the First Instance Court did not simply re-qualify a criminal fact, but it eventually brought up a completely new charge (abuse of office), which is an exclusive prerogative of the Prosecution. Lastly, the court found that the reference to 4 separate episodes of drug trafficking in the years 2016 and 2017, does not legitimize a requalification of the fact as abuse of office. Instead, in the court`s view, attention should be paid to article 28/6 of the Albanian Criminal Code which stipulates that members of a structured criminal group are liable for all the criminal offences committed by them in fulfilling the aims of their criminal activity. This means that the first instance court will have to re-analyze whether these episodes fall under the scope of the above article. 6. Comment: The verdict has met with mixed reactions, by the media and the ex-Minister of Interior Tahiri. However, its correct interpretation is that, the first instance court re-adjudicating the case, will have to clarify once again, whether the charges of membership to a structured criminal group and committal of criminal offences as part of that group, stand. Moreover, this verdict does not mean that since the charge of abuse of office is considered unfound, Tahiri will go unpunished. To the contrary, what it really means, is that there is a need to reassess the other charges brought forward by the Prosecution and the court cannot hide under the pretext of a requalification of the criminal fact brought before it, by effectively changing (meaning easing up) the criminal charges. As such, although this is by no means a final verdict, the stance taken by the Special Court of Appeals, does constitute a step ahead towards fighting corruption/ organized crime in Albania. The Tahiri case remains a landmark one, which will eventually illustrate whether the new institutions are ready to start a new era of ending impunity for high public officials. 4 Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected] Case 2 - SPAK v.