Monitoring SPAK and the Special Court: Building At

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË lssc.albania@gmail.com [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

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:

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.

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.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 2 - SPAK v. Ilirjan Memia and related persons Adriatik Memia, Lindita Memia (asset confiscation request under anti-mafia law).

Keywords: anti-mafia law, SPAK, Special Court against Corruption and Organized Crime, illegal assets, confiscation, drug trafficking, Netherlands, Latin America.

1. Facts:

The Dutch legal authorities, namely the Prosecution Office of Amsterdam, has submitted a letter rogatory, based on which they have informed the Albanian authorities that the Albanian citizens Ilirjan Memia, Valentin Selaj, Florenc Guri, Erion Koleci, Ded Pjetri and polish citizen Jorgo Wajtaszczyk are being investigated in the Netherlands on the suspected charges of “Narcotics trafficking”, “Participation in a criminal organization” and “Laundering of products of criminal activity”. These offences are criminalized under both, Dutch law and Albanian law, respectively for the latter under articles 283/a, 333/a and 287 of the Albanian Criminal Code.

The criminal activity has been conducted in the field of narcotics trafficking, mostly cocaine, from Latin American countries to Amsterdam via sea routes, and then to other European countries, such as the UK, Italy, etc. During the Dutch investigation, there has been a seizure of 97 kg cocaine and 16 kg heroin belonging to the above mentioned suspects.

Based on the above, the Dutch authorities have concluded that there are reasonable doubts that parts of the assets obtained through such illegal activity, have been transferred to Albania and covered up through various investments. Therefore, the scope of the letter rogatory sent to the Albanian authorities, has been the conduct of asset verifications for these citizens.

2. Procedural history:

Based on the above, SPAK registered the asset prosecution file no. 6 of 18.09.2019 against Ilirjan Memia.

Upon the verifications undertaken by SPAK, as part of the application of law no. 10192 of 03.12.2009 “On Preventing and Combating Organized Crime and Trafficking through Measures against Property”, as amended (known as anti-mafia law), it resulted that suspect Ilirjan Memia and persons related to him, namely his brother Adriatik Memia, and his sister-in-law Lindita Memia, were owners of several movable and immovable assets in Albania. Based on article 3, paragraph 2 of the anti-mafia law, this law is also applicable to closely related persons of the suspect (spouses, children, etc.) for whom there is a presumption of fraudulent registration of assets, unless proven otherwise.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Therefore, based on reasonable doubts that such properties are the result of criminal activity, as the related persons do not otherwise justify the income to buy these assets, on 02 July 2020, SPAK requested the Special Court of First Instance to confiscate the following:

- An apartment of 133.4 m2, situated in Linze, Tirana, bought for the price of 83,288 Euros. - A garage of 31 m2, situated in Linze, Tirana bought for the price of 15,000 Euro. - A plot of agricultural land of 430 m2, situated in Sauk, Tirane, obtained through a donation contract. - A VW car, year of production 2013, bought for the price of 15,000 Euros. - A Koch car, year of production 2015, bought for the price of 1,200 Euros. - An Audi car, year of production 2016, bought for the price of 20,000 Euros.

3. Issue/s:

The main legal issue with which the Special Court will be faced with when dealing with this case, is:

a) whether the related persons manage to satisfy the burden of proof to otherwise evidence that these properties were obtained through legal income?

4. Comment:

The case is yet to be decided by the Special Court of First Instance, remaining however an important case, not only for the application of the anti-mafia law, but also for the fight against international drug trafficking.

Meanwhile, statistics of asset confiscations requests by SPAK conducted under the scope of application of the Operation “The Force of Law” (OFL), for the first half of 2020, are out. According to them, the General Directory of the State Police, implementing the Normative Act no. 1 of 31.01.2020 (the OFL act), has submitted 92 asset seizure cases to SPAK, requesting the seizure evaluation of a total of 243 properties, up until 31.05.2020. Out of these 243 properties, 137 are vehicles and 106 are immovable property (land and objects).

SPAK has evaluated all such cases and concluded as follows:

a) There has been a finding of legality of asset seizure conducted by Police and a subsequent request to the Special Court of First Instance for the seizure of 102 properties (31 immovable properties and 71 vehicles).

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected] b) There has been a finding of illegality (not in conformity with the OFL normative act and the emergency situation) in terms of seizure/ request for seizure of 80 properties (37 immovable properties and 43 vehicles). Therefore, the files for such properties have been sent back to the State Police. c) During June 2020, SPAK has submitted, for those cases when the Special Court has approved the seizure of property, 25 confiscation requests for 37 properties (8 immovable properties and 29 vehicles).

The above statistics, seen together with the more frequent application of the anti-mafia law, represent a positive trend in combating organized crime through measures against property. Nevertheless, there is still a need to see more intense applications of “following-the- money” techniques and more proactive investigations in fighting organized crime, be they local investigations, or in cooperation with international partners.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 3 - SPAK v. Gentjan Duraku (in cooperation with Ervis Dalipaj and Nihat Xhaferaj)

Keywords: organized crime, aggravated theft, Germany, conviction as part of structured criminal group.

1. Facts:

The defendant Gentjan Duraku was arrested in connection to the theft of 29 different residential properties in Germany during the period 2015-2017. During such period he was wanted as one of the notorious Albanian suspected criminals operating in Germany, in cooperation with at least two other identified individuals. More specifically his collaborators were Ervis Dalipaj and Nihat Xhaferaj, which together with Duraku acted as part of a structured criminal group. Dalipaj and Xhaferaj have already been sentenced by the Offenburg Court in Germany.

In 2017, the Prosecution for Serious Crimes sent the case to the First Instance Court for Serious Crimes.

2. Procedural history:

The final charges against Duraku were: Theft of 29 residential properties belonging to different German citizens, committed in the territory of the Germany during 2015-2017, as part of a structured criminal group, in cooperation with the other Albanian citizens Ervis Dalipaj and Nihat Xhaferaj, already sentenced by the Offenburg Court in Germany.

3. Issue/s:

While the charges were easily evidenced in this case, the main legal issue which the Special Court of First Instance was faced with, was:

a) When a criminal offence is committed as part of a structured criminal group, is there a different sentencing simply for participation in such a group, or does the sentencing for the offense committed as part of the group, already include any potential sanction to be rendered?

4. Holding:

The Special Court of First Instance, in its decision of 01.07.2020 found the defendant Duraku guilty of the crime of theft with severe consequences, committed in cooperation with other individuals in the form of a structured criminal group, as well as for committing

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

criminal offences as part of a criminal structured group, sentencing him to 10 years in prison. He was also found guilty separately for the charge of “Structured criminal group” (belonging to such group) and sentenced to 3 years. In adding the sanctions and by applying the reduction guaranteed under the abbreviated trial form, he was finally convicted to 7 years and 4 months imprisonment.

5. Rationale:

The evidentiary aspect of this case was rather straight forward, with the committal of theft being easily established. Meanwhile, with regards to the main issue of the proper sentencing for cases of crimes committed as part of a structured criminal group, the court reasoned that, separate sanctions can be rendered for being a member of such group and for committing criminal offences as part of the group (apart from the main crime conviction, such as theft in this case).

6. Comment:

This decision is important not due to the nature of the crime, but more so with regards to the reasoning employed by it for properly sanctioning criminal offences committed as parts of structured criminal groups. Courts have differed in the past exactly in this regard, while there is no Unified Decision of the High Court covering such issue.

The lack of a consolidated practice meant that courts would have room for maneuvering, by claiming in certain cases that their lenient sanctions are due to the fact that a defendant cannot be sanctioned twice, for committing the crime as part of a structured criminal group and for simply being part of such group. This latest stance of the Special Court means that there is now an approach (albeit not yet consolidated) towards a harsher conviction of the participation and committal of criminal offences, as part of a structured criminal group.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 4 - SPAK v. Adriatik Llalla

Keywords: Adriatik Llalla, SPAK, Special Court against Corruption and Organized Crime, ex- Albanian General Prosecutor, hiding of assets.

1. Facts:

Adriatik Llalla was elected General Prosecutor (GP) in 2012 and he held this post till November 2017. The investigation against him started initially by the Prosecution Office of Durres, in 2018, for the suspected offences of hiding of property, abuse of office, money laundering and lack of declaration of monetary sums at the border.

After the file was transferred at the Prosecution for Serious Crimes, in July 2018 the Court for Serious Crimes decided to seize the assets of the ex GP, respectively a 67 square meter apartment in Durres and 4 land plots of a total of 22.050 square meters in the suburbs of Tirana.

As time passed, the charges against Llalla kept diminishing and in March of this year, SPAK notified that it had completed its investigation only for the criminal charge of “Refusal to declare, non-declaration, concealment or fraudulent declaration of property, private interests of elected persons and public servants, or any other person that bears the legal duty to declare”. According to SPAK, this offence was committed three times by ex GP Llalla.

2. Procedural history:

The final charges against Llalla were “Refusal to declare, non-declaration, concealment or fraudulent declaration of property, private interests of elected persons and public servants, or any other person that bears the legal duty to declare”, committed three times. Article 257/a, paragraph 2 of the Albanian Criminal Code that covers this offence, provides that it is punishable by a fine or imprisonment of up to 3 years.

3. Issue/s:

The main legal issue with which the Special Court was faced at this procedural moment, was:

a) whether there was enough evidence obtained through a complete investigation process to warrant a continuation of the adjudication of the case?

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

4. Holding:

On 09.07.2020, the Special Court of First Instance, decided to remand the investigation file to SPAK, in order for the latter to complete the investigation against ex GP Llalla. The verdict of the preliminary session judge, basically approved a request of the defendant`s lawyer to this effect. The next session will be held on November 2020.

5. Rationale:

The court, acting in a preliminary session, the main purpose of which is to assess whether the investigation file is complete in order to warrant a continuation of the case to trial, concluded that more investigation was needed in this case. According to the defendant`s lawyer request, there is a need to verify all the transactions focusing on Llalla`s assets in order to conclude whether there has been a criminal offence of hiding such assets. Moreover, a new witness has been called in order to shed light on a cash present of several thousand USDs, on the occasion of the birth of Llalla`s son.

6. Comment:

This verdict delays once again a potential conviction against Llalla. While completion of the investigation is necessary before the case proceeds to trial, the total investigation period for this case has been already quite long (2 years). An extra final postponement is permissible, only upon approval by the Head of SPAK, otherwise the case risks to be dismissed for violation of procedural safeguards, such as time limitations of the investigation phase.

Another concern relates to the fact that, with the passing of time, this case has witnessed a considerable shrinking of the charges, from 4 initial charges to only one remaining. While it is yet to be seen what the stance of the Special Court will be, such delays do not ultimately help the fight against the impunity of high public officials.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 5 - SPAK v. Luan Daci

Keywords: Luan Daci, SPAK, Special Appeal Chamber, vetting commissioner, falsification of documents.

1. Facts:

Luan Daci is a member of the Special Appeal Chamber (AC), a constitutional institution that carries out the vetting of judges and prosecutors in the Republic of Albania at the second instance (appeal) level.

In January of this year, Mr. Besnik Cani, a prosecutor and prior member of the High Prosecutorial Council (HPC), who was dismissed by the AC, filed a criminal report against the defendant, claiming that he had falsified his application documents in 2017, when he applied for the position of AC member. According to the report, the defendant hid a 1997 decision of the then High Judicial Council to remove him from office for legal violations and incompetence. The defendant did not disclose such dismissal during his interview with the ad hoc parliamentary committee before joining the vetting institutions, and instead claimed that he had resigned.

2. Procedural history:

Five months after the investigation started, in May 2020, SPAK requested from the Special Court to impose on the defendant the personal precautionary measure of suspension from carrying out a public duty or service.

By verdict of 20 May 2020, the Special Court imposed such measure on the defendant, which prompted the AC to suspend all court sessions where the defendant was a panel member.

On appeal submitted by Daci, on 5 June 2020, the Special Court of Appeals overruled the suspension verdict, enabling the defendant to return to office. The core reasoning for such verdict was that the documents presented by Daci during his application process, such as his application request and CV, did not constitute official documents. Meanwhile, one of the members of the panel adjudicating Daci at the Special Court of Appeals, was Judge Nertina Kosova, whom had previously been confirmed in duty by a split AC decision, of which the defendant was a member of the majority opinion.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

As a result of this official communication of the charges to the accused, on 24 July 2020, the AC decided to suspend the defendant from office. Different from its reaction to the previous suspension ordered by the Special Court as a personal precautionary measure, this time the AC decided to not suspend all the cases where the defendant was a panel member, but to substitute him with another AC judge.

3. Issue/s:

The main legal issue with which the Special Court will be faced with when dealing with the merits of this case, is:

a) Whether providing false information on previous disciplinary measures in an official application form and a CV, constitutes falsification of documents?

4. Comment:

The case is yet to be decided by the Special Court of First Instance, but despite its rather early stages, it has garnered a lot of attention.

First, the case was used by the media to shed light into how the political influence over the election mechanisms of vetting commissioners, compromised the quality and professionalism of those so elected. The defendant`s pofessional background became a target for scrutiny, given also that he was appointed as a judge in the early 1990s, after a very short period of only 6 months training and was officially dismissed for legal violations and incompetence.

Secondly, the precautionary measure of suspension from duty and the subsequent AC suspension of all the cases when the defendant was a panel member, caused quite some havoc. Daci was sitting on a number of high profile cases that could dictate the progress of the justice reform, such as the vetting of applicants for the Constitutional Court, the vetting of the previous Head of the Prosecution Office for Serious Crimes, etc. Some experts and media outlets considered the suspension of Daci as an act of influence by those politicians who were interested in stalling the justice reform. Only shortly after such suspension, the US Ambassador Yuri Kim visited the AC, expressly convening the message that the vetting has to go on, no matter the obstacles.

Thirdly, the composition of the panel of judges overturning the suspension measure at the Special Court of Appeals, also came under public scrutiny. One of such members was judge Nertina Kosova, who had been confirmed in duty by the AC in a rare confirmation verdict, in which the defendant sided with the majority opinion. This was viewed by some experts as an open conflict of interest and a clear case of “a favor returned”. Moreover, the

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected] reasoning used, according to which an application form/ request and a CV do not constitute documents, remains questionable from a legal, as well as simply logical point of view.

Furthermore, the inconsistency in the AC reaction to the progress of this case, has been at least puzzling from a legal perspective. When the defendant was first suspended from duty by the Special Court, the AC decided to suspend all of the cases where he was a panel member. Meanwhile, in the second case, although the defendant was again suspended from office (this time by the AC), the latter decided to substitute him with other judges by drawing lots for each of his cases. Although the second suspension is a result of the official indictment by SPAK, its different treatment by the AC has not been legally explained. While this might be an attempt to not delay any of the ongoing AC cases, its different approach to this case needs to be legally justified. Moreover, the AC also needs to ensure that it causes no due process violation for the vetting assessees, who might potentially argue that a change in the adjudicating panel, violates their right to be tried by a competent court established by law.

Finally, this suspension might not be the only one reserved for the AC, given the fact that there is a criminal report filed also against another AC member, namely judge Ardian Hajdari. That is why setting very clear legal standards on what happens once a member of a vetting institution is suspended from office, will ultimately help to fight off any future maneuvers to block, or slow down the implementation of the justice reform.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 6 – Albanian Electiongate: SPAK v. Shpëtim Stafa, Elidon Stafa, etc. – Lack of subject- matter competence.

Keywords: Electoral crimes, SPAK, Special Court against Corruption and Organized Crime, Durrës, elections, drug trafficking, politicians, criminal links, lack of competence.

7. Facts:

This SPAK investigation refers to the suspected vote-rigging of the parliamentary elections in Durres in 2017. The case is widely known for the public as the “Albanian electiongate” scandal.

A number of voting commissioners and citizens have been investigated under the suspicion of allowing people to vote for them, or voting on behalf of others. The investigation, known widely as Dossier 339 included taped conversations between organized crime suspects and Socialist Party (SP) officials, such as between ex-Mayor of Durrës, Vangjush Dako and Astrit Avdylaj, the head of a drug trafficking organization.

The investigation was initially focused on members of the Avdylaj gang from the city of Shijak on the suspicion of drug trafficking, criminal structured group and money laundering. More specifically, in October 2018, an amount of 182.5 kg heroin was seized in a narcotics production lab in Has (north of Albania), involving Albanian and Turkish citizens. As the investigation progressed, it then led to the discovery of the communication of members of the criminal gang with high profile politicians and other individuals regarding the rigging of the parliamentary elections of 2017, mostly in the region of Durrës. The tapes were leaked to the German newspaper BILD, which published them last year. As to the person allegedly leaking them, some anonymous commentators have pointed towards a prosecutor dismissed by the vetting process, who at the time was in charge of this investigation.

The wiretaps also included conversations on vote influencing activities of the SP in Dibër, implicating high profile politicians, amongst which, ex Minister of Energy Gjiknuri and PM Rama.

8. Procedural history:

After a rather lengthy investigation, in July 2020, SPAK requested from the Special Court to impose on 22 defendants the personal precautionary measures of detention in prison, house arrest and duty to appear at the judicial police. These measures refer to the branch of the investigation concerned with the 2017 election rigging.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

More specifically, initially the measures were imposed on commissioners (amongst others) from three polling stations, namely: Shpëtim Stafa, Elidon Stafa, Ramiz Tuda, Bashkim Allushi, Jakup Bregu, Altin Lala, Fredi Marku, Dalvis Biba, Emilian Tuda, Redi Hysa, Kasem Lala, Kujtim Uruçi, Zyhra Lala, Qemal Domi, Besim Bregu, Indrit Bici, Mehdi Lala, Agim Lala, Oriada Lala, Bujar Sula, and Qazim Lala. The investigation for these commissioners focused on the suspicion that they have willingly allowed other persons who were presented before them to vote on behalf of other voters. Meanwhile, the measure against citizen Armelin Zela was imposed in the framework of the investigation for voting on behalf of other persons. After the measures were issued, it resulted that two of the commissioners, namely Kasem Lala and Besim Bregu had passed away, but their deceased status was not yet registered in the civil registry office.

On 28 July 2020, the Special Court ordered the imposition of all 22 precautionary measures requested from SPAK, out of which 20 of them were enforced (while for the two deceased, SPAK requested to vacate the case).

After such verdict, on 30 July 2020, the Special Court decided to declare lack of subject- matter jurisdiction for this case and to remand the case to the Durrës Prosecution Office for further investigations, since, according to it, the charge of a structured criminal group, does not stand. The reasoning of the decision is yet to be published and the verdict will be commented when such reasoning becomes available.

9. Issue/s:

The main legal issue with which the Durrës Court (if it continues to remain competent) will be faced with, when dealing with this case, is:

c) Whether electoral crimes committed by electoral commissioners can be categorized as simply voting on behalf of other persons?

d) Whether (the alleged) involvement of high profile politicians will warrant a different categorization of the offence and an inevitable expansion of the case, as well as another change of the subject-matter competence?

10. Comment:

Although the investigation started years ago (since 2016 for the trafficking of drugs), the case is still in its early judicial stages and is yet to be decided, now by the Durrës District Court.

However, its importance remains undeniable. It was indeed the publication of the wiretaps of this case that sparked the opposition anti-government protests last year and the mass resignations of the Assembly mandates from the Democratic Party MPs.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Meanwhile, the biggest surprising element of the arrests requested by SPAK, is that while the wiretaps involved high profile figures from the leading SP majority, none of them appear to be brought in front of the court. Moreover, a majority of the commissioners arrested belong to opposition parties, such as DP and the Socialist Movement for Integration (SMI), while the wiretaps showed involvement of SP officials.

Another disappointment refers to the fact that the categorization of the offences committed cannot be limited to voting on behalf of other persons, especially when voting commissioners are involved. A more severe approach will be needed in such case. This is also linked with the declaration of lack of subject-matter competence by the Special Court, which once again shows a tendency to downplay the gravity and severity of the offences committed.

Lastly, one of the 15 conditions set out by the European Commission for the Accession Talks, includes completion of first instance trials against senior officials and politicians involved in vote-buying. However, while the above arrests were numerous and garnered a lot of media attention, from a qualitative point of view, they do simply that (collect such attention).

Having said this, there is still a long road ahead till the finalization of the first instance trial for this case (which will now be tried by the Durres District Court) and these arrests do not truly represent a comprehensive fulfillment of the above condition, as long as no high profile politicians appear to be part of them. At a minimum and irrespective of the political sensitivity of these issues, the Prosecution needs to legally justify such omissions from the investigation file and reason why most of the commissioners against whom the precautionary measures were imposed, belong indeed to the losing opposition parties.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

ROLLING TRACK RECORD REPORT

August 2020

Prepared and published by: Legal and Social Studies Center, 01 September 2020.

Project: “Monitoring SPAK and the Special Court: Building a track record of prosecutions and convictions?”

Table of Contents

Case 1 - SPAK v. Ylli Ndroqi and related person Mimoza Ndroqi 2 Case 2 – SPAK v. Astrit Beqiri and Dhimitër Shkodrani: Following the money on Operation “Goldfinger”. 6 Case 3 - SPAK v. Valentin Selaj and related persons Vasil Selaj, Leze Selaj, Aleks (Ardian) Selaj 9

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 1 - SPAK v. Ylli Ndroqi and related person Mimoza Ndroqi (asset seizure request under anti-mafia law).

Keywords: Ylli Ndroqi, SPAK, Special Court against Corruption and Organized Crime, drug trafficking, media owner, Turkey, asset confiscation under anti-mafia law).

1. Facts:

Ylli Ndroqi is the president of Ora Radio and Television, a big media outlet in Albania. He is also a quite wealthy businessman, unafraid to publicly showcase his wealth.

According to SPAK, Interpol Tirana has confirmed that Ndroqi is the same person known to foreign police as Xhemail Pasmaçiu and has been arrested twice. He was first detained in September 1998 in Istanbul, Turkey, for possession of 30.5 kg of heroin, seized as part of the Turkish police operation named “ESAS”. Later on, the Milan Prosecution Office issued a warrant for Ylli Ndroqi’s (a.k.a. Xhemail Pasmaçiu) arrest, as part of the operation named “Bakllava”, on suspected charges of being the leader of an international drug trafficking ring. The ring was mostly composed of Albanians living abroad. Based on this warrant, he was arrested on February 17, 2015.

Despite all the above, Ndroqi continued to freely develop his numerous businesses in Albania and he is also an honorary consul of the Republic of Mexico in Albania. Meanwhile, his spouse Mimoza Ndroqi is an honorary consul of the Republic of Kosovo.

2. Procedural history:

Based on the above information, SPAK registered the asset prosecution file no. 10, of 21.07.2020, against Ylli Ndroqi (a.k.a. Xhemail Pasmaciu).

Upon the verifications undertaken by SPAK, as part of the application of law no. 10192 of 03.12.2009 “On Preventing and Combating Organized Crime and Trafficking through Measures against Property”, as amended (the anti-mafia law), SPAK concluded that the properties owned by the suspect and his relatives cannot be legally justified.

According to SPAK, there are reasonable doubts that these assets are the result of Ndroqi`s criminal activity in Albania, Turkey and Italy. As a result, it requested the Special Court of First Instance to confiscate a total of 26 properties, movable and immovable, registered under the name of Ndroqi himself and his wife, Mimoza Ndroqi. More specifically, the properties refer to:

1. An apartment of 117 m 2, situated in Durres. 2. Plot of land of 300 m 2, situated in Zbarqe, Tirana.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

3. Plot of land of 600 m 2 and a building of 90 m 2 situated in Zbarqe, Tiranë. 4. A service unit of 43.7 m 2, situated in Tirana. 5. A plot of agricultural land of 67.3 m 2, situated in Tirana. 6. A plot of land of 15 m 2, situated in Tirana. 7. A plot of land of 300 m 2, situated in Zbarqe, Tirana. 8. A plot of land of a total of 2026 m 2, situated in Mullet, Tirana. 9. An apartment of 52.3 m 2, situated in Tirana, co-owned with his spouse Mimoza Ndroqi 10. Forest land of 100 000 m 2, situated in Lanabregas, Tirana. 11. A Mercedes-Benz car, model S600, license plate AA 007 YN. 12. A BMW car, license plate AA 007 AV. 13. A Land Rover car, model Range Rover Vogue, license plate CD 6902 A (The diplomatic license plates were given because of Ndroqi being an honorary consul for Mexico). 14. A Mercedes-Benz car, model S600, license plates CD 6901 A. 15. A Rolls Royce car, model Phantom, license plate AA 001 YN, owned by spouse Mimoza Ndroqi. 16. 51% of the shares of the company ″Landon″ L.L.C., owned by Ndroqi. 17. The shares of company “YLDON” L.L.C., owned by Ndroqi. 18. The shares of company “RENDON OIL″ L.L.C. 19. The shares of company “DON – UCD” L.L.C., owned by Ndroqi. 20. 80% of the shares of company ″Ecogades Landon Balcan″ PLC, with shareholder company ″Landon″ L.L.C, represented by Ndroqi. 21. 30% of the shares of company ″CHANNEL ONE″, L.L.C., owned by Ndroqi. 22. 50% of the shares of company ″P S 31″ L.L.C., owned by Ndroqi. 23. 80% of the shares of company ″INTERKINEX″ L.L.C., with shareholder company ″YLDON″ L.L.C., represented by Ndroqi. 24. 60% of the shares of company ″ORA″ PLC., owned by Ndroqi and 40% of the shares owned by his spouse Mimoza Ndroqi. 25. The shares of company ″REN-DON″ L.L.C., owned by Ndroqi. 26. 50% of the shares of company ″ALBANIA BAY MARINE″ L.L.C., with shareholder company ″YLDON″ L.L.C., represented by Ndroqi.

The Special Court of First Instance, by verdict no. 16, of 01.08.2020 decided to impose a seizure on all the above cited assets, belonging to the suspect and his spouse.

The verdict was appealed by the suspect and his spouse at the Special Court of Appeals.

3. Issue/s:

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

The main legal issue which the Special Court of Appeals (as well as the First Instance Court) faced when dealing with this case, was:

a) whether the suspect and his related person/s could satisfy the burden of proof to otherwise evidence that these properties were obtained through legal income and were not the result of the suspect`s criminal activity?

4. Holding:

The Special Court of Appeals, by verdict of 27 August 2020 decided to confirm the decision of the Special Court of First Instance.

5. Rationale:

Although the complete reasoning of the appeals verdict is not public yet, the essence of the decision rests in the fact that both, the suspect and the related person (the spouse of the suspect), could not prove that the seized assets were obtained through legitimate sources. Since the anti-mafia law establishes a presumption of assets being obtained as a result of criminal activity and the defendants did not prove otherwise, the assets will remain seized under the custody of the Agency for the Administration of the Seized and Confiscated Assets.

6. Comment:

The case has been highly commented on the media, given that it is partly perceived as an attack on the freedom of the media. Ora TV journalists have actively condemned the initiative of SPAK and the Special Court`s verdict. One of the theories as to why this happened only now, is an alleged friction between Ndroqi and Mayor of Tirana Erion Veliaj. Ora TV had become a critical voice of Veliaj and the work of the Municipality of Tirana, especially over the past couple of months.

A series of private text messages sent from Veliaj to Ndroqi were published by the latter right after the seizure verdict. According to them, Veliaj repeatedly asked Ndroqi why the news director at Ora News, journalist Beti Njuma, had taken a strong stance against him and the institution he directs. Njuma has meanwhile resigned and explained that she has been under no pressure by Ndroqi, but that there has been constant pressure over the media, by politicians such as Veliaj.

While the focus on the case appears to have been diverted towards a personal feud between Ndroqi and Veliaj, its essence should remain the fact that Ndroqi continued to work and conduct business undisturbed for many years, despite his police-documented involvement in the two drug trafficking episodes in Turkey and Italy. The fact that SPAK has finally

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

decided to take action, despite all the media frenzy surrounding the case and despite all the powerful connections Ndroqi might have built for himself over the years, is to be positively regarded.

Moreover, the assets seized are evidently numerous and they illustrate a tendency to showcase wealth at every opportunity, without fear of being questioned as to the legitimacy of the source of that wealth. License plates fascination with symbolic numbers such as 007, followed by the initials of the owner, luxurious cars, creation of pyramid ownership structures in companies, etc., all constitute a well spread trend amongst the richest businessmen of Albania.

Another element worth noticing is also the fact that people with an alleged criminal past, have not feared to enter various sectors of the Albanian market, including the media sector and use this type of media access to foster their own personal agendas.

Therefore, (considering that it is not proven the case is simply a political vendetta), being one of the very first of such caliber, the action undertaken by SPAK and the two seizure verdicts, represent a positive sign that even the most powerful businessmen are not immune anymore to the reach of the anti-mafia law.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 2 – SPAK v. Astrit Beqiri and Dhimitër Shkodrani: Following-the-money on Operation “Goldfinger”.

Keywords: SPAK, international drug trafficking, money laundering, asset seizure, Denmark, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, operation “Goldfinger”.

1. Facts:

Danish authorities conducted investigations on a structured criminal group, composed mainly of Albanian citizens, engaged in international drug trafficking, mostly cocaine. They documented that this group had trafficked more than 1,650 kg cocaine and heroin within the EU. The money from this activity was sent as cash to Albania, whereby it was later invested in movable and immovable properties, as well as in setting up different businesses.

Upon request of the Danish authorities, the Albanian prosecution started its investigations, focusing on evidencing the assets that this group had invested in Albania. In cooperation with foreign authorities, on 26 June 2019, 42 arrests were carried out in all the countries where the investigations were extended (Denmark, the Netherlands, etc.). The operation was dubbed as operation “Goldfinger” and it included the seizure of 40 kg cocaine, 600,000 Euros, guns, grenades, several vehicles, etc.

On the same day, Albanian authorities arrested the defendant Astrit Beqiri, resident in Shkodra, for the suspected crimes of “Laundering the proceeds of criminal offence or criminal activity”, “Structured Criminal Group” and “Commission of criminal offences by criminal organizations and structured criminal groups”.

The money laundering scheme started with sending cash from Copenhagen, Denmark to Tetovo, North Macedonia, through the use of buses from the “Alba Trans” transport company, registered in Tetovo. One of the shareholders of this company involved in this scheme was B. Ali, arrested in Denmark. Meanwhile the head of the group operating in Denmark was Jetmir Kastrati (alias Sokol Krasnici) who is the brother-in-law of the defendant Astrit Beqiri. Kastrati was also arrested in Denmark. After reaching North Macedonia, the cash was then taken mostly by the other defendant and member of the structured criminal group, Dhimitër Shkodrani, who transported them through the border to Albania, delivering it to the defendant Astrit Beqiri and other relatives, members of the criminal group. Such transfer occurred with a bi-monthly frequency.

Based on all the above, SPAK completed its investigations for this case, registered as proceeding no. 147 of 2019 and it also seized several assets detailed in the following section.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

2. Procedural history:

The final charges against the defendants Astrit Beqiri and Dhimitër Shkodrani for which SPAK is requesting the Special Court to send the case to trial, are: “Laundering the proceeds of criminal offence or criminal activity” committed through a special form of collaboration in the form of a “Structured Criminal Group” and “Commission of criminal offences by criminal organizations and structured criminal groups”, provided for by articles 287/1 “a”, “b” and “d”, 28/4, 333/a/2 and 334 of the Albanian Criminal Code.

Moreover, SPAK has also seized the following assets as part of this investigation:

1. 173,500 Euros dhe 8,629,000 ALL found during the house search of the defendant Astrit Beqiri. 2. Poultry farm company “RENS 2015”, registered in the name of Astrit Beqiri, but for which the investigation has proved that the investment was a result of the money generated from the criminal activity of his brother-in-law, Jetmir Kastrati (alias Sokol Krasnici), arrested in Denmark. This company is currently working under the administration of the Agency for the Administration of the Seized and Confiscated Assets. 3. 6 residences in Velipoje, Shkodra. 4. 1 Motorbike “Yamaha”. 5. 8 cars, respectively one BMW X5, two Mercedes Benz vehicles, one Volkswagen Golf, a Fiat, one IVECO van, one Daimler Chrysler van.

Meanwhile SPAK is continuing its investigation on other persons suspected as involved in this scheme of money laundering.

3. Issue/s:

The main legal issue/s which the Special Court will face when dealing with this case, are:

a) Whether there is sufficient ground to consider the actions of the defendants, respectively money laundering and transporting of illegal proceeds, as conducted within the framework of a structured criminal group? b) Regarding the assets seizure, whether the defendant/s will satisfy the burden of proof to otherwise evidence that these properties were obtained through legal income and were not the result of criminal activity?

4. Comment:

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

The case, which is yet to be decided by the Special Court of First Instance, represents a successful example of effective cooperation with foreign authorities. Its importance rests in the fact that the case is followed up with assets seizure, a trend on the rise since SPAK has been established.

It is now of very high importance for the Special Court to not mitigate without cause the charges brought forward by SPAK and to push through with the confiscation of the seized assets. As for SPAK, it should intensify its efforts in tracking other potential suspects involved in this money laundering scheme and continue to further apply “following-the- money” techniques.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 3 - SPAK v. Valentin Selaj and related persons Vasil Selaj, Leze Selaj, Aleks (Ardian) Selaj (asset confiscation request under anti-mafia law).

Keywords: anti-mafia law, SPAK, Special Court against Corruption and Organized Crime, illegal assets, confiscation, drug trafficking, Netherlands, Latin America.

1. Facts:

This case relates to the same investigation debriefed under the July Report (Case 2, SPAK v. Ilirjan Memia and related persons Adriatik Memia, Lindita Memia). The Dutch legal authorities, namely the Prosecution Office of Amsterdam, has submitted a letter rogatory, based on which they have informed the Albanian authorities that the Albanian citizens Valentin Selaj, Ilirjan Memia, Florenc Guri, Erion Koleci, Ded Pjetri and polish citizen Jorgo Wajtaszczyk are being investigated in the Netherlands on the suspected charges of “Narcotics trafficking”, “Participation in a criminal organization” and “Laundering of products of criminal activity”. These offences are criminalized under both, Dutch law and Albanian law, respectively for the latter under articles 283/a, 333/a and 287 of the Albanian Criminal Code.

While on July 2020, SPAK requested the Special Court to confiscate seized assets of defendant Ilirjan Memia and his related persons, this case concerns the application of the anti-mafia law on the assets of the other defendant, namely Valentin Selaj and his related persons.

2. Procedural history:

Based on the above, SPAK registered the asset prosecution file no. 4 of 10.07.2019 against Valentin Selaj.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Upon the verifications undertaken by SPAK, as part of the application of law no. 10192 of 03.12.2009 “On Preventing and Combating Organized Crime and Trafficking through Measures against Property”, as amended (known as anti-mafia law), it resulted that suspect Valentin Selaj and persons related to him, namely his father Vasil Selaj, his mother Leze Selaj and his brother Aleks (alias Ardian) Selaj, were owners of several movable and immovable assets in Albania. Based on article 3, paragraph 2 of the anti-mafia law, this law is applicable not only to the suspect, but also to closely related persons of the suspect (such as spouses, parents, siblings, children, etc.) for whom there is a presumption of fraudulent registration of assets, unless proven otherwise.

Therefore, based on reasonable doubts that such properties are the result of criminal activity, as the related persons do not otherwise justify the income to buy these assets, SPAK requested the Special Court of First Instance to confiscate the following:

1. A plot of land, co-owned by the suspect and his parents, of 5 600 m2, registered in 2011. 2. A plot of land of 500 m2 and a building of 187 m2 situated on it, owned by the defendant, registered in 2016. 3. A plot of land of 3 633 m2, owned by the suspect`s father Vasil Selaj, situated in Rrile, Lezhë, registered in 2016. 4. A plot of land of 500 m2 and a building of 178.7 m2 situated on it, owned by the suspect`s father Vasil Selaj, in Rrile, Lezhë, registered in 2016. 5. A service unit of 53,125 m2, owned by the suspect`s father Vasil Selaj, situated in Lezhë, bought for the price of 6,019,128 ALL in 2013. The property has been registered in 2016. 6. A plot of agricultural land of 15 500 m2, owned by the suspect`s father Vasil Selaj, situated in Rrile, Lezhë, registered in 2009. 7. A plot of land of 5 600 m2, co-owned by the suspect and his parents, situated in Rrile, Lezhë, registered in 2011. 8. 3 garage units, each of 13.25 m2, bought by the suspect`s brother Aleks Selaj, on the same date 08.09.2014, each for the price of 2000 Euros. 9. A plot of land of 2 200 m2 owned by the suspect`s brother Aleks Selaj, situated in Barbudhoj Lezhë, bought in 2014, for the price of 1.000.000 ALL. 10. A plot of land of 200 m2, situated in Rrile Lezhë, co-owned by the suspect`s mother Leze Selaj and third parties P. S., N. S., P. S. an d V. S. This property has been registered in 2011. 11. A property of 118.1 m2, owned by the suspect, situated in Tirana, bought and registered in 2017, for the price of 220,000 Euros. 12. A Daimler Chrysler car, owned by the suspect`s father Vasil Selaj, year of production 2003. The vehicle has been bought in Italy, for the price of 900 Euros. 13. 2 accruing bank accounts, in the amounts of 5,022 Euros and 1,091,533 ALL.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

14. The company “Aleks Selaj”, owned by the suspect`s brother Aleks Selaj, conducting commercial activity in the field of “Hotels and similar structures”, with an active status since February 2016.

3. Issue/s:

The main legal issue with which the Special Court will be faced with, when dealing with this case, is:

a) whether the suspect and his related persons manage to satisfy the burden of proof to otherwise evidence that these properties were obtained through legal income?

4. Comment:

The rather fast pace of SPAK`s work with this complex case (moving from the connected case of SPAK v. Ilirjan Memia and related persons, to the current one) and its determination in identifying all the assets for each of the defendants and their related persons, are to be considered positive steps in the implementation of the anti-mafia law.

Time-wise, the application of this law is becoming more frequent since the establishment of SPAK and it is producing concrete results, by managing to seize considerable properties, which cannot be justified through legitimate sources.

The remaining issue is to see whether such trend will remain consistent and whether the Special Court will keep up with SPAK`s work, by sending the clear message that all assets obtained as a result of criminal activity, will be indeed seized and subsequently confiscated, as per the applicable law.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

ROLLING TRACK RECORD REPORT

September 2020

Prepared and published by: Legal and Social Studies Center, 01 October 2020.

Project: “Monitoring SPAK and the Special Court: Building a track record of prosecutions and convictions?”

Table of Contents

Case 1 - SPAK v. Mimoza Margjeka, Arben Cara, Skënder Demiraj, Nejton Bali and Klaudjo Zhilla 2 Case 2 – SPAK v. Kelmend Balili and Bashkim Balili: State confiscates the “Escobar of the Balkans” assets? 5 Case 3 – SPAK v. Alket Dine: Bribery at Universities? 8 Case 4 – SPAK v. Artan Shkëmbi: Number 2 at OFL suspended under suspicion of corruption. 11

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 1 - SPAK v. Mimoza Margjeka, Arben Cara, Skënder Demiraj, Nejton Bali and Klaudjo Zhilla

Keywords: Mimoza Margjeka, judge, SPAK, Special Court against Corruption and Organized Crime, house arrest, bribe.

1. Facts:

Mimoza Margjeka is a judge, appointed at the Durrës District Court and temporarily transferred at the Court of Appeals of Korça, due to the latter`s low number of judges. Margjeka made news a year ago due to a rather controversial decision, whereby she refused to recognize the validity of the results of the 2019 local elections in Durrës. The Socialist Party candidate Valbona Sako won the Durrës elections, as the Socialist Party did in all 61 municipalities across Albania, after the opposition refused to participate. Afterwards, the mayor-elect requested the Court of Durrës to certify her mandate.

Judge Mimoza Margjeka concluded that the local elections were illegal due to the illegal participation of an unregistered, hence non-existent, political party – namely the so-called “Bindja Demokratike” (the “Democratic Conviction” party), founded by former opposition member Astrit Patozi. The SP did not recognize such verdict and a subsequent court decision recognized the validity of the elections.

As to the current case, Margjeka is suspected to have received a bribe of 6,000 Euros in order to change an arrest measure imposed on Orion Bali, arrested in July 2020 for transporting 14 illegal immigrants from Korça to the border with Montenegro. As to the mechanism used to give the bribe, it is suspected that the judge`s husband, Arben Cara, who is also a law professor at the University of Durrës, had received 6,000 Euros from the family of a defendant, namely from the defendant`s brother, Nejton Bali. The money was allegedly given to two intermediaries, namely the lawyer of the defendant, Skënder Demiraj and Klaudjo Zhilla, who claimed to know the judge`s husband. The money was then allegedly given to the latter and subsequently, the Court of Appeals of Korça changed the arrest measure imposed on Orion Bali, imposing simple bail. Interceptions of phone calls made from Orion Bali to his family members revealed that the sum to be given was intended for all three judges of the Court of Appeals of Korça sitting on this case, but no further evidence was obtained that the other two judges were aware of the alleged bribery scheme.

2. Procedural history:

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Based on the above information, SPAK registered the prosecution file no. 186 of 2020, against Mimoza Margjeka, Arben Cara, Skënder Demiraj, Nejton Bali and Klaudjo Zhilla.

For Margjeka and her spouse Cara, SPAK`s investigation focuses on the alleged crime provided for in articles 319/ç and 25 of the Albanian Criminal Code, namely “Passive corruption of the judges, prosecutors and other justice officials”, committed in collaboration with others.

Meanwhile, for the remainder of the defendants, the investigation focuses on the alleged crime provided for in articles 319 and 25 of the Albanian Criminal Code, namely “Active corruption of judges, prosecutors and other justice officials”, committed in collaboration with others.

As part of this investigation, SPAK requested the Special Court to impose personal precautionary measures on all the defendants.

3. Issue/s:

The main legal issue which the Special Court faced when dealing with this case, was:

a) whether there were reasons, based on evidence, to impose on the suspects, the precautionary measure of detention in prison, as opposed to other more lenient measures?

4. Holding:

The Special Court, by verdict no. 92 of 05 September 2020 decided to impose the following precautionary measures:

a) On the defendants Mimoza Margjeka (judge) and Skënder Demiraj (lawyer) the precautionary measure of “House arrest”, provided for by article 237 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. b) On the defendants Arben Cara, Nejton Bali and Klaudjo Zhilla, the precautionary measure of “Detention in prison”, provided for by article 238 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

5. Rationale:

The main rationale for imposing a more lenient measure than detention in prison on judge Margjeka was the fact that she is the mother of a 3 year old infant, a circumstance that the Court can take into account when assessing the severity of the precautionary measures to

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

be imposed. As for the defendant Skënder Demiraj, his old age was the main decisive factor. The remainder of the defendants, including the judge`s spouse, remained in pre-trial detention, due to the severity of the alleged crime and no other facilitating reasons warranting a softer precautionary measure.

6. Comment:

The case is one of few cases that have resulted in actual arrests (albeit house arrests) against judges and prosecutors. While the vetting process has reached its consolidation phase, very few magistrates have been actually prosecuted by SPAK. Although the Minister of Justice Gjonaj declared a few days ago that there are 23 ongoing investigations against judges and prosecutors, there have been no major indictments and convictions against such category of officials.

The main suspect of the case, judge Margjeka, has also publicly reacted to the investigation, considering it a politically motivated move against her and her spouse. She claims the arrests come as a result of her recent controversial verdict on considering the local elections’ results of 2019 as illegitimate.

Public comments on the case have focused on asking for more vigilance from SPAK and the Special Court in indicting and convicting other corrupt magistrates. There is a common feeling that while the vetting process is producing plausible results by dismissing many corrupt magistrates, they should not escape criminal liability when the factual circumstances so warrant. To that purpose, faster and more intense investigations are necessary in order to produce concrete results in criminally punishing a culture of favoritism and bribery that has been, until very recently, quite wide spread in the Albanian justice system.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 2 - SPAK v. Kelmend Balili and Bashkim Balili: State confiscates the “Escobar of the Balkans” assets? (Asset confiscation request under anti-mafia law).

Keywords: anti-mafia law, SPAK, Special Court against Corruption and Organized Crime, illegal assets, confiscation, Escobar of the Balkans, drug lord, Kelmend Balili, international drug trafficking.

1. Facts:

Kelmend Balili, also known as the "Escobar of the Balkans", is the notorious head of a powerful drug trafficking ring being led from Albania. He was also a former senior official at the local administration in Saranda, known for his political ties to the Socialist Movement for Integration (SMI) party.

He was arrested in 2019 by the Albanian police in cooperation with the country's intelligence service and international partners. Prior to his arrest, he was hiding for a rather long period of time, following an international arrest warrant for drug trafficking issued against him.

Balili`s surrender was done upon his own accord and the whole process was widely broadcast by the media.

In May 2019 the then Court of Serious Crimes sentenced Balili to 10 years in prison for international drug trafficking.

2. Procedural history:

Based on the above conviction, SPAK has conducted an asset prosecution investigation against Kelmend Balili and Bashkim Balili (his brother in the capacity of a related person).

Upon the verifications undertaken by SPAK, as part of the application of law no. 10192 of 03.12.2009 “On Preventing and Combating Organized Crime and Trafficking through Measures against Property”, as amended (known as anti-mafia law), it resulted that Kelmend Balili and Bashkim Balili were owners of several movable and immovable assets in Albania. Based on article 3, paragraph 2 of the anti-mafia law, this law is also applicable to closely related persons of the suspect (spouses, children, etc.) for whom there is a presumption of fraudulent registration of assets, unless proven otherwise.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Therefore, based on reasonable doubts that such properties are the result of criminal activity, as the convicted defendant and his related person, do not otherwise justify the income to buy these assets, SPAK requested the Special Court of First Instance to confiscate the following:

40% of the properties owned by “Balili & CO” LLC, as follows:

- Plot of land of 11.994 m2, situated in Saranda, owned by “Balili & CO” LLC. - A building known previously as “The Workers` Holiday Residence”, 4 + 1 floors, of a building surface of 1923 m2 and land surface of 13.000 m2, situated in Saranda, owned by “Balili & Co” LLC. - A plot of land of 1716.91 m2, situated in Saranda, owned by “Balili & Co” LLC.

40% of the properties situated in Saranda owned by Bashkim Balili, as follows:

- Apartment of 53.5 m2 - Apartment of 67 m2 - Apartment of 91 m2 - Apartment of 52.5 m2 - Apartment of 57 m2 - Apartment of 52.5 m2 - Apartment of 57 m2 - Apartment of 67 m2 - Apartment of 42.5 m2 - Apartment of 67 m2 - Apartment of 42.5 m2 - Unit of 120 m2 - Apartment of 42.5 m2 - Apartment of 42.5 m2 - Apartment of 66 m2 - Apartment of 67 m2 - Apartment of 72.5 m2

3. Issue/s:

The main legal issue which the Special Court faced when dealing with this case, was:

a) whether the suspect and his related person could satisfy the burden of proof to otherwise evidence that these properties were obtained through legal income and were not the result of the suspect`s criminal activity?

4. Holding:

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

The Special Court of First Instance by verdict no. 18 of 21 September 2020 decided to accept the request of SPAK and confiscate the above properties, by transferring them in favor of the Albanian State. The Agency for the Administration of the Seized and Confiscated Assets is currently in charge of managing the assets confiscated through the above verdict.

5. Rationale:

Although the complete reasoning of the verdict is not public yet, the essence of the decision rests in the fact that both, the convicted defendant and the related person (his brother), could not prove that the seized assets were obtained through legitimate sources. Since the anti-mafia law establishes a presumption of assets being obtained as a result of criminal activity and the defendants did not prove otherwise, the assets were confiscated and transferred in favor of the Albanian State.

6. Comment:

This asset confiscation request comes quite late, considering the fact that there has been more than one year since the guilty verdict was rendered against Balili and even more time has passed since his initial arrest warrant was issued. While asset confiscation requests can be complex procedures, it is of paramount importance for SPAK to employ fast and efficient mechanisms in tracking all criminal activity proceeds.

The confiscation remains however important considering the high profile of this case and the considerable value of the assets seized. One of the latter is a luxurious hotel in Saranda (known as “Santa Quaranta” Premium Resort), privatized under suspicious circumstances by Balili and visited often by politicians. such as President Ilir Meta, ex Minister of Interior Tahiri, etc. Indeed, one of the earlier versions as to why Balili`s arrest was taking so long to be enforced, referred to his political support, as well as to him managing to blackmail politicians, who were allegedly filmed in compromising circumstances at his resort.

` Lastly, but importantly, the assets confiscated in this case might constitute only a fraction of the real wealth accumulated by Balili and his relatives. Therefore, it is crucial for SPAK to intensify its efforts in using following-the-money techniques in a timely fashion, so as to avoid any scenario whereby defendants successfully divert their assets, in order to avoid confiscation.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 3 - SPAK v. Alket Dine: Bribery at Universities?

Keywords: corruption, SPAK, Special Court against Corruption and Organized Crime, Korça, bribery, criminal links.

1. Facts:

SPAK`s investigation on this case refers to the suspicions on corruption committed by professor Alket Dine, from the University “Fan Noli” in Korça, who allegedly pressed his students to pay him money in exchange for passing grades. This case is part of a relatively commonly spread phenomena in Albanian public universities, especially local ones. Given similar facts and past cases, public denouncements by students who were pressed directly or indirectly by university professors to pay them in exchange for better, or passing grades, given also prior convictions, this phenomena is widely known as ‘corruption in universities’.

The specific competencies attributed now to SPAK to cover corruption matters especially in the exercise of public functions, mark the extension of this institution`s reach also with regards to Universities.

According to the current investigation, it has been evidenced that professor Alket Dine, member of the Faculty of Natural and Human Sciences, in the University ‘Fan S. Noli’, of Korça, aided by Xhevi Dervishi acting as an intermediary, forced students to pay him fixed amounts of money in exchange for passing grades. The investigation apparently began as a student denounced the defendants at Korça Police station, and later on, the same student acted as a bait to facilitate their arrest.

More concretely, the corruptive scheme consisted in the following: professor A. Dine failed consistently a great number of students. As such, students had to take several times his exam. After consistently failing consistently his course, they were forced to pay to the intermediary Xhevi Dervishi fixed sums of money and he would then communicate with Alket Dine, who in turn would change the grades from failing to passing ones.

Moreover, environmental wiretapping by SPAK evidences the connection between the receiving of the illegal payment and the change of the grade from failing to passing, through the intermediation of Xhevi Dervishi and the final recipient of the illegal sum of money, being Alket Dine. As a consequence, the police has arrested in flagrante delicto Xhevi Dervishi, who was found in possession of 50 000 ALL and 300 Euros. Part of the serial numbers of the euro bills found in his possession, corresponded to the ones given to him

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

by the student who acted as bait on the instruction of the police, satisfying in this way the conditions for proceeding with an arrest in flagrante delicto.

2. Procedural History:

The investigation of SPAK has been relatively short. After the arrest of the two individuals involved, SPAK has asked the Special Court to impose on the defendants, pre-trial detention as a precautionary measure.

The detained are suspected of committing the crimes of “Passive corruption of persons exercising public functions”, “Active corruption of persons exercising public functions” and “Exercise of illegal influence on persons exercising public functions”.

By verdict of 27 of September 2020, the Special Court, ordered detention as precautionary measures for both suspected persons, as requested by SPAK. These measures were taken given the detention under the condition of in flagrante delicto, despite the fact that both detainees deny any accusations against them.

3. Issue/s:

The main legal issues which the Special Court will face when dealing with the merits of this case, are:

a) Is there evidence to support the omission of the crimes during the exercise of the public function?

b) Is there evidence to support the extension of this corruptive scheme towards other students?

4. Comment:

Given the activity of SPAK, and the reasons why this institution was created, it seems that the arrest of Dine and his intermediary in the corruptive scheme, is a relatively small affair. This because of the irrelevant sum of money and the small number of persons involved. However, on the other hand, we have to take in consideration the public sensibility on corruption in the education system, a permanent concern of the public, together with the considerable perceived corruption in the health or justice systems. For the above mentioned reasons, this case, albeit symbolically, serves as an example of the overall mission of SPAK against all corruptive phenomena involving the public sphere.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

On the other hand, tackling corruption in Universities, especially in public ones, is not a novelty. This is also because of the involvement of students themselves denouncing random acts of being asked bribes, in exchange of passing, or better marks by academic personnel. This phenomena is quite widespread, especially in public Universities outside the Tirana metropolitan area, where money asking in exchange for better grades, is part of what can be labeled as a ‘culture’ and common practice of these institutions. Such crimes have also been prosecuted in the past, albeit sporadically, as in the case of the University “A. Xhuvani”, Elbasan in 2019, that of Gjirokastër in 2014, or the one pertaining to a corruptive scheme at the University “Luigj Gurakuqi” in Shkodra in 2016.

The involvement of SPAK in this context serves to address a multi-faceted phenomenon which ranges from the involvement of certain individuals to exert unlawful influence on students or academic personnel to exchange favors in return of money, to articulated systems which involve more than 3 or 4 persons. In this sense, SPAK is helpful in tackling especially those cases which constitute corruptive systems and which completely undermine the credibility of the high education institutions in the country.

This being said, undermining corruption at the university level or at the education system at large, should be seen from a broader prospective. This is so because the phenomena of corruption in the education system, especially in the higher education, has wider implications, which in turn feed other corruptive schemes in other social environments. In this sense, we can say that corruption in academia feeds and produces its effects in the long term. We can include here the unlawful acquirement of academic titles, a lack of competencies by students who finish University and further on, the negative repercussions this has on the overall development of the country.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 4 - SPAK v. Artan Shkëmbi: Number 2 at OFL suspended under suspicion of corruption.

Keywords: OFL, police corruption, SPAK, Special Court, disclosing investigation secrets.

Note: The information on this case remains limited, due to an ongoing investigation. Only information that is publicly available is being shared in this report.

1. Facts:

Artan Shkëmbi is the Deputy Chief of the “Operation the Force of Law” (OFL), a police and SPAK operation aimed mainly at tracking and destroying/ confiscating the economic sources used to fuel organized crime in the country, as well as the proceeds of such crimes.

Shkëmbi successfully passed the police vetting in February of this year, whereby he was confirmed in duty by the vetting commission. He was also one of the candidates for the Head of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), but failed the polygraph test and was therefore disqualified. Meanwhile, based on reports by partner agencies (according to the media, German law enforcement agencies), Shkëmbi is suspected of having illegally passed sensitive secret information to interested third parties and having been involved in corruptive affairs.

Being privy to a lot of classified information, Shkëmbi is believed to have revealed details of police operations to suspected criminals in exchange for personal benefits.

2. Procedural history:

Based on the above, SPAK has requested the Special Court to impose the precautionary measure of suspension from duty.

The Special Court accepted such request and imposed the suspension from duty, which was communicated to the defendant on 28 September 2020 by his superior, the General Director of the State Police, Ardi Veliu. The new Head of the OFL is now Hekuran Bregu.

3. Issue/s:

The main legal issues with which the Special Court will be faced with when dealing with the merits of this case, are:

a) Whether the suspect has passed secret information to unauthorized third parties in exchange for personal benefits?

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

b) Whether the special methods of investigation used in this case are procedurally legitimate and viable for evidencing the alleged crime?

4. Comment:

The case is yet to be decided by the Special Court of First Instance and it is one of the very first to tackle police corruption at such high levels. Past stories of police revealing details of secret operations have mostly gone unaccounted for, although the media has consistently raised the problem of police officers often tipping suspected criminals, especially with regards to anti-cannabis operations.

If the allegations are proven, the damage that Shkëmbi could have caused, might be considerable. From January 2020, OFL has more than 200 ongoing procedures, amongst which 80 requests for assets’ seizure, 9 requests for seizure withdrawal, 30 cases for extending the time of assets’ seizure and 42 cases for confiscation of assets.

The case is also important because of the high profile of the defendant amongst police ranks and because it comes right after him successfully passing the police vetting. The message it eventually conveys is basically that the vetting is simply the beginning of police accountability and not the end of it. Indeed, continuous accountability is crucial for ending impunity and fostering in this way a culture of respecting ethical and professional standards.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

ROLLING TRACK RECORD REPORT

October 2020

Prepared and published by: Legal and Social Studies Center, 01 November 2020.

Project: “Monitoring SPAK and the Special Court: Building a track record of prosecutions and convictions?”

Table of Contents

Case 1 - SPAK v. Elis Bushati, Athinta Papa, Irma Derguti, Albana Ferraj 2 Case 2 - SPAK investigation on the “Incinerators Projects”: Rama, Veliaj, 5 Ahmetaj and Koka under scrutiny? Case 3 - SPAK investigation on repatriated citizens from Al - Hawl Syrian 8 refugee camp.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 1 - SPAK v. Elis Bushati, Athinta Papa, Irma Derguti, Albana Ferraj

Keywords: Electricity supply operator, SPAK, Special Court against Corruption and Organized Crime, corruption, procurement, arrests.

1. Facts:

This case deals with corruption in the public procurement sector, namely regarding the national Electricity Supply Operator (hereinafter ESO). The defendants of the case are respectively Elis Bushati, ex Director of Public Procurements at ESO, Albana Ferraj, Chief of Cabinet of the company`s CEO, Irma Derguti and Athinta Papa, both members of the Commission for the Evaluation of Bids at ESO.

According to SPAK, these officials are suspected of corruption and abuse of office pertaining to one bid of a value of approximately 1.1 million Euros rendered for consulting services in 2016. The latter were to be offered for the delivery of electricity supply and the improvement of customer care at ESO.

The winner of this specific public procurement was “Com Metodi” S.P.A., an Italian company, headquartered in Milan, Italy. Later on, this company had contracted another Albanian commercial entity, namely ALB A.F.C.S, owned by Albana Ferraj, who was also Chief of Cabinet of the Director of ESO. The Albanian entity had profited 131.880 Euros for consulting services.

2. Procedural history:

Based on the above information, SPAK registered the prosecution file no. 172 of 2020, against Elis Bushati, Athinta Papa, Irma Derguti and Albana Ferraj

The defendants are suspected of having committed the criminal offences of “Breaching the equality of participants in public bids or auctions”, “Active corruption of persons exercising public functions, “Passive corruption of persons exercising public functions” and “Laundering the Proceeds of Criminal Offence or Criminal Activity”, provided for in articles 258, 244, 259 and 287, paragraphs (b) and (c) of the Albanian Criminal Code

As part of this investigation, SPAK requested the Special Court to impose personal precautionary measures on all the defendants.

3. Issue/s:

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

The main legal issue which the Special Court faced when dealing with this case, was:

a) whether there were reasons, based on evidence, to impose on the suspects, the precautionary measure of detention in prison and house arrest?

4. Holding:

The Special Court, by verdict no. 103 of 18 October 2020 decided to impose the following precautionary measures:

a) On the defendants Elis Bushati and Albana Ferraj, the precautionary measure of “Detention in prison”, provided for by article 238 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. b) On the defendants Irma Derguti and Athinta Papa, the precautionary measure of “House arrest”, provided for by article 237 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

5. Rationale:

The main rationale for rendering two different kinds of precautionary measures on the defendants, was the severity of their alleged offences, combined with the possibility of avoiding punishment if tried without a restrictive measure. For defendant Albana Ferraj the measure was rendered in absentia, since the police was unable to find her whereabouts.

6. Comment:

The case has been highly commented by the media, not because of the profile of the defendants, which are only medium-level officials, but more so due to the lack of an even higher arrest, that of the company`s CEO, Adrian Çela. Çela has remained undisturbed in this position since December 2014, a time which corresponds to the newly appointed SP favorites in key strategic positions. Albana Ferraj, as one of the defendants, was Çela`s Chief of Cabinet and the issue that remains unsolved is whether Çela has failed to exercise diligent oversight of the public procurement process.

A prior precedent using the failure to monitor the activity of employees as a ground for imposing criminal precautionary measures for superiors, is that of the arrest of the ex- Governor of the Bank of Albania, Ardian Fullani in 2014. In that case, several employees of the Bank had stolen around 7 million USD and Fullani, as the highest official of the Bank, was initially arrested, despite the relatively low rank of those directly involved in the crime. Compared to that case, the closer proximity of the defendants to the CEO of the company in the current investigation, should have warranted a more thorough assessment of Çela`s potential involvement in the criminal affair. The reluctance of SPAK to extend

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

this investigation and Çela`s alleged affiliation with the current ruling SP government, might give cause for the public and the media to perceive the case as mere window- dressing, rather than a true step towards fighting corruption of high public officials.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 2 - SPAK investigation on the “Incinerators Projects”: Rama, Veliaj, Ahmetaj and Koka under scrutiny?

Keywords: incinerators, public procurement fraud, SPAK, political favoritism, shell companies.

1. Facts:

During October 2020, the Democratic Party of Albania (DP) has filed several criminal complaints in SPAK against PM Rama and other senior officials, including Mayor of Tirana Veliaj, Minister for Reconstruction Ahmetaj, and ex Minister of Environment Koka, accusing them of forming a structured criminal group for the funneling of millions of Euros in public money to a company that would build three waste incinerators in the country.

The formal accusations included in the criminal complaints include: forming a structured criminal group, abuse of office, as well as violation of equality in public tenders. DP has also requested SPAK to propose the precautionary measures of suspending the officials from public duties.

The criminal complaints came after the alleged affair was the focus of a recent TV show on Euronews Albania. According to the news report, the government has been paying approximately 72 million Euros since 2015 for the construction and operation of three incinerators, in Tirana, Elbasan and Fier, two of which have not yet been built, while the other is currently operating only at half capacity. Moreover, DP claims the concession was offered to companies that did not meet the bid criteria, having no prior expertise and no sufficient capital to be qualified for the procurement process.

Allegedly, all three companies that were awarded concession contracts for three incinerators were ultimately owned by the same person, namely Klodian Zoto. The latter is suspected of using shell companies to avoid transparency of the companies` ownership structures, including a company founded in the Netherlands, called “Integrated Energy” BV. Another alleged partner in the incinerators affair is the defendant Mirel Mërtiri, whom DP claims is a cover for actual Ministers and high public officials.

2. Procedural history:

The complaints was filed by DP on 19 October 2020. As of then, SPAK has been conducting investigations on the alleged criminal offenses and it has registered prosecution files for all of them. There has been however no other public information on this case. Neither has there been an official request from SPAK for the imposition of the

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

precautionary measures of suspension from duty for the officials allegedly involved in the corruptive affair.

3. Issue/s:

Given the initial stage of this case, the main legal issues which SPAK (and the Special Court, if applicable) will face when dealing with this case, are:

a) whether there is enough evidence as to warrant formal charges against the defendants? b) whether there are enough grounds to request the imposition of precautionary measures for the defendants cited in the criminal complaints?

4. Comment:

The case is still at an early stage, where the criminal complaints have just been registered at SPAK. However, its high profile and sensitivity, remain undeniable. Despite the fact that it is a political structure, such as DP, which has filed the complaints, the case has the potential to showcase the strength and political independence (or lack thereof) of SPAK. The concession contracts are of a considerable value (a total of approximately 220 million Euros according to media reports) and the media has evidenced by now that only one of the three incinerators is currently working, and only at half capacity.

However, if the matter is left to fade over time, as it has commonly happened in similar cases, one potential outcome would be for it to shrink to a classic civil case, rather than a criminal one, whereby contract clauses on the modalities and timing of the award of public money, come under scrutiny.

This being said, another potential outcome of the case might be to limit criminal liability to low level officials directly involved with the procurement process, and/or the winning companies, as legal entities also capable of being criminally liable under Albanian law.

In both of the above scenarios however, SPAK risks of being perceived as politically biased. That is why it is necessary for SPAK to become actively engaged in duly informing the public on any investigation steps for such high profile cases (except of course for information that remains classified for investigation purposes). Such a proactive approach would ensure its public perception as an unbiased and politically independent institution.

Lastly, the depth and pace of this investigation will also illustrate whether SPAK is committed and truly engaged towards fighting corruption at the highest level. After all, the main idea behind the set-up of this institution, was exactly this: to create a strong and

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

independent prosecution office, dedicated to fighting corruption and organized crime, even if such fight involves immense political pressure.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 3 - SPAK investigation on repatriated citizens from Al - Hawl Syrian refugee camp.

Keywords: Repatriated citizens, Al – Hawl camp, Syria, SPAK, terrorism.

1. Facts:

On 27 October 2020, Floresha (Flora) Rasha, an Albanian woman originally from the village of Ndroq, near Tirana, together with four minors, three of which were her children, were rescued from the Al – Hawl refugee camp in Syria and brought back to Albania. The camp is situated on the southern outskirts of the town of Al-Hawl in northern Syria, close to the Syrian - Iraqi border, which holds individuals displaced from the Islamic State group occupied territory. It is controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

In the past, many Albanian and Kosovar citizens, including minors, departed to Syria to become ISIS fighters, or accompany family members so recruited. Most of the men were killed and their wives frequently remarried into other fighters. That was the case of Floresha Rasha as well. She was married to Diamant Rasha and after his passing, she was remarried (claiming a forced marriage) to Lavdrim Muhaxheri, with whom she has two children. Muhaxheri was a notorious Islamic State (IS) leader and recruiter of ethnic Albanian jihadi foreign fighters, fighting in Syria and Iraq. On September 2014, the U.S. Department of State designated Muhaxheri as a global terrorist. On June 2017, he was announced dead by his family and police in Kosovo. Muhaxheri was allegedly killed in a U.S. airstrike.

The return of Rasha and the four minors was televised live by Albanian TV stations. Rasha was also interviewed by the media upon her return. When asked whether she regretted leaving Albania she said she didn’t know and also all her other answers, including the description of life under ISIS, remained vague and neutral.

2. Procedural history:

Upon Rasha`s return, SPAK has publicly announced that it will interrogate her, as well as any other returnee, except minors. The investigation in this case will focus on the details of the travel from Albania to Turkey and then to Syria, the financing of the trip and any potential involvement in crimes under the ISIS regime. The interrogation is also linked to another past investigation against several defendants, including imam Genci Balla, currently serving a prison sentence, for recruiting Albanians to fight in Syria.

3. Issue/s:

Given the initial stage of this case, the main legal issues which SPAK (and the Special Court, if applicable) will face when dealing with this case, are:

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

a) whether enough evidence can be gathered to identify and uproot any potential terrorist recruiting cell? b) whether there is enough evidence to find Rasha liable for any crimes committed during her time in Syria?

4. Comment:

This case is the first one where SPAK will interrogate a repatriated citizen, who has been under the ISIS regime. It is a very significant case, given also the 2014 amendment of the Criminal Code (articles 265/a and b of the Code) to specifically punish the involvement in military operations in a foreign state, apart from terrorist charges.

The phenomena of Albanian and Kosovar families and especially children, travelling to Syria to join their relatives who were there as ISIS fighters, became problematic around 2013. A number of Albanian women and children, assumed to be around 50, still remain in the Al – Hawl camp and Albanian authorities, in cooperation with their foreign counterparts, are continuing their efforts to repatriate them. It is believed however that not all wish to return to Albania. Regarding the Albanian regions more prone to such phenomena, they are usually either from the rural areas of the midlands (Shijak, Ndroq, etc.) or from certain villages in the southeastern region of Pogradec (for example, Leshnice).

Moreover, one of the biggest concerns relates to the possibility of these women and children being radicalized. Rasha`s consistently neutral answers during her media interview and her proximity to Muhaxheri, could raise doubts about her actual involvement in crimes during her stay in Syria. It is therefore of paramount importance for SPAK, in cooperation with other local and international law-enforcement agencies, to duly investigate all citizens repatriated from Syrian camps and to track anyone who has recruited, or otherwise aided them to travel to Syria in the first place.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

ROLLING TRACK RECORD REPORT

November 2020

Prepared and published by: Legal and Social Studies Center, 01 December 2020.

Project: “Monitoring SPAK and the Special Court: Building a track record of prosecutions and convictions?”

Table of Contents

Case 1 – SPAK v. Ervin Bushati 2 Case 2 – Update: SPAK v. Adritatik Llalla 5 Case 3 – SPAK v. Gentian Malindi, Altin Myslihaka and Ardian Bega 8

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 1 – SPAK v. Ervin Bushati

Keywords: asset hiding, false declarations, SPAK, Member of Parliament.

1. Facts:

The case involves a public functionary, subject to asset declaration and more specifically Mr. Ervin Bushati, Member of the Parliament (MP) belonging to the Socialist Party (SP) and at the same time, Head of the local SP branch for Tirana.

The case came to public attention after a denouncement made by the Democratic Party (DP), dating back as early as October 2018, according to which this MP had allegedly hidden assets accumulated over the years when he served in such function. According to the documents put forward by DP and the asset declaration files, it is alleged that Ervin Bushati hid, or otherwise did not disclose, the following assets.

 A plot of land of 938 m2, situated in Tirana, registered on 21.04.2017.  A plot of land of 600 m2, of which 327 m2 occupied by buildings, situated in Tirana, registered on 21.04.2017.  A plot of land of 938 m2, situated in Tirana, registered on 25.07.2014.  A building of 76 m2, situated in Qerret, Kavajë, registered on 30.05.2016.  A plot of land of 376 m2, situated in Qerret, Kavajë, registered on 30.05.2016.  A plot of land of 660 m2, situated in Sarandë, registered on 17.07.2014.  A garage unit of 42 m2, situated in Sarandë.

2. Procedural history:

The DP accusations against Bushati date back as early as 2018. As a first step, members of this political force filed the criminal lawsuit no. 13118 against Bushati at the Prosecution Office for the District of Tirana, on the suspicions of committing the crimes provided for in articles 190 and 257/a of the Criminal Code, and more specifically, “Falsification of Seals, Stamps or Forms” and “Refusal for declaration, non-declaration, concealment or false declaration of assets, private interests of elected persons and public employees, or any other person that bears the legal duty to declare”.

Further on, based on the above accusations, the Prosecution Office for the District of Tirana registered the criminal proceeding no. 2534 of 2019 on the defendant Ervin Bushati. Afterwards, by verdict of 01.04.2020, this Prosecution Office declared its lack of subject matter competence and sent the file to SPAK.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Consequently, on 12.03.2020, SPAK registered the criminal proceeding no. 93/2020 against Ervin Bushati, for the above mentioned crimes.

The investigations so commenced are still classified, as confirmed by a public reaction of the prosecutor of this case on 10.11.2020.

3. Issues/s:

Considering that the case is still under investigation, the main issues to be dealt with by SPAK (and the Special Court, if this will be the case), are:

a) if there is sufficient evidence to indict the defendant? b) whether there are reasons, based on evidence, to impose precautionary measures on the defendant? c) whether there is sufficient evidence that the defendant`s assets were acquired through illegal means, and as such, to impose asset seizure measures on them?

4. Comment:

The case in question is still in the preliminary stages of its investigation, currently being conducted by SPAK, after the case was transferred from the Prosecution Office for the District of Tirana. Considering the political position and role of Bushati within the SP, the case bears importance. While during all of his political career at the SP, Bushati has either been a party official, or an MP representing this political party, recently he has been elected as Head of SP for the branch of Tirana, a delicate political post for the upcoming parliamentary elections.

This being said, Bushati has always held a medium public profile and has never been accused as linked to corruptive affairs. Despite that, this seems to be a very interesting case for SPAK, as well as for the direction that future investigations, involving similar public officials, from all sides of the political spectrum, might take.

It has to be mentioned that the SP, has declared through Rama as the Head of the party, that it supports the activity of SPAK, albeit at the same time considering Bushati innocent.

Depending on the potential developments of the case, this proceeding might serve as a benchmark, for good or bad, of SPAK’s activity, especially with regards to party officials, who, although not holding important state positions, have managed to exponentially increase their wealth over the years. Moreover, this case may also serve as a standard on the investigation of other politicians, who are not actually MPs, but have held such

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

positions or other important political functions in the past, and may have accumulated illegal wealth.

The depth and the duration of the investigation will show if SPAK, will investigate and take into consideration only the assets criteria for imposing liability over public officials. In Albania the declaration of assets is obligatory for some categories of public officials, but this criteria (save for the vetting of the justice system members), has not been used by the prosecution or the judiciary, to hold liable those politicians who run for public office.

On the other hand, if this investigation fades quickly, the result could potentially be the perception that SPAK as an institution, bypasses the investigation of assets, which can be the result of criminal activities, such as corruption or unlawful influence. The latter are largely perceived by the public as phenomena that constantly accompany the image of politics in Albania, and for which, strangely enough, there is no proper comprehensive vetting imposed.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 2 – Update: SPAK v. Adritatik Llalla

Keywords: Adriatik Llalla, SPAK, Special Court against Corruption and Organized Crime, ex General Prosecutor of Albania, hiding of assets.

1. Facts:

This case is an update of the Case no. 4 dealt with in the Rolling Track Record Report for July 2020.1 Adriatik Llalla has been a General Prosecutor (GP) from 2012 till 2017, when he resigned. In 2018, the Prosecution for the District of Durrës, started an investigation against Llalla, which was later transferred to the then Prosecution for Serious Crimes. The Court for Serious Crimes imposed a seizure verdict on the properties of the ex GP, namely an apartment of 67 square meters in Durrës and 4 land plots of a total of 22.050 square meters, situated in the suburbs of Tirana.

As time passed, the charges against Llalla shrank and in March of this year, SPAK notified that it had finalized its investigation only for the criminal charge of "Refusal to declare, non-declaration, concealment or fraudulent declaration of property, private interests of elected persons and public servants, or any other person that bears the legal duty to declare”, as provided by article 257/a of the Criminal Code. According to SPAK, this offence was committed three times by ex GP Llalla.

2. Procedural History:

SPAK finalized its investigation only on the above official charge.

Meanwhile, on 09.07.2020, the Special Court of First Instance decided to reverse the case for further investigations, so that SPAK could complement its investigation against the ex GP.

The next court session was scheduled for November 2020.

3. Issue/s:

The main issues that the Special Court faced in this case, were the following:

a) if the investigation undertaken by SPAK was sufficient to decide that the case be sent for merits adjudication? b) if the seizure measures imposed on Llalla`s assets, could continue to be imposed in the framework of this case?

1 See for more info, https://lssc.al/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ROLLING-TRACK-RECORD-REPORT- DOWNLOAD-IN-ENGLISH-JULY-2020-LSSC-1.pdf, Case no. 4.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

4. Holding:

By verdict of 19.11.2020, the Special Court, acting in a preliminary session, decided to send the case for adjudication on its merits. This decision implies that Llalla is now officially indicted, and the charges have been communicated by SPAK. Moreover, the Court also decided to remove the seizure measures imposed on the two properties belonging to Llalla.

5. Rationale:

The main rationale of the Court on sending the case for merits adjudication, was the fact that the investigation of SPAK was now complete and sufficient to have a verdict on its merits for the charge brought forward. Meanwhile, regarding the part of the verdict that removed the seizure measures imposed on Llalla`s assets, the decision refers to the fact that these measures had been imposed for a very long time, almost more than two and a half years.

6. Comment:

The fact that this process is now at the phase of adjudication on its merits, is an initial positive indicator on the work of SPAK. In the meantime, it is true that the investigation for this case lasted for a very long time (approximately 2 years) and also, the final result, in terms of the criminal charge brought forward, refers only to one of the offences which the ex GP was initially suspected of committing.

Llalla was first suspected of committing, apart from the crime for which he was indicted, three other criminal offences, namely abuse of office, money laundering and non- declaration of monetary assets while crossing a state border, for which the investigation has been now closed. Moreover, the part of the verdict of the Special Court on removing the seizure measures imposed on Llalla`s assets, needed to be more widely reasoned, also for the public at large.

It has to also be recalled that Llalla is one of the prior public officials for which there was a reaction also by the US Department of State. The latter has imposed a public designation prohibiting Llalla and some of his family members for entering the US, due to suspicions of him being involved in corruptive affairs. This measure continues to be still in force.

Apart from the above, we need to also recall the fact that Llalla resigned before being vetted. That is why the work of SPAK and the Special Court in this regard, will be under a heightened public scrutiny, with this case serving as a true test for the work of these

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

institutions, as long as the ex GP, if the charge is proven, will be the first public official of such high profile to be convicted by the Special Court.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 3 - SPAK vs. Gentian Malindi, Altin Myslihaka and Ardian Bega

Keywords: International drugs trafficking, SPAK, Ecuador, Greece.

1. Facts:

This case refers to the suspected criminal activity of international drugs trafficking, from Ecuador towards Pireus in Greece, with the final destination being the Durrës harbor in Albania.

In September 2019, in collaboration with international partners, especially with the Greek counterparties, the Albanian law enforcement agencies managed to seize 137 kg of cocaine. The drugs had been earlier replaced with the same quantity of rice by Greek police at the Pireus harbor and their itinerary was being monitored by the authorities of the neighboring state, as well as by the Albanian authorities.

The so-replaced quantity of cocaine, held in four containers, was taken out of the Durrës harbor via handbags and the authors’ movements were also captured by the cameras on site. Moreover, the authorities had placed localizing GPS, in order to follow the itinerary of the drugs to the final recipients. Meanwhile one of the suspects, a businessman from Durrës, Gentian Malindi, discovered the GPS, throwing away the bags storing what he thought was cocaine, and running away. Two citizens have been arrested in this case, Altin Myslihaka and Ardian Bega, both employees of the Durrës harbor. Malindi, who had been arrested in the past for drugs trafficking, namely transporting 500 kg of marihuana from Lazarat to Durrës, is the son of a well know lawyer in Durrës, Ilir Malindi. He is the owner of a fishing company and has earlier come under media scrutiny, while denouncing the activity of the police. The businessman had claimed that the frequent controls exercised over his activity by the police, severely damaged his business.

2. Procedural history:

SPAK began the investigation on this case over a year ago.

With the finalization of this investigation on 27 November 2020, SPAK requested to have the case sent for adjudication on its merits, officially indicting the defendant Gentian Malindi, who is still in hiding and wanted by police and for whom there is a pending arrest warrant.

At the same time, the other two employees of the Durrës harbor have also been indicted and are currently in pre-trial detention.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

3. Issue/s:

The main issue that the Special Court will face when dealing with this case, is:

a) if the investigation process undertaken by SPAK is sufficient to send the case for adjudication on its merits?

4. Comment:

This case has caused strong reactions in the media last year, due to the considerable quantity of the cocaine transported, the decision of the Greek authorities to substitute the cocaine, and because the main defendant, suspected of international drugs trafficking, is a well known businessman.

Meanwhile, another highly discussed issue in this case, has been the fact that Gentian Malindi, who commissioned the narcotics, had been arrested and prosecuted in the past, again for drugs trafficking. It remains a mystery how he continued to normally and freely conduct his business, until September 2019, when he was involved in the case in question.

Surely, this is an important case in the framework of fighting international drugs trafficking, as a form of organized crime. Despite that, the arrest of only two of the suspects, who worked at the Durrës harbor, while the businessman Malindi, as the suspect who had ordered the drugs, remains at large, causes concerns over the capacities of the police authorities on tracking and arresting the main actors of organized crime in Albania.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

ROLLING TRACK RECORD REPORT

December 2020

Prepared and published by: Legal and Social Studies Center, 01 January 2021.

Project: “Monitoring SPAK and the Special Court: Building a track record of prosecutions and convictions?”

Table of Contents

Case 1 – Update: SPAK v. Luan Daci 2 Case 2 – Update: SPAK v. Adritatik Llalla 5 Case 3 – The “Toyota Yaris”Affair - SPAK v. Klevi Cani, Edi Lika, Alban Mollaymeri, Elvis Vladi and Alfred Vladi 8 Case 4 – SPAK v. Lulzim Berisha, Plaurent Dervishaj, Indrit Taulla, Luftar Reci, Emiljano Shullazi and Viktor Imeri. 11 Case 5 - SPAK v. Zamira Rami 13 Case 6 - SPAK v. Thoma Totonozi and Stjuart Bardhoshi 15

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 1 – Update: SPAK v. Luan Daci

Keywords: Luan Daci, SPAK, Special Appeal Chamber, vetting commissioner, falsification of documents.

1. Facts:

This case is an update of Case No. 5, found in the Rolling Track Record Report of July 2020.1 Luan Daci has been a member of the Special Appeals Chamber (AC), a constitutional institution which reviews the vetting appeals against the judges and the prosecutors of the Republic of Albania.

In January 2020, Mr. Besnik Cani, a prosecutor and a former member of the High Prosecutorial Council (HPC), previously discharged by the AC, filed a criminal complaint against Daci, alleging that he had falsified his application documents in 2017, while running for the AC membership. According to the report, Daci omitted to show a decision of the then High Council of Justice, taken in 1997, based on which he was dismissed on grounds of breaching the law and incompetence. Daci did not declare the dismissal during his interview by the ad hoc parliamentary commission, prior to his election as a member of the vetting institutions. He declared instead that he had resigned from his position as a judge.

2. Procedural History: In May 2020, SPAK requested the Special Court to impose on the defendant the precautionary measure of suspension from carrying out a public duty.

By verdict of 20 May 2020, the Special Court imposed such measure on the defendant, which prompted the AC to suspend all court sessions where the defendant was a panel member.

1 For more details see, https://lssc.al/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ROLLING-TRACK-RECORD-REPORT- DOWNLOAD-IN-ENGLISH-JULY-2020-LSSC-1.pdf, Case no. 5.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Nertina Kosova, who had previously been confirmed in duty by a split AC decision, of which the defendant was a member of the majority opinion.

SPAK requested from the Special Court to sentence Daci with one year in prison.

3. Issue/s:

The main legal issue which the Special Court faced with when dealing with the merits of this case, was:

a) Whether there was evidence beyond any reasonable doubt that the defendant had committed the crime of ‘Falsifications of Documents’, according to article 186/2 of the Criminal Code?

4. Holding:

On the 1st of December 2020, the Special Court found Luan Daci guilty for committing the crime of ‘Falsifications of Documents’, as provided by article 186/2 of the Criminal Code and sentenced him to 6 months imprisonment, converted to 12 months` probation service.

5. Rationale:

The essence of the reasoning of the Special Court was that, through omitting to declare a disciplinary measure in the application for a position as a member of the AC, the defendant had committed the crime of ‘Falsification of Documents’ as provided by article 186/2 of the Criminal Code.

6. Comment:

The case in question is a very sensitive one for the Special Court, given all the allegations published by the media on dubious criteria according to which several members of the vetting organs have been selected. The experience of Daci as a member of the AC,

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

underwent close scrutiny, taking into consideration that he had been appointed as a judge in the early 1990s, after a very short period of training of only 6 months, and had been officially discharged on the grounds of breaching the law and incompetence.

The guilty verdict rendered by the Special Court on Daci, is important in the framework of investigating the members of the judiciary, also on the grounds of their professional competence. Nevertheless, this decision, being the first guilty verdict taken on a member of the judiciary, such as Daci, which against all expectations, is himself a member of the vetting organs, is undergoing heightened scrutiny by the public opinion. Given that this case was highly exposed by the media and even used by other actors as a case on which there should be maximum attention, it is also seen as a reaction against the vetting organs and their current activity. In any case, despite its public or political perceptions, the current outcome remains the sanctioning of the defendant, as well as his removal from the position and the necessity to replace him, once the decision becomes final and binding.

Lastly, it remains to be seen if SPAK and the Special Court will investigate and adjudicate similar cases, not only on other members of the vetting organs, for which the election procedures have been highly debatable, but also for actual judges or prosecutors, as one of the categories of subjects that fall under the jurisdiction of these institutions.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 2 – Update: SPAK v. Adritatik Llalla (assets investigation based on the anti-mafia law)

Keywords: Adriatik Llalla, SPAK, Special Court against Corruption and Organized Crime, ex- Albanian General Prosecutor, asset sizing, anti-mafia law

1. Facts:

The comment of this case is an update on the Case no. 4 of the Rolling Track Record Report of July 2020, and an update of the Case no. 2 of the Rolling Track Record Report of November 2020.2 This investigation on the wealth of Adriatik Llalla, refers to the measures taken against his assets, as provided by the anti-mafia law. As stated in the previous comments on the case, in July 2018, the then Court of Serious Crimes, decided to seize the properties of the former General Prosecutor (GP), respectively a 67 square meter apartment in Durres and 4 land plots of a total of 22.050 square meters in the suburbs of Tirana.

As time passed, the charges against Llalla kept diminishing and in March of 2020, SPAK notified that it had completed its investigation only for the criminal charge of “Refusal to declare, non-declaration, concealment or fraudulent declaration of property, private interests of elected persons and public servants, or any other person that bears the legal duty to declare”. According to SPAK, this offence was committed three times by the ex GP Llalla.

2. Procedural History:

SPAK finished the investigation on the above criminal charge.

On 09.07. 2020 the Special Court of the First Instance, decided to return the case for further investigation to SPAK, in order to complete the investigation against the former GP.

By verdict of 19.11.2020, the Special Court decided in preliminary session to send the case for merits adjudication. The Special Court decided as well, to lift the assets seizure measure over two of Llalla’s assets, reasoning simply that the investigation had continued for too long.

2 See for more, https://lssc.al/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ROLLING-TRACK-RECORD-REPORT- DOWNLOAD-IN-ENGLISH-JULY-2020-LSSC-1.pdf, Case no. 4; See also https://lssc.al/wp- content/uploads/2020/11/ROLLING-TRACK-RECORD-REPORT-NOVEMBER-2020-LSSC.pdf, Case no. 2.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Immediately after, at the beginning of December 2020, SPAK asked the Special Court to seize Llalla`s assets, this time under the provisions of the anti-mafia law.

3. Issue/s:

The main legal issue which the Special Court faced with when dealing with the merits of this case, was:

a) If there were reasonable doubts (as per the applicable standard of proof in such judgments) that Llalla’s property has been obtained in the form of illegal proceeds?

4. Holding:

By verdict of 03.12.2020, the Special Court decided to seize the following assets of Llalla:

- An apartment of 67.2 m², located in Durrës, acquired on 19.03.2012; - A plot of agricultural land, of 4.500 m², located in Tirana, acquired on 05.12.2016; - A plot of agricultural land, of 12.300 m², located in Tirana, acquired on 15.03.2017; - A plot of agricultural land, of 3000 m², located in Tirana, acquired on 15.03.2017; - A plot of agricultural land, of 2250 m², located in Tirana, acquired on 15.05.2017.

5. Rationale:

The essence of the Court`s rationale for the asset seizure was the existence of reasonable doubt, as a standard of proof applicable in such cases, that the accumulated wealth was a result of illicit activities of the former GP.

6. Comment:

In the earlier comment on the case found in the November 2020 Report, we have pointed out the fact that the previous decision of the Special Court, with regards to lifting the asset seizure measure on Llalla’s properties, should have undergone a more thorough argument, especially with regards to properly informing the public opinion.

Only few days after this decision, SPAK decided to continue with a separate, autonomous request to the Special Court on seizing Llalla’s properties. Such a reaction demonstrates the determination of SPAK to use all legal instruments provided by the law, including here

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

those of the anti-mafia law, as proper techniques in fighting corruption through following- the-money measures.

SPAK’s prompt reaction is a positive indicator of the activity of this institution, which was established for the purpose of fighting, amongst others, the corruption of high profile public officials.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 3 – The “Toyota Yaris” Affair- SPAK v. Klevi Cani, Edi Lika, Alban Mollaymeri, Elvis Vladi and Alfred Vladi (assets investigation based on the anti-mafia law).

Keywords: SPAK, illicit proceeds, request for confiscation, anti-mafia law, “Toyota Yaris” Affair

1. Facts:

In June 2018, the Police arrested four persons in the Durres Port, namely Agim Çeku, Alban Mollaymeri, Edi Lika and Klevis Lika. They were apprehended, due to the fact that police found in one of the containers, a “Toyota Yaris” car, holding a considerable sum of money in different currencies, which were not declared to the authorities. Two of the suspects, namely Elvis Vladi and Alfred Vladi were declared wanted by the Police. The cargo was suspected to have originated in Belgium and later transported through the ferry line Bari- Durres.

According to the official report of the Police, 3,366,800 euros, 80,000 Swiss francs, 10 vehicles, 1 Kalashnikov and 1 police radio, were seized during the control. After these findings and further investigations, it emerged that the commissioners of the load were Elvis and Alfred Vladi.

The fact had been previously denounced in unprecedented fashion, by the Head of the Democratic Party (DP), Lulzim Basha, who had declared, a few days before, that a car carrying 1.5 million euros would transit through the Port of Durrës. The news caused major upheaval in the Albanian political and media scene, due precisely to this political warning.

The sum of money found in the car was suspected to be the result of drug trafficking groups operating in Albania. It was suspected as well that the money, was not only coming to Albania as proceeds of illegal activities, but that it was to enter the Albanian economic system to be laundered later on, through legal activities.

On the other hand, according to the allegations of the leader of the opposition, the case was linked to prominent political actors, such as the head of the parliamentary group of the SP, Taulant Balla, as a person directly implicated in the affair, due to his personal relationship with one of the suspects in the case, Alfred Vladi. As a result of such accusations, Balla filed a libel suit against Basha and won the case in 2019.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

2. Procedural History:

The case began based on suspicions of criminal offences committed by a structured criminal group. Later, after the requalification of the criminal offence, the process was transferred to the Tirana District Court, with charges being reduced to ‘Non declaration of monetary sums at the border’ for Ervis Vladi, and ‘Illegal possession of firearms’ for Agim Ceka. The other persons arrested in Albania, Edi Lika, Klevi Lika, Agim Ceka and Alban Mollaymeri, were freed. Meanwhile Alfred Vladi, Elvis Vladi, Edi Lika, Agim Ceka, Alban Mollaymeri, Niman Nimani, Alman Nimani, Albana Vladi, Arianit Nimani, Drita Sopo and Driton Hakaj, were under investigation in Belgium.

After the diminishing of the charges, SPAK decided to make use of the provisions of the anti-mafia law. As a result, SPAK asked the Special Court to impose asset seizure measures on the suspects, for the following assets:

- Monetary sums of 3,432.130 Euros and 80,000 Swiss francs. - A two-storey building and its respective land of 404 m2, situated in the Administrative Unit No.11, in Tirana. - A plot of seaside land of 140 m2, in Gjiri i Lalzit, Durrës. - A plot of agricultural land of 873 m2, in Gjiri i Lalzit, Durrës.

3. Issue/s: The main legal issue which the Special Court will face when dealing with this case, is:

a) If the suspects, whose property is requested to be seized and who bear the burden of proof in such cases, will prove that the assets have been obtained through legal means?

4. Comments:

The case has not yet undergone the scrutiny of the Special Court, while it is very sensitive for the public opinion, especially taking into consideration the fact that the case was announced by the Head of the opposition, Basha. On the other hand, the case is of a considerable dimension, since it shows the width and depth of the money laundering phenomena in the country.

Especially recently, this phenomena is frequently identified with the boom of luxury buildings, especially in Tirana and the Albanian Riviera. It is believed that a considerable part of the money fueling the building industry, is a result of drugs trafficking, by

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

individuals and groups involved in criminal activities in and out the country. Such investments are made especially in the real estate market.

Frequently, the owners of such properties do not justify the origin of the money used to acquire them. The above mentioned case, known also as the “Toyota Yaris” affair, may be the first of its kind in demonstrating one of the ways through which products of illicit activities, come to Albania. Even though this is considered an isolated case, it is believed not to be the only one. As observed during the activity of the OFL, many individuals with a criminal past, possess mostly real estate properties.

Moreover, the accusation of the Head of the opposition Basha, stressed the involvement of certain political actors as recipients of the money and as facilitators of criminal activities, meaning the possibility to launder the money, mostly through building permits. It is worth mentioning that SPAK is involved in this case only regarding the assets investigation and not on the initial charges of criminal activity as part of a structured criminal group, which would fall under the direct competency of this institution.

As a result, the reaction of SPAK, by using the legal means provided by the anti-mafia law, can be considered as the sole legal procedural ground for the case to acquire a certain relevance, albeit by now strictly limited to assets investigation.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 4 – SPAK v. Lulzim Berisha, Plaurent Dervishaj, Indrit Taulla, Luftar Reci, Emiljano Shullazi and Viktor Imeri.

Keywords: assassination, Vajdin Lamaj, Klodian Saliu, Band of Durrës.

1. Facts

The investigation for this criminal proceeding refers to two distinct events, which happened over 15 years ago and remained unsolved ever since. More precisely, the first case regards the shooting on 26.02.2005 of Klodian Saliu, a former member of the Band of Durrës. The second case is that of 27.02.2005 and it refers to a deadly explosion, as the result of which, there were two victims, Vajdin Lamaj and Artan Arsi. The explosion happened in the building where one of the victims lived, namely Vajdin Lamaj, known as a prominent businessman at the time. The assassination caused a major upheaval in the city of Tirana.

The investigations on these two cases were suspended as a result of not finding the authors. SPAK resumed the investigation on these proceedings, based on the confession of a justice collaborator, whose declaration led the prosecutors to the names of the suspected authors. According to SPAK, the authors of the two crimes were the head of the former Band of Durrës Lulzim Berisha, his brother in law, Plaurent Dervishaj, Indrit Taullai and Luftar Reçi.

For the execution of the businessman Lamaj, SPAK alleges that the suspects have collaborated also with Viktor Ymeri and Emiliano Shullazi.

2. Procedural history: Based on the above circumstances, SPAK asked the Special Court to impose the precautionary measures of pre-trial detention on the above six suspects.

3. Issue/s:

The main legal issue which the Special Court faced, was:

a) If there were reasonable doubts, based on evidence, that the above mentioned suspects had carried out the assassinations (apart from other suspected crimes) and if the criteria for imposing pre-trial detention were satisfied?

4. Holding:

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

By verdict no.115 of 02.12.2020, the Special Court imposed the precautionary measures of pre-trial detention on the six suspects.

5. Rationale:

The main reasoning the Special Court, rests on the existence of reasonable doubt, based on evidence, that the above suspects, have committed the assassinations. (Meanwhile, E. Shullazi and V. Imeraj are suspected of having cooperated with the other four suspects only on the second murder of Lamaj and Arsi).

6. Comment:

All the suspects are considered of a highly dangerous profile.

The General Directorate of the State Police, on 07.12.2020 declared that it had enforced pre-trial detention on V. Ymeri. Also, on 06.12.2020, I. Taulla was arrested in the city of Prizren, Kosovo. The relevant authorities have started the procedures to extradite him from the Republic of Kosovo.

On 08.12.2020, Judicial Police has also enforced pre-trial detention on E. Shullazi. Shullazi is currently under pre-trial detention for other crimes and is widely known as the head of a criminal group, based in Rruga e Kavajës, Tirana. He is linked to a series of criminal events that have shaken the public opinion in Tirana since the late 1999. It is believed that his group focused mainly on drugs trafficking.

Moreover, on 07.12.2020, the other suspect, I. Rusi was held by police forces, while for L. Berisha (former head of the Band of Durrës) and P. Dervishaj, there is an international police warrant. Berisha, despite his criminal past, was released under probation by the Court of Appeal of Durrës, which reduced his prison term by 6 years, out of 25 he had to serve. After his release, Berisha engaged in different economic ventures, including the oil and gas industry.

The above decision of the Special Court and the restart of the investigation by SPAK on the assassinations committed decades ago, demonstrates the determination of these new justice institutions to bring behind bars some of the highest criminal profile suspects in Albania, who have been able, till now, to not only avoid justice, but who are also suspected to have dominated major economic, as well as political activities in the country.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 5 - SPAK v. Zamira Rami

Keywords: abuse of office, SPAK, Mayor

1. Facts:

This case deals with the criminal offense of abuse of office by public officials.

In January of 2020, SPAK registered a criminal suit form two citizens, Dritan Sako and Teodori Xhai, who claimed that their properties were illegally demolished in the area known as “Postobllok”, in Gjirokaster.

The buildings owned by these citizens, were demolished due to a project on the reconstruction of a road, undertaken by the Municipality of Gjirokaster. This project is thought to have caused a damage of around 5,600,000 ALL and was carried out without a public expropriation act.

The public official considered as responsible, reported by these citizens to SPAK, is the former mayor of the Municipality of Gjirokaster in the period 2015-2019, Zamira Rami, who was elected as a representative of the coalition between SP and SMI.

2. Procedural history:

The criminal suit against the former Mayor of Gjirokaster was initially filed at the District Prosecution Office of Gjirokaster, and was later brought to SPAK, as a newly formed institution and competent to investigate a series of crimes committed by senior government officials. The offence which the former Mayor is suspected of and for which SPAK has completed the investigation, sending the case to the Special Court, is abuse of office.

3. Issue/s:

The main legal issue which the Special Court will be face when dealing with the merits of this case, is:

a) Whether the absence of a public expropriation act and the inaction of the accused former Mayor, can justify the charge of abuse of office?

4. Comment:

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

This particular case is important for the activity of SPAK and the Special Court, because it is one of the few times that an investigation of this nature, directed to a high local official, is finalized. Usually, local administrations and especially Mayors, face numerous public reports pertaining to inappropriate exercise of their functions, during their terms. One of such accusations refers to the illegal demolition of private property, without issuing expropriation acts and without properly compensating those affected.

Having said that, it should be noted that Zamira Rami represents a political force, such as SMI, now in opposition, and there is a risk that the issue will be perceived as an attempt to bring down former opposition officials. This risk becomes even more evident in analogy to other cases, related to the same activity of municipalities across the country.

For example, if we consider the activity of the Municipality of Tirana, during at least the last two years, the latter has intervened in many areas of the capital, such as the case of widening the road near the area known as “Astir”. These interventions have caused large protests and social confrontations, such as in the case of citizens blocking the so-called “Big Ring” of Tirana for several months. In this case, numerous houses were demolished with the help of police and many citizens were left out of their residences.

The concerns that these citizens have brought up, are nearly identical as the newly finished SPAK investigation against Zamira Rami. Therefore, it remains to be seen whether the same standard will be used (of course, if there are suspicions of committing criminal offenses) also for the above mentioned cases in the Municipality of Tirana.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 6 - SPAK v. Thoma Totonozi and Stjuart Bardhoshi

Keywords: Passive corruption, SPAK, tax director

1. Facts:

In August 2020, the local police of Korça, arrested two public officials, employees of the Regional Tax Directorate, namely the director Thoma Totonozi and an employee of the same office, Stjuart Bardhoshi. Both are believed to have collaborated with each other in obtaining bribes in exchange for not exercising fiscal controls on some local businesses. There are suspicions that the detainees have abused their powers not only by not exercising fiscal controls, but also by obtaining illegal gains from such activities.

According to the police investigation in collaboration with the District Prosecution Office of Korça, the two accused have been found in possession of money sums, suspected to have been generated by them, during their criminal activity of passive corruption. Later on the case has been transferred to SPAK, as the competent authority and the latter has proceeded further with the investigation.

2. Procedural history:

After the above arrests, SPAK continued the investigation in the framework of the criminal proceeding no. 213 of 2020. In December 2020, after announcing the conclusion of the investigation, SPAK indicted the defendants for the crime of’ “Passive corruption of persons exercising public functions”, committed in collaboration, as provided by the articles 259 and 25 of the Criminal Code and asked the Special Court to send the case for merits adjudication.

3. Issue/s:

The main legal issue which the Special Court will face when dealing with the merits of this case, is:

a) Whether there is sufficient evidence for the court to find the defendants guilty for the charge of passive corruption of public officials?

4. Comment:

Even though the case may be considered of a medium profile, tax institutions are often perceived as heavily touched by corruption. In this sector, corruption assumes both passive

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

and active forms, ranging from pressuring private entities to pay illegal tariffs to public officials, to frequent controls of entities which refuse to pay bribes.

Given this case, the Special Court has now the possibility to set a standard on similar corruption cases. On the other hand, it is also important to check the ways public officials in these sensitive sectors are recruited, especially outside the capital, considering the fact that most of them are thought to have been selected, mainly because of their political affiliations.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

ROLLING TRACK RECORD REPORT

January 2021

Prepared and published by: Legal and Social Studies Center, 02 February 2021.

Project: “Monitoring SPAK and the Special Court: Building a track record of prosecutions and convictions?”

Table of Contents

Case 1 - Update: SPAK v. Saimir Tahiri 2 Case 2 - SPAK v. Eduard Struga and Florin Ahmetaj 6 Case 3 - SPAK v. Arben Lekli, Sefedin Dokaj and others 9 Case 4 - SPAK v. Redian Rraja and Ariol Halilaj 12

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 1 – Update: SPAK v. Saimir Tahiri & Jaeld Çela: Ex Minister of Interior back to square one?

Keywords: Saimir Tahiri, SPAK, Special Court against Corruption and Organized Crime, ex- Albanian Minister of Interior, drug trafficking.

1. Facts:

This is an update on the case no.1 as treated in the Rolling Track Record of July 2020.1 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.

2. Procedural history:

1 On this case, see the July 2020 Monthly Report: https://lssc.al/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ROLLING-TRACK- RECORD-REPORT-DOWNLOAD-IN-ENGLISH-JULY-2020-LSSC-1.pdf, Case No. 1.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

The Court of Appeal, by an unanimous decision decided in 26.06.2020 to repeal the decision of the (then) Court of the First Instance for Serious Crimes (actually the Special Court), and send the case for retrial at the same court but with a different jury.

In January 2021, the Supreme Court, decided to have the case against the former Minister of Interior Tahiri, and the former head of the Vlora Police District, Jaeld Çela, adjudicated on its merits. Such decision was taken according to the preliminary procedure in camera, whereby the Supreme Court filters the cases that will be adjudicated on their merits (usually cases that request unification of the judicial practice). The decision was taken after the former Minister, appealed the Court of Appeals case through his legal representatives.

3. Issue/s:

The main issues that the Supreme Court will deal with, while adjudicating the merits of this case, are:

a) If the argument of the Special Court of Appeals, that there is a need to re-analyze the other charges against Tahiri (especially the charge of belonging to a structured criminal group), stands? b) If such analyses should be done by the first instance Special Court or at the appeals level?

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

4. Comment:

The decision of the Special Court of Appeals maintained that the Special Court of First Instance should reevaluate the other criminal charges brought by Tahiri and that the requalification of his criminal actions, should not be used as a reason to effectively change (soften) the charges against him. As such, the position of the Special Court of Appeals, was seen as a step forward in the fight against corruption/ organized crime in Albania.

The reaction of the Supreme Court, is interesting, from a procedural point of view. First, while the Supreme Court, has acted very fast in analysing the case in camera, which is a positive sign from an efficiency perspective, there are thousands of earlier backlog files, which have not passed this stage yet. The way of speeding up the procedure and the selection of this file, lacks transparency.

Secondly, the Tahiri case is a key one, which will ultimately illustrate if the new institutions are ready to begin a new era, giving an end to the impunity of high officials. In any case, we also have to consider that the legal steps taken by the former minister are related to the peculiar situation in which the Supreme Court is now. As a consequence of the vetting process, this court has only three members out of five needed to form a panel which can render criminal verdicts on their merits, as provided by the current article 14/a of the Code of Criminal Procedure. This article is expected to be amended through a new law, which will provide that a three-panel member can effectively adjudicate criminal matters on their merits. However, up to this date, such draft-law has not yet been approved by the Parliament.

Based on the above, we can conclude that in this case, former minister Tahiri is trying to gain advantage from the structural impossibility of the court to proceed in its activity. This difficulty comes exactly form the slowing down of the Justice Reform especially regarding the filling of the vacancies at the Supreme Court. It remains to be seen how the responsible institutions will be put in motion to overcome this institutional crisis. Failing to fill the Supreme Court vacancies can undermine the activity of this institution, not only regarding the case in question, but also for other sensitive cases in the framework of the fight against corruption and organized crime. After all, the latter is a key reason for which the Justice Reform was designed.

Lastly, there is a need to conduct a simple analysis of the average timeframe of adjudication at the Supreme Court. As an example, there is another case from the same claimant (Tahiri), relating to the precautionary measure imposed on him. This claim was filed at the Supreme Court on 18.07.2018. The decision on the case was taken by the Supreme Court, in camera, on 13.02.2020, after 7 months. Meanwhile, the filing for the

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected] current case, which is a merits case and is not as urgent as a precautionary measure, was done on the 29.09.2020. The decision on the case was taken by the Supreme Court on the 22.01.2021, within 4 months. Moreover, the Supreme Court has not adjudicated any other merits criminal case, the appeal for which has been filed on the same date.

The speeding up of the court’s proceedings on the said case, needs to be reasoned by the Supreme Court, bearing in mind the necessity to treat citizens equally, as well as the need to have transparency of the decision-making process.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 2 - SPAK v. Eduard Struga and Florin Ahmetaj

Keywords: passive corruption, SPAK, correctional facility director

1. Facts:

In April of 2020, law enforcement authorities arrested Eduard Struga, who was the Director of the Correctional Facility (Prison) no.313, in Tirana and Florin Ahmetaj, Head of the Logistics in the same institution. They had been under investigation by the Economic and Financial Crime Sectors of the Judicial Police, on suspicions of having committed passive corruption by taking a bribe from a businessman named Ervin Kutulla. The bribe was allegedly taken in exchange of allowing this businessman to open a commercial unit within the prison premises (Institution for the Execution of Criminal Verdicts).

The investigations pointed towards Struga illegally gaining around 457.000 ALL from the businessman. The investigation revealed that both public officials had gained several sums of money, paid by the same businessman, who also acted as an intermediary on behalf of another businessman, including here also promises to allow the institution`s premises to be rented out, in exchange of illegal monthly payments.

2. Procedural history:

SPAK concluded the investigation on this criminal proceeding (namely proceeding No. 89 of 2020), by communicating to the former Director of the Correctional Facility and to Florin Ahmetaj, the charge of ‘Passive corruption of public officials’, committed in collaboration, as provided by articles 259 and 25 of the Criminal Code. Therefore, SPAK refered the case to the Special Court. Apart from the above, SPAK also brought charges against the businessman Ervin Kurtulla, namely that of “Active Corruption of Persons Exercising Public Functions” as provided by article 244 of the Criminal Code.

The investigation also brought to light other cases of dubious public procurements done on behalf of this correctional facility in Tirana. As such, SPAK is extending the investigation within the framework of the now fractioned criminal proceeding No. 89/1 of 2020, to other crimes, such as “Breaching the equality of participants in public bids or auctions”, provided by article 258 of the Criminal Code and “Abuse of office” provided by article 248 of the Criminal Code.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

3. Issue /s:

The main issue the Special Court faced at this stage, was:

a) If there was sufficient evidence to send the case for adjudication on its merits, on the charges brought forward?

4. Holding:

In January of 2021, the Special Court, returned the file to SPAK for additional investigations on the charges against the defendants.

5. Rationale:

The Special Court concluded that the investigation on this case was not complete and that SPAK should have conducted more thorough investigations on the facts of the case. There is no public information on whether the Special Court has demanded from SPAK to come forward with other criminal charges.

6. Comment:

The case in question is important as it brings to light the phenomena of corruption in detention facilities. The charges brought against a high official of a correctional facility open the way to other investigations in this sector. It is important to note that Struga was arrested only few months after being appointed in this position, while in the past, he has held other positions in the same line of work.

The case also brings to light the fact that problems pertaining to the management of correctional facilities, have further repercussions. Indeed, they extend to the position these institutions have towards dealing with requests made by convicted individuals, during the enforcement of criminal decisions. The actions undertaken by such institutions, as well as by the Probation Service, have caused several public reactions on the abusive practices followed with regards to early releases from prisons. Such early releases have been rendered also for persons convicted of serious crimes, including those convicted for life. For example, one of such cases is related to several decisions of the District Court of Kruja, in the period 2017- January 2020. Through a series of dubious judicial verdicts, this Court has ordered the early release of four high profile prisoners. As a consequence, several officials of the correctional facilities and of the Probation Services, were replaced with others, while there have been no known criminal

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected] proceedings on such cases. There are currently only two ongoing disciplinary proceedings initiated against one judge and one prosecutor, respectively by the High Judicial Council (HJC) and the High Prosecutorial Council (HPC).

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 3 - SPAK v. Arben Lekli, Sefedin Dokaj and others.

Keywords: cultivation of narcotics, structured criminal group, SPAK, police officials.

1. Facts:

In January 2021, SPAK was informed through a confidential material produced by the Internal Affairs and Complaints Division of the Ministry of Interior in Tirana, on suspicions of committal of “Cultivation of narcotic plants”, and of the existence and activity of a “Structured Criminal Group”, as per articles 284, 28/4 and 333/a of the Criminal Code. According to these materials, the following individuals, namely Neritan Naska, Klement Zeqo, Bardhyl Çela, Astrit Duro, Edmon Zotko and Fatos Lamaj, engaged in the cultivation and the production for sale, of Cannabis Sativa plants. They conducted such activity in the extended region of Skrapar. According to the investigation, the facts emerged after a series of episodes, where the police had previously seized various quantities of narcotics.

According to the investigation material, those involved had build an entire infrastructure for the production and the stocking of the narcotics. They had also provided for the construction of an irrigation system, as well as quarters for the housing of workers who worked in the cultivation fields. During the investigation, it was also evidenced that police functionaries of the State Police were involved in this process. The latter facilitated the cultivation, treatment and the transport of the narcotics, in the territory of Skrapar, either through active actions, or negligence in exercising their functions.

2. Procedural History:

Based on the above material, SPAK has continued its investigation in the framework of the criminal proceeding no. 178 of 2020. According to the investigation, a series of measures were taken towards those suspected of the crimes of “Cultivation of narcotic plants”, “Production and sale of narcotics”, within the frame of a “Structured criminal group”, as well as for “Laundering of the proceeds of criminal offences or criminal activities”, as per articles 284 and 28/4, 283/1 and 28/4, 287 and 333/a of the Criminal Code.

Therefore, SPAK requested the Special Court to impose the precautionary measure of “Pre-trial detention” on Arben Lekli, Sefedin Dokaj, Alban Bendo, Fatjon Beshiri, Anxhela Beshiri, Selfo Kaposhi, Esmeraldi Kaposhi, Zylyftar Zhurda, Ilia Ballo, Redian Sula, Redian Shimi e Ilir Shimi, Olgert Dusho, Elson Dusho and Teki Dusho.

SPAK also requested the imposition of the precautionary measure of “Duty to appear before the Judicial Police” for Fuat Dusho and Enver Muçaj.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Importantly, SPAK requested the imposition of the precautionary measure of “House Arrest” on some members of the police forces and local public administrators, namely on Klement Zeqo, Bardhyl Çela, Astrit Duro and Neritan Naska, suspected of having committed “Abuse of office”, as provided by article 248 of the Criminal Code.

3. Issue/s:

The main issue that the Special Court faced, at this stage of the preliminary investigations, was:

a) If there were reasonable doubts, based on evidence, that the suspects had committed the above criminal offences, as well as whether there existed the specific criteria for imposing the precautionary measures?

4. Holding:

By verdict of 09.01.2021, the Special Court imposed 16 “Pre-trial detention” measures, 4 “House arrests” and 3 measures of “Duty to appear before the Judicial Police”.

5. Rationale:

The Special Court reasoned that there were effectively reasonable doubts on the committal of the above criminal offences. Moreover the criteria for imposing precautionary measures, such as the flight risk of those arrested, or the risk of committing further similar offences, were also met.

6. Comment

Although the case is still at a preliminary investigation stage, it is very important for the activity of SPAK. As it is widely known by now, the problem of cultivation of narcotic plants in the country, is widespread and of critical importance.

Since 2013, the opposition has accused the government of the so called “Cannabisation’ of the country. Often Ministers of Interior, have been accused, either as directly involved, or as facilitators of criminal groups acting in this field. It is not a coincidence that frequent resignations from these posts, are done due to allegations of potential involvement in the trafficking of narcotics from Albania to other countries in Europe. In this sense, law enforcement agencies in Albania are commonly accused of being directly involved in the production and trafficking of narcotics. The above have remained mostly

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected] in the field of accusations expressed by the opposition, civil society actors, or the media. Rarely, not to say never, did they actually result in concrete arrests or convictions of police officers involved in the production and trafficking of narcotics.

Based on media analyses, it is believed that without the involvement of police forces, the production of cannabis in the country, at this range, would be impossible. The involvement of police officers or local officials, may be also an indication of a wider implication of segments of politics, which accept, favor, or draw profits from this process. Through this case, SPAK and the Special Court have now the possibility to impose a standard of investigation and adjudication, that would permit a more organic interpretation of the phenomena of cultivation of narcotics, as well as a more elaborate interpretation of the concept of a ‘Structured criminal group’, part of which, are sadly believed to be, also some representative of the police forces.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 4 - SPAK v. Redian Rraja and Ariol Halilaj

Keywords: attempted armed attack, prosecutor, criminal group. 1. Facts:

On the 1st of November 2019, in a bridge close to Shkozet, in the highway Tirana-Durres, a car carrying three people, namely Andi Maloku, Arjan Ndoja and Aleksandër Laho came under armed attack. As a result, Andi Maloku sustained deadly injuries, while Arjan Ndoja and Aleksandwr Laho, were both injured, but survived. The first suspicions of the police were on a possible mafia-style attack, aimed at Arjan Ndoja, a public prosecutor at the Prosecution Office of Durrës.

After the preliminary investigations, the police arrested two suspects on this case, namely Redjan Rraja and Ariol Halilaj, as the actual executors of the attack. The file was then sent to SPAK which has formally indicted the above defendants.

2. Procedural history:

The proceeding in question is part of the file no. 184 of 2019, subdivided into fractions. More specifically, this case pertains to the criminal proceeding no. 184/1. By the end of the preliminary investigation, SPAK formally indicted Redjan Rraja and Ariol Halilaj, asking therefore the Special Court to send the case for merits adjudication.

3. Issue/s:

The main issue that the Special Court has to face, at this phase of the process, is:

a) If there is sufficient evidence for all the charges, including that of a “Structured criminal group’ to send the case for merits adjudication?

4. Comment

The case in question is infamously one of the most important cases in the recent criminal history of Albania. This is so, because one of the targets of the attack was Arjan Ndoja, a public prosecutor. Attacks towards justice officials have been quite rare, and this is the second time in the post-communist history of Albania, that a magistrate is targeted by criminals (after the assassination of the late judge Skerdilajd Konomi in Vlora in 2011).

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

The case has other implications. Arjan Ndoja was publically accused in the past by the Socialist Party (SP) for the unjust arrest of the head of the Land Registry Office of Durrës. Mr. Erion Braçe, the Deputy Prime Minister, participated himself in the court session in question and accused the prosecutor of exerting pressure towards the head of the Land Registry, on behalf of criminal groups and in connection to the legalization process of properties in Durrës, as well as other land transferals in the Lalzi Bay.

Aleksandër Laho is known to justice organs for his active criminal past. He is known as one of the most problematic persons in the area, where the armed attack was carried out. He was accused in 2016 of exerting violence towards the Lebanese businessman, Mr. Faadi Mitri, who was investing in the Lalzi Bay region. Despite the fact that the violence against Mitri was highly commented by the media, no one was formally indicted.

At the same time, the suspected authors of the attack are not entirely unknown. Redjan Rraja also has a criminal past. In 2018 he was accused of committing violence by his partner, Xhizela Maloku, who later withdrew the criminal claim. A police officer of the Fushe-Kruje police authority, told the media that he had been threatened by Redjan Rraja and a relative of his, who was a nephew of the Socialist Party MP, Rrahman Rraja.

It is believed that the case involves the situation of property rights in Lalëzi Bay, where criminal interests over the control of territory, often clash. This part of the country has been, since the early 2000s, at the center of building speculations, mainly regarding the construction of touristic villages, which have attracted interests from several actors, varying from business, to politics and organized crime.

Perhaps not by coincidence, a justice collaborator of a different case, named Julian Sinanaj, (known as a serial paid assassin) told the authorities that, the unsolved assassination of judge Konomi in Vlora in 2011, was done by criminal groups, because of the fact that the judge`s family (originally from Durres), had won a court case on properties situated in the very same area.

At the same time, we have to also note the close friendship proximity between the Prosecutor and Laho, a person with a criminal past. The involvement of Redjan Rraja in this case and his connection to the SP MP Rrahman Rraja, may help to direct the investigation of SPAK towards the possible connections between organized crime, politics and certain segments of the justice organs.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

ROLLING TRACK RECORD REPORT

February 2021

Prepared and published by: Legal and Social Studies Center, 05 March 2021.

Project: “Monitoring SPAK and the Special Court: Building a track record of prosecutions and convictions?”

Table of Contents

Case 1 - SPAK v. Gjevi Ndoka, Altin Avdyli and others. 2 Case 2 - SPAK and the ‘Ndrangheta’ wiretapping. 6 Case 3 - SPAK v. former opposition Mayors? 9 Case 4 - SPAK v. Enkeleida Hoxha and others. 11 .

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 1 – SPAK v. Gjevi Ndoka, Altin Avdyli and others.

Keywords: SPAK, Special Court, drug laboratory, heroin, criminal group.

1. Facts:

On the 18th of February 2018, the State Police discovered a heroin transformation laboratory in the village of Brenog, Has. The laboratory was found in the house of Xhavit Shehu, an inhabitant of the village. Such laboratory transformed the chemical components necessary for the production of heroin, which in turn was transported via land routes to the rest of Europe. During the operation, the Police seized 160 kg of heroin, an unspecified quantity of pure opium and acetone, components which are used in the synthetisation of heroin. The laboratory in the Has region was controlled by an extended criminal group, which had built the needed infrastructure for the production of the above mentioned narcotics. It is believed that the laboratory had been in activity for a considerable period of time. Apart from the Albanian personnel, several Turkish citizens worked in it, chiefly as chemists who dealt with all the production phases of the transformation of the opium into heroin.

The group was coordinated by Admir Hoxha, owner of a luxurious hotel, near Rinas (Hotel “Ador”, currently seized by law enforcement). Other persons from Shijak, namely the brothers Altin and Shkëlqim Avdyli, known also as the ‘Avdylaj Group’ were part of this criminal consortium. The latter are believed to be the commissioners of the raw components needed for the production of heroin, which they would transport to the laboratory in Brenog.

The discovery of the laboratory was made possible in collaboration with international partner law enforcement agencies, which promptly exchanged information with the Albanian police on the illegal activities in the Has region.

2. Procedural history:

The case of the Has narcotics’ laboratory is part of a voluminous criminal file, which included records also for other criminal offences, such as electoral crimes and abuse of public property, apart from drug trafficking.

The investigation has begun in 2016, when some persons were arrested in Kavajë for drugs trafficking. From the investigation, it emerged that there was indeed a structured criminal group operating in the area of Shijak, better known as the ‘Avdylaj group’. Other offences

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

from this criminal proceeding have been commented also in the July 2020 Monthly Report (Case no. 6).1

After a long time, the investigators were able to have the complete picture of this criminal activity, in which other persons were also allegedly involved, amongst which, two former Members of the Parliament from the Socialist Party (SP), Arben Çuko and Arben Ndoka. The latter were meanwhile facing charges of abuse of office and abuse of public property. In May 2020, SPAK decided to separate the file into several sub-files, according to the type of charges that the defendants faced.

The first fraction of the file to come under the attention of SPAK had to do with this case, the narcotics production laboratory of Has. According to the investigation, more than four criminal groups took part in the building and the coordination of the narcotics production facility in Has. The criminal groups collaborated with each other, securing also the transportation of the narcotics towards different European countries.

Based on the above, SPAK requested the Special Court to convict the defendants for the criminal charges of participation in a ‘Structured criminal group’, ‘Narcotics trafficking’, ‘Production and sale of narcotics’ and ‘Money laundering’.

3. Issue/s:

The main issues faced by the Special Court were:

a- Did all the charges brought by SPAK stand? b- Was there criminal activity in the form of a structured criminal group?

4. Holding:

Following the indictments brought by SPAK, the Special Court decided to convict the defendants, imposing prison sentences, for the charges of participation in a ‘Structured criminal group’, ‘Narcotics trafficking’, ‘Production and sale of narcotics’ and ‘Money laundering’, as follows: - Gjevi Ndoka (the brother of former SP MP Arben Ndoka) 8.8 years. -Altin Avdyli 6.8 years. -Esat Mehmeti 10 years. -Petrit Suljemani 8.8 years. -Sajmir Sulejmani 8 years.

1 See July 2020 Monthly Report, Case No. 6, https://lssc-al.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ROLLING- TRACK-RECORD-REPORT-DOWNLOAD-IN-ENGLISH-JULY-2020-LSSC-1.pdf

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

-Hajri Seferi 10.8 years. -Orges Jahoelezi 6.8 years. -Shkëlqim Avdyli 4.8 years. -Mario Zeqiri 4.8 years. -Elton Shehaj 4.8 years. -Ardit Gjyriqi 4.8 years. -Admir Hoxha 12 years. -Hekuran Hoxha 10.8 years. -Vehbi Berushi 8 years. -Anila Shuti 2 years. -Xhavit Shyti 8 years. -Flamur Çela 8 years.

5. Rationale:

The Court concluded that all the charges brought forward by SPAK were well –evidenced, establishing also, beyond any reasonable doubt, that there was indeed criminal activity in the form of a structured criminal group.

6. Comment:

The heroin laboratory of Has is an example of the evolution of criminal activities in connection with the production and distribution of narcotics in the country. Usually, heroin was transported in the Balkans from Turkey, and Albania has always been a passage route for it. The installation of a production facility demonstrates the high level of sophistication of local criminal groups, which are trying to control all phases of production and distribution of heavy narcotics, such as heroin and who are not limited only to cannabis.

On the other hand, as in the case of cannabis production, police have dealt mainly with local criminal groups, while in this case, the persons involved were located in different areas of the country. Almost all of them have a criminal past connected to drug trafficking. Xhavit Shyti, the owner of the building, where the laboratory was set, had been previously convicted for similar charges in Turkey. The “Avdyli” brothers, also have a criminal past, in Albania and abroad for drug trafficking, murder and prostitution. Avdyli`s name has also come out in wiretapping records while communicating with the former mayor of Durrës, Vangjush Dako, over alleged vote buying in this city.

The geographical ramifications of the laboratory are multiple, as the final product and the contacts the defendants had, are connected to cities like Tirana, Fier and Lezha. While the case has ended with the conviction of the defendants, its implications could have been far greater. Based on the wiretapping of this case, two important names had emerged, those of

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

former SP MPs Arben Çuko and Arben Ndoka, who were initially arrested and then released. While the charges on the latter two were either dropped or mitigated in a rather silent fashion, this remains one of the most important cases for SPAK and the Special Court, taking into consideration its extension and the persons involved in it.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 2 – SPAK and ‘Ndrangheta-s’ wiretapping

Keywords: wiretapping, money laundering, traffic of influence, Ndrangheta, narcotics traffic

1. Facts:

In January 2021, Albanian media outlets reported on several wiretappings completed in Italy by the police. The wiretappings were part of the operation code-named ‘Basso Profilo’ (Low Profile), conducted by the Prosecutor’s office of Crotone and Catanzaro in Italy. The wiretapping regarded among others, a group of Italian entrepreneurs connected to the criminal organization known as ‘Ndrangheta’, which predominantly operates in the territory of Calabria, while it also extends its activity in other areas of Italy.

This organization is active in the field of narcotics trafficking, but also in other areas, involving public procurement, the construction industry, etc. The wiretappings were of interest to the wide Albanian public as the persons involved, mentioned their connection to Albanian citizens, who potentially could act as facilitators between the Albanian institutions and the criminal organization, in facilitating ‘Ndrangheta’s’ investments in real estate, or public procurements in Albania. During the conversations, as per the media references, there were allegedly references made indirectly to the Mayor of the Municipality of Tirana, Erjon Veliaj, the President of the Republic, Ilir Meta, as well as those of Albanian entrepreneurs who would have acted as intermediaries of the dealings of Ndrangheta in Albania.

The name of an Albanian entrepreneur mentioned during the comments of a Calabrian businessman (Besnik Halili), refers to a small business owner in Tirana. In the conversation he states that it is very easy to penetrate and obtain illicit favors from the Albanian administration because, it is very sensitive to corruption. The wiretapping has also made reference to a well-known Italian politician, Lorenzo Cesa, who is also well connected with several Albanian politicians, with whom he came to contact while being a member of the European Parliament.

During the conversation, the suspects discuss how easy it is to obtain construction licenses in Albania, as well as the monetary returns from such investments. It is also mentioned that all the procedures are fairly easy and that Albanian public officials, especially those of the Municipality of Tirana are, easily corruptible.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

2. Procedural history:

SPAK`s reaction on this case was not very prompt. Only after the case garnered critical media coverage, did SPAK, in cooperation with the Italian Prosecution Offices involved, decide to conduct an investigation over various possible crimes. SPAK decided to finally register the criminal proceeding no. 17 of 2021, for the crimes of “Passive corruption of public officials”, “Structured criminal group”, “Money laundering”, conducted within the frame of a structured criminal group, as foreseen by articles 259, 333/a, 287 – 28/4 and 334 of the Criminal Code.

3. Issue/s: The main issues that SPAK will deal with, at this phase of the proceedings, are:

a) How far will the investigation go, in terms of officials allegedly involved? b) If there is sufficient evidence to finalize this investigation and request for the case to be sent to trial?

4. Comment:

The wiretaps originating from the Prosecution Offices of Catanzaro and Crotone in Italy, had a huge impact on the Albanian public and the media. Many political commentators saw in them the evidence of the involvement of Albanian politicians, not only with national crime organizations, but also with the international mafia. Such preoccupation is fairly old and is linked to the proximity of Albania with Italy, as well as to the weakness of the Albanian institutions. Despite the fact that there have been other allegations that the Italian mafia is also active in Albania, to date, the current case remains the only one supported by tangible evidence. This has also been a concern of the Italian authorities, as the initiative of SPAK to open a formal investigation came right after the visit of the head of SPAK, Mr. Arben Kraja to Italy, where he met with the Head of the Anti-Mafia Prosecution Director in Italy, Mr. Federico Cafiero de Raho.

Such meeting took place because of the parallel operation conducted by the Prosecutorial Office of Catanzaro, which brought about the arrest and extradition to Italy of an Albanian citizen, named Ardjan Cekini, a possible member of the Ndrangheta operations, accused of international drug trafficking. The Italian ambassador Fabrizio Bucci, also reacted to this case and his message was labeled by the media as a ‘code message’, whose aim was that of activating SPAK to act on the case.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

In the political scene, the case was either commented as an evidence of the connections of politics with crime, especially form the opposition, or it was utterly minimized by the Prime Minister. PM Rama was especially active denouncing that the former Italian parliamentarian, Cesa, was a friend of the DP. In fact, Lorenzo Cesa is a member of a small Demo-Christian party in Italy, belonging to the group of European Peoples Party (seen as allies of the Albanian DP).

Up until this moment, no important implications have emerged. Antonio Gallo, the person at the center of the wiretappings, who is believed to be close to Ndrangheta, owns a small commercial activity in the sale of uniforms and working clothes, and his company has successfully bid for a public procurement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Up to now, he has not acquired any building license. It is worth mentioning that this case may be subject to deflation on the ground of absence of evidence, but from that little information that is available, it results that the interests of the criminal underworld, are inevitably linked with the building boom in Tirana. Despite the fact that there have not been any arrests or any investigation over charges of money laundering, doubts remain as to the un-transparent origin of the money which continuously fuels the building industry.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 3 – SPAK v. former opposition Mayors?

Keywords: complaint filing, abuse of office, opposition Mayors.

1. Facts:

In the last months, there have been several complaints filed in SPAK over current or former (mostly opposition) Mayors. Such complaints have been filed either by actual mayors or by members of the opposition. They relate to some municipalities of the country, such as Përrenjas, Elbasan and Kamëz. Actually, the current mayor of the Përrenjas Municipality has filed a complaint over the former mayor of the same municipality, Miranda Rira. The mayor of Kamëz as well, has filed a complaint over the former mayor Xhelal Mziu, known for his very strong support of the DP. On the other hand, the DP has filed a complaint over the current Mayor of Elbasan, Gledjan Llatja.

The complaint against the former Mayor of Përrenjas deals with a procurement for the building of a sports site in this Municipality. The complaint against former Mayor of Kamza deals with an irregular building permit for a slaughter house in the village of Laknas. The building permit has also caused a strong reaction from the inhabitants of the area, as it puts at risk considerable green space. On the other hand, the complaint against the current Mayor of Elbasan, refers to the construction of the new building of the municipality through a Public Private Partnership. According to the opposition, the agreement has been done without respecting the law, as it favors the private partner by causing enormous loss to the public partner, the Municipality of Elbasan.

2. Procedural history:

Till now SPAK has not yet officially responded to the complaints and it is unclear whether they will be taken in consideration in starting actual investigations.

3. Issue/s:

The main issue that SPAK has to deal with at this stage, is whether to formally initiate criminal proceedings.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

4. Comment:

In our December 2020 Report, we have reported on a case against former Mayor of Gjirokastra, Zamira Rami (an SMI member) and have commented that criminal investigations against mostly opposition mayors, might become more frequent.2 It is now believed that the complaints filed are motivated by political considerations and constitute part of a bigger political strategy pertaining to the General Elections of the 25th of April.

This seems so, because, for instance, in the case of the Mayor of Përrenjas, till 2019, the municipality was held by a coalition between the SP and the SMI, whose mayor was a member of the SMI. The problem upon which the complaint was filed, did not emerge during the term when it occurred, and the complaint seems more of a revenge, rather than serving the public interest.

The same logic follows also with regards to the complaint against the current Mayor of Elbasan. The complaint of abuse of office was filed by the DP, which does not take in consideration that the decision for the construction of the new municipality building through a Public Private Partnership, was also approved by the DP members of the municipality council.

A more complicated situation is the one concerning the former Mayor of Kamëz, Xhelal Mziu. The latter is now the DP delegate responsible for the elections in the region of Dibër, while he has also served as a mayor for several terms in Kamëz. He has also been convicted in 2015 with two years of imprisonment, for breaching the equality of companies participating in public tenders.

It remains to be seen whether SPAK will allow to be used by political actors in the highly competitive run towards the general elections.

2 See December 2020 Monthly Report, Case No. 5, https://lssc-al.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/ROLLING- TRACK-RECORD-REPORT-DECEMBER-2020-LSSC.pdf

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 4- SPAK v. Enkeleida Hoxha and others

Keywords: corruption, judge, early release on parole, legal expertise

1. Facts:

In a mega-operation taking place on the 11th of February, SPAK executed the arrest of a rather notorious judge of the District Court of Kruja, namely Enkeleida Hoxha and other persons connected to the same proceeding. According to SPAK, the judge, in collaboration with third parties, made possible the early release from prison of convicts serving their sentences in the detention facility of Fushe-Kruje. Other persons have been detained together with the judge, such as lawyer Aldo Tabaku, the Chief Secretary of the court, Manuela Mallkuçi, as well as the psychiatric expert Shkëlqim Korbi.

According to the investigation, judge Hoxha and the lawyer Tabaku, collaborated in setting up a scheme for the early release of convicts, involving relatives of the latter, as well as other functionaries of the court and legal experts.

They allegedly made it possible for some of the convicts to address the court with repeated requests for sentence reduction (which is rendered only when a convict shows exceptionally good behavior) and then address the same court with a request for early release on parole. The justification of the latter was usually accompanied by fictitious medical expertise, released by the medical legal expert Shkëlqim Korbi.

The role of the Chief Secretary was to make sure that all such requests reached this specific judge. The scheme was to file identical requests at the same time, withdraw from requests allocated to other judges and continue with the case only for the legal claim that reached judge Hoxha.

Lawyer Tabaku was first arrested on the steps of the court building, while he was entering the court for a session with judge Hoxha. The latter was arrested while in her courtroom.

During the investigation, as a result of the phone conversations of the Chief Secretary, it also emerged that she had been in contact with a surgeon, Edvin Prifti, who allegedly demanded a bribe for the surgery of the secretary`s mother in July 2020. The police raided Prifti’s house and private office, seizing cash in the amount of approximately 350 000 euros.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

2. Procedural history:

SPAK had registered on its own initiative the criminal proceeding no. 102/2, for the criminal offences of “Passive corruption of judges, prosecutors and other justice functionaries”, as well as for the “Illegal influence on persons exercising public functions”, as foreseen by articles 245/1, 319/ç of the Criminal Code. Apart from the above officials, the investigation involved mostly relatives of the convicts and two nurses, who were believed to be the intermediaries for the bribe paid to the surgeon.

Parallel to this, SPAK requested the arrest of the doctor Edvin Prifti on suspicions of having committed “Laundering of proceeds of criminal offences or criminal activity”.

SPAK`s investigation had continued over several months, using special investigation techniques, involving agents on the ground, observing the judge and other officials during their day-to-day work.

While the Special Court had already issued arrest warrants for the above court officials (in absentia, due to the necessity to preserve the investigation secrecy), SPAK requested the arrest of Prifti in the same court session that dealt with the validation of the arrests that were already enforced.

3. Issue/s:

The main issues faced by the Special Court were: a) If the measure of “Pretrial detention” was proportional for the defendants? b) If the precautionary measure of “pretrial detention” requested during the court session for Prifti was to be imposed?

4. Holding:

The Special Court confirmed all the arrests, including the issuance of a new arrest warrant for Dr. Prifti. Two of the nurses allegedly involved in the bribe given to the doctor, were freed and the Court imposed on them the precautionary measure of “Duty to appear before Judicial Police”.

5. Rationale:

The Court reasoned that all the arrests validated or issued during the court session, were necessary and proportionate to the crimes allegedly committed by the defendants.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

6. Comment:

The case has been highly commented in the media. It also garnered the attention of the PM, as well as the US Ambassador. Both congratulated SPAK on such thorough investigation.

It is one of the first times that a judge is arrested while in the courtroom. However, more than the public perception part of it, the case serves to analyze the phenomena of early release from prison (parole). The latter has not yet found an organic answer from the disciplinary organs of the new justice institutions. In our monthly January 2021 report3 we have stressed this fact, as part of the corruption in detention facilities, which permits those convicted of serious criminal offences, to avoid serving the rest of their sentences.

This case proves the extension and the ramification of the phenomena which is not limited only to the Court of Kruja, but is evident also in other courts. While the District Court of Kruja, despite its relatively small size, is one of the toughest courts given the amount and frequency of crimes, especially in the region of Fushe Kruje, all courts competent from a territorial perspective over detention facilities, face the same problems.

It is worth mentioning that judge Hoxha has been repeatedly accused by the media for the leniency of her sentences, on persons who pose high criminal danger. In 2020 the High Inspectorate of Justice found out that some of the decisions the judge made in connection to early releases from prison, were rendered in serious violation of the law. The HIJ has demanded the HJC to dismiss the judge, but as of now, there is only a suspension ordered on her, while the disciplinary action still continues.

It is believed that the real plan of judge Hoxha was to render an early release of one of the most dangerous convicts currently serving his sentence at the Fushe Kruje prison, namely Genc Ferhati. Ferhati is known as a member of the Band of Kavaja Street and is linked to Shullazi. Ferhati has been transferred from the high security prison of Peqin, to the prison of Fushe Kruje. Other media allegations have referred to the fact that the judge might have been threatened in order to render such verdicts. However, as of now, such allegations have remained unproven.

3 See January 2021 Monthly Report, Case No. 2, https://lssc-al.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/ROLLING- TRACK-RECORD-REPORT-JANUARY-2021-LSSC.pdf

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

ROLLING TRACK RECORD REPORT

March 2021

Prepared and published by: Legal and Social Studies Center, 02 April 2021.

Project: “Monitoring SPAK and the Special Court: Building a track record of prosecutions and convictions?”

Table of Contents

Case 1 - Update: SPAK v. Luan Daci 2 Case 2 - Update: SPAK v. Enkeleida Hoxha 5 Case 3 - Update: SPAK v. Adriatik Llalla 7

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 1 – Update: SPAK v. Luan Daci

Keywords: Luan Daci, SPAK, Special Appeals Chamber, vetting commissioners, document’s falsification.

1. Facts:

This material is an update of the case no. 5 contained in the Rolling Report of July 20201 and of the case no.1 found in the Rolling Report of December 2020.2 Luan Daci was a member of the Special Appeals Chamber (AC), a constitutional institution which reviews the vetting appeals against the judges and the prosecutors of the Republic of Albania as a second instance (appeal).

In January 2020, Mr. Besnik Cani, a prosecutor and a former member of the High Prosecutorial Council (HPC), previously discharged by the AC, filed a criminal complaint against Daci, alleging that he had falsified his application documents in 2017, while running for the AC membership. According to the report, Daci omitted to show a decision of the then High Council of Justice, taken in 1997, based on which he was dismissed on grounds of breaching the law and incompetence. Daci did not declare the dismissal during his interview by the ad hoc parliamentary commission, prior to his election as a member of the vetting institutions. To the contrary, he pretended instead that he had resigned from his position as a judge.

2. Procedural History:

In May 2020, SPAK requested the Special Court to impose on the defendant the precautionary measure of suspension from carrying out a public duty.

By verdict of 20 May 2020, the Special Court imposed such measure on the defendant, which prompted the AC to suspend all court sessions where the defendant was a panel member

On appeal submitted by Daci, on 5 June 2020, the Special Court of Appeals overruled the

1 See Case No. 5, https://lssc-al.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ROLLING-TRACK-RECORD-REPORT- DOWNLOAD-IN-ENGLISH-JULY-2020-LSSC-1.pdf 2 See Case No. 1, https://lssc-al.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/ROLLING-TRACK-RECORD-REPORT- DECEMBER-2020-LSSC.pdf

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

suspension verdict, enabling the defendant to return to office. The essence of the reasoning for such verdict was that the documents presented by Daci during his application process, such as his application request and CV, are not considered as official documents.

Meanwhile, one of the members of the panel adjudicating Daci at the Special Court of Appeals, was Judge Nertina Kosova, who had previously been confirmed in duty by a split AC decision, of which the defendant was a member of the majority opinion.

On 23 July 2020, SPAK decided to indict Daci for the final charge of “Falsification of documents”. Article 186, paragraph 2 of the Albanian Criminal Code that covers this offence, provides that such offence, is punishable with prison detention of up to 3 years. As a result of this official communication of the charges to the accused, on 24 July 2020, the AC decided to suspend the defendant from office. Contrary from its reaction to the previous suspension ordered by the Special Court as a personal precautionary measure, this time the AC decided to not suspend all the cases where the defendant was a panel member, but to substitute him with another AC judge. SPAK requested from the Special Court to sentence Daci with one year in prison.

On the 1st of December 2020, the Special Court decided to declare Luan Daci guilty for the crime of ‘Falsification of Documents’, as provided by the Article 186/2 of the Albanian Criminal Code and to sentence him to 6 months in jail, converted in 12 months of probation. This sentence of the Special Court of First Instance was appealed by the defendant at the Special Court of Appeals.

3. Issue/s: The main issue that the Special Court of Appeals dealt with in this case, was: a) If the charge of “Falsification of documents” was proven in the case when the defendant hid the existence of a disciplinary measure?

4. Holding:

After reviewing the appeal submitted by the legal representatives of Luan Daci, on 8 March 2021, the Special Court of Appeals, confirmed the decision of the first instance, leaving in force also the sentence of 6 months imprisonment, converted to 12 months of probation.

5. Rationale:

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

In similar fashion to the Special Court of First Instance, the Special Court of Appeals, reasoned that document falsification can occur also when someone omits (does not declare), or hides information requested that pertains to prior disciplinary measures.

6. Comment:

Despite the fact that SPAK and the Special Court have handled prior cases involving crimes committed by justice officials, the conviction of Luan Daci, is the first of its kind. If in other cases,3 SPAK and the Special Court, have dealt with cases of corruption, in the case of Daci, the attention focused on the irregularities of his declarations and the presentation of documents which later resulted in the selection of Daci as a member of the AC. As the decision of this court is final and binding, it is now necessary for Daci to be replaced as a member of the AC.

Immediately after the decision of the Court, Daci stated that the verdict is an attack on the justice reform and on the US Embassy, meaning that he had the support of international partners. He emphasized that there cannot be a falsification of documents if one does not disclose a disciplinary measure, despite the fact that not declaring such facts means that the information provided by him and upon which he was elected as an AC member, was false.

3 See for instance the cases on Judge Mimoza Margjeka and Enkeleida Hoxha.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 2 - Update: SPAK v. Enkeleida Hoxha

Keywords: passive corruption, SPAK, Special Court, judge

1. Facts:

This is an update of the case No. 4 found in the Rolling Report of February 20214. In a mega operation conducted by the police on 21st of February 2021, SPAK executed an arrest warrant on a (by now infamous) judge of the District Court of Kruja, Enkeleida Hoxha and other persons involved in this proceeding. According to SPAK, the judge, in collaboration with other persons had made possible the early release of several convicts from the correctional facility (IEVP) of Fushe - Kruje.

Other persons were arrested as part of the operation, such as the lawyer Aldo Tabaku, the Chief Secretary of the court Manuela Mallkuçi and the psychiatric expert Shkëlqim Korbi.

2. Procedural history:

At the hearing for the validation of the precautionary measures imposed, held on 13 February 2021, the Special Court confirmed the arrests, including here the arrest of judge Hoxha, for whom the Court imposed the precautionary measure of “Pre-trial detention”. The same precautionary measure was imposed on the doctor Prifti.

The decision was appealed by the defendants at the Special Court of Appeals.

3. Issue/s:

The main issue/s faced by the Special Court of Appeals, was:

a) If the precautionary measure of ‘Pre-trial detention’ was proportionate?

4. Holding:

On the 2nd of March 2021, the Special Court of Appeals held a hearing to evaluate the precautionary measures imposed by the Special Court. The court decided to confirm the precautionary measure of ‘Pre-trial detention’ for judge Enkeleida Hoxha, lawyer Aldo Tabaku, Manuela Mallkuçi and Shkelqim Korbi. The same court decided to change the

4 See for more, Case No. 4, https://lssc-al.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/ROLLING-TRACK-RECORD- REPORT-FEBRUARY-2021-LSSC.pdf

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

precautionary measure on Edvin Prifti, releasing him from pre-trial detention, while confirming the other measure imposed on him, that of “Suspension from duty”.

5. Rationale:

The Special Court of Appeals, reasoned that the former judge and the other persons arrested for the case of the early illegal release of convicts from the correctional facility (IEVP) of Fushe - Kruje, were to be held under “Pre-trial detention”, as the conditions of this precautionary measure had not changed. As for the case of doctor Prifti, the Court reasoned that the considerable sum of money found in one of his apartments was justified by a “yet to be completed” transaction on a real estate property.

6. Comment:

While the court accepted the legal arguments presented by the legal representatives of Edvin Prifti, at the same time it refused the request of the former judge Hoxha. Her lawyers pointed out the judge has a son, severely affected by health problems and two elderly parents.

Meanwhile the HJC (High Judicial Council), reacted on the 17th of March, dismissing the judge from office. A similar decision was taken on the 31st of March by the HPC (High Prosecutorial Council) when a Prosecutor from the same district court was dismissed, amongst others, on the ground that he had not appealed the decisions of this particular judge.

Regarding doctor Prifti, it is surprising that the Special Court of Appeals did not take into consideration the fact that, according to the Albanian tax legislation, every transaction above the amount of 150.000 ALL should be conducted through the banking system. The alleged transaction of the doctor had a value of hundreds of thousands of euros, and there were no traces of it, be it in the banking system, or at the Registration Agency for Immovable Property.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 3 – Update: SPAK v. Adriatik Llalla

Keywords: former General Prosecutor, SPAK, assets investigation.

1. Facts:

This case is an update of the Case No. 4 of the Rolling Report of July 20205 and a further update of Case No. 2 of the Rolling Report of November 20206. The investigation on the assets of Adriatik Llalla (former GP) refers to the measures imposed on his property as prescribed by the anti-mafia law. As pointed out in our previous analyses in regard to this case, in July 2018, the then Court for Serious Crimes seized the assets of the former General Prosecutor, respectively an apartment of 67 square meters in Durres and 4 land plots of 22.050 square meters, located in the suburbs of Tirana.

In March 2020, SPAK announced that it had completed the investigation, on the criminal charge of “Refusal to declare, non-declaration, concealment or fraudulent declaration of property, private interests of elected persons and public servants, or any other person that bears the legal duty to declare”. According to SPAK, this offence was committed three times by the former GP Llalla.

2. Procedural History:

After an initial return of the case for further investigation by the prosecution, the Special Court, by verdict of 19.11.2020 taken in preliminary session, decided to send the case for merits adjudication. In this way, Llalla acquired officially the status of the defendant.

On the 5th of March 2021, Llalla`s legal representative and the defendant himself, presented a request for a so-called abbreviated trial. Such a request was accepted by the Court by postponing the hearing for the 19th of March 2021. The acceptance of this request means that Llalla will undergo trial, based on the actual state of the evidence and the Prosecution`s documents, without acquiring other evidence. Such procedure prescribes that if the defendant is found guilty, the sentence will be reduced by a third of it.

The Special Court`s hearing took place on the 19th of March 2021, where Adriatik Llalla faced the charges brought forth by SPAK. During the hearing SPAK presented its final conclusions the charges on the former GP and asked that Llalla be convicted to 2.5 years in prison for concealing his property.

5 See Case No. 4, https://lssc-al.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ROLLING-TRACK-RECORD-REPORT- DOWNLOAD-IN-ENGLISH-JULY-2020-LSSC-1.pdf. 6 See Case No. 2, https://lssc-al.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/ROLLING-TRACK-RECORD-REPORT- NOVEMBER-2020-LSSC.pdf.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

The final hearing was to take place on the 2nd of April 2021, but it was meanwhile announced by the Court that it will be postponed, for a second time now, for the 16th of April 2021.

3. Issue/s:

The main issue/s that the Special Court of Appeals will face, is:

a) If there is evidence beyond any reasonable doubts, that Llalla is guilty of the charged he has been indicted on?

4. Comment

The investigation for the criminal charge of concealing property has lasted for over 2 years. As it has been evidenced in former reports, the initial suspicions on Llalla, including here the criminal charge he is actually facing, consisted on three other crimes, such as abuse of office, money laundering and failing to declare monetary sums at the border. These charges have been dropped.

While the request for an abbreviated trial, does not mean an admission of guilt by the defendant, it has often been interpreted as such by many legal professionals. More than the procedural importance of this act, what should be noted, is the fact that through this request, Llalla has somewhat surrendered himself to justice. The acceptance of the fact that there is no need for further evidence and waiving any claim on the invalidity or inadmissibility of evidence, shows that Llalla is expecting a potential guilty verdict. As such, there is not much he can do, other than obtain a reduction by one third of his sentence. Meanwhile, it remains to be seen if in this case, a conviction in prison will be converted to probation service, as it has often happened by now in other cases involving high level officials.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

ROLLING TRACK RECORD REPORT

April 2021

Prepared and published by: Legal and Social Studies Center, 03 May 2021.

Project: “Monitoring SPAK and the Special Court: Building a track record of prosecutions and convictions?”

Table of Contents

Case 1 - SPAK and the voters’ list 2 Case 2 - SPAK v. Paris Prenga and others 5 Case 3 - SPAK v. Klajdi Xibraku and Erjon Peti: 140 kg of cocaine at the Durres Port 7 Case 4 - SPAK v. Bashkim Dedja, Shkëlzen Selimi and Fatos Lulo 9

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 1–SPAK and the voters’ list.

Keywords: voters’ list, data theft, invasion of privacy, free journalism

1. Facts:

On the 11th of April 2021, the news portal lapsi.al, published an article showing that the Socialist Party (SP), was in possession of a list of voters of the Tirana electoral college. Such list was compiled by the functionaries of the party, containing information such as the name and the surname of the voter, the personal identification number, the phone number, the address and the polling station. The voters were subdivided in groups monitored by a “supervisor” (a.k.a “patron” - in Albanian “patronazhist”). The role of the supervisors was that of surveying the voters and possibly understanding their voting preferences in view of the latest elections.

The list is suspected to have been leaked from some functionaries of the SP to the journalists of the news website lapsi.al, who in turn published it. The news caused considerable public outcry, as for the first time, it was now proven through facts, that personal data were being used by unauthorized subjects, as in the case of the SP. It is believed that the data had been taken from the state e- service portal e-Albania, which stores the digitalized personal information of all Albanian citizens. The portal is used for many services which in the past were provided physically by various institutions to the citizens.

2. Procedural history:

A day after the publication of the list by the news portal lapsi.al, SPAK sent a team of investigators to the offices of the portal. According to the press, the aim of the team was to seize the server of lapsi.al, in order to determine where the data came from. The directors of lapsi.al refused the request of SPAK to hand the units containing the list of voters. After such refusal, SPAK asked the Special Court to order the seizing of the servers and data storage units of lapsi.al. This request was accepted by the Special Court.

On the 18th of April 2021, the directors of lapsi.al, Armand Shkullaku and Andi Bushati, sent the case concerning the order of the Special Court, to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

3. Issue/s:

The main question the ECtHR addressed, was:

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

a) Whether seizing the servers of the media outlet, would irreparably damage media freedom?

4. Holding:

On the 21st of April 2021, the ECtHR ruled by suspending the enforcement of the Special Court’s verdict for seizing the servers and the data storage units of the portal lapsi.al.

5. Rationale:

The ECtHR reasoned that the seizing verdict of the Special Court, damages, prima facia, media freedom and the right of journalists to protect their sources of information.

6. Comment:

The publication of the list of the SP, containing sensitive data, from the news portal lapsi.al can be analyzed under two aspects, legal and political ones. Other implications can be mentioned, as they are not simply related to the breach of privacy, but also to other aspects of voting. As mentioned above, groups of voters were assigned to a “supervisor”, whose role is not entirely clear, but it can be interpreted as a surveyor, controller, or an influencer of voters, on behalf of the SP. Most of the surveyors appear to be employed in public administration.

From a legal point of view, it remains to be seen, if there are grounds to initiate a criminal proceeding for breach of privacy of the citizens by SP and how will this investigation affect media freedom.

Also it is very important to determine whether such data were obtained due to the SP being in power, thus implying that the persons who offered the data, could have committed abuse of office and breach of privacy.

From a political point of view, the case has greater implications, taking into consideration the post electoral situation. What needs to be clarified, is whether such data were used to understand the trend of voting and then target different persons, blackmailing them about their work, or if they were used as a way to facilitate potential vote buying.

The press also have pointed out that several SPAK prosecutors have been registered in the database as definite SP voters. The media has used this detail to spark doubts on the activity of SPAK.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Moreover the position SPAK has taken towards this case is to investigate the source from which the information was released, namely the portal lapsi.al, when in fact the investigation should also cover the way the list was compiled, or it should have been made public at least, that it also covered this aspect.

The SP has never denied that the list was compiled by this party, while it is yet to become clear as to where the personal voters` data were taken from, data such as the personal ID number, the phone number, or the working place. In some of the comments that “the supervisors” make regarding specific voters, there is also other qualitative data, such as for example, the fact that some of the voters are expecting to legalize their property, that they are beneficiaries of social aid etc. Such data, logically leads to the suspicion that public officials might have been involved in the process, and this conclusion, amongst others, requires a deeper investigation by SPAK.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 2- SPAK v. Paris Prenga and others

Keywords: weapons` facility, organized crime, SPAK, Special Court

1. Facts:

On the 3rd of March 2021, the Prosecution Office of Tirana, arrested Enver Jamaku, who was accused of placing explosives in the car of another citizen in Kamëz. After his arrest, Jamaku accepted to collaborate with the justice institutions. According to his testimony, Jamaku declared that the attack was commissioned by Gjergj Cukali, a notorious criminal name in Tirana. Jamaku told the prosecutors, among others, that he knew the location of several depots, where sophisticated weapons were stored. It is highly probable that such weapons were used in various crimes committed by different criminal groups in Albania.

After such testimony, the State Police, with the support of the Special Forces RENEA, conducted the operation codenamed “Complex”, making it possible to localize 18 suspected locations where weapons were stored, on behalf of different criminal groups. The police found a considerable arsenal of weapons, ammunitions, sophisticated optical devices, radio-communication devices, silencers and narcotics. One of the places is believed to have been used as a laboratory for the production of silencers, used afterwards by different criminal groups in Albania.

2. Procedural history:

After the file pertaining to the ammunitions facilities was passed to SPAK as the competent institution, on the 1st of April 2021, the Police arrested in flagrante 9 citizens, namely Blendi Deda, Flor Abazi, Paris Prenga, Petrit Shera, Algert Hysa, Bujar Jaupi, Festim Mustafa, Arben Sufa and Klodian Kulla. Other arrest warrants were issued for two other suspects, Akil Kulla and Sokol Gjura.

Afterwards, in accordance with criminal procedural provisions, SPAK requested the Special Court to evaluate the arrests.

3. Issue/s:

The main issue the Special Court dealt with, was:

a) If the precautionary measure of ‘Arrest in prison’ was proportional for the defendants?

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

4. Holding:

By verdict of the 4th of April 2021, the Special Court, confirmed the arrests in prison for 8 out of 9 defendants, while establishing the same precautionary measure, this time limited to 45 days, for the defendant Klodian Kulla.

5. Rationale:

The Special Court reasoned that such precautionary measures were proportional to the gravity of the crimes suspected and the dangerous activity of the defendants. In relation to the precautionary measure of “Arrest in prison” for 45 days (imposed on one of the defendants), such measure was ordered to allow the Prosecution to complete the necessary investigation on the defendant Klodian Kulla.

6. Comment:

The discovery of the weapons facilities in Tirana is one of the most important operations of the police in the last couple of years. Although Jamaku`s testimony was intended for solving other cases of car explosions, the discovery of the weapon depots is, without doubt, an important success of the police, bearing in mind the fact that this information can help to solve other serious crimes.

The depots were well organized in stocking, production and maintenance of the weapons. It is believed that this organized network served to various criminal groups in the capital, for a series of crimes which remain yet unsolved, mostly assassinations of businessmen in the period 2017-2019.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 3 – SPAK v. Klajdi Xibraku and Erjon Peti: 140 kg of cocaine at the Durres Port.

Keywords: cocaine, SPAK, port, banana container

1. Facts:

On 10 April 2021, Durres Police arrested 2 citizens, namely Klajdi Xibraku and Erjon Peti, who were representatives of a company called ‘Masabi Fruits’. The company was the recipient of a banana container arriving at the Port of Durres and had a 5 year activity in this sector.

While the cargo arrived in Durres, the container was scanned. As a result of this control, Police found in between two layers of the ceiling of the container several packs, containing cocaine. On top of the packs there were pictures of Pablo Escobar and tags in Spanish stating “El Mejor” (“The best”). The quantity of the drugs seized was 140 kg.

After conducting verifications, it resulted that the cargo came from Ecuador and it had transited through various different ports, such as Gioa Tauro in Italy, or Pireus in Greece, before arriving to Durres. Its destination was the company ‘Masabi Fruits’, which was active in the trade, amongst others, of exotic fruits. During this time, one of the defendants, Klajdi Xibriaku, was asked to undertake the actions required for the receipt of the cargo and while he was doing so, he was arrested. Later on, the administrator of the company, namely Erjon Peti, was also arrested.

2. Procedural History:

SPAK, in cooperation with the Durres Prosecution Office and Durres Police, had initiated a control on companies importing exotic fruits from Latin America, mostly Ecuador. In the meantime, based on the argument that the case so far consists only of international drugs trafficking, without any indicator as to the existence of a structured criminal group, or a criminal organization, the case was sent to the Durres Prosecution Office as the competent institution to prosecute it.

3. Issue/s:

The main issue that SPAK faced at this moment was:

a) If the competence to prosecute this case belonged to SPAK or to the Durres Prosecution Office?

4. Comment:

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

The role of SPAK in this case appears to of a mere supporting nature. The further investigation of the case was sent to the Durres Prosecution, as the competent authority.

Meanwhile, suspicions that this whole operation may have been conducted in the framework of a structured criminal group, continue to exist, especially taking into consideration the size of the drugs trafficking and the need to have coordination amongst people in different countries. Such a quantity of drugs is almost impossible to be imported, unless this is done as part of a structured criminal group.

Moreover, having regard to the dynamics of the operation, it remains unclear why, for instance, the cargo was not monitored till it reached its destination, in order to identify the final true recipients. Both defendants who were arrested, namely Xibraku and Peti, have no prior criminal records and their company has not been involved in any suspicious activity.

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

Case 4 – SPAK v. Bashkim Dedja, Shkëlzen Selimi and Fatos Lulo

Keywords: former judges, assets seizure, vetting, anti-mafia law

1. Facts:

Fatos Lulo, Bashkim Dedja and Shkëlzen Selimi have been respectively, former Head of the Constitutional Court, former member of the Constitutional Court and former member of the High Court. All three have been dismissed by the vetting institutions.

There has been information on all three former judges that they owned immovable property which they could not legally justify, or which was hidden and not reflected in their assets declarations. As a result, based on the anti-mafia law, SPAK has requested the Special Court to seize some of the properties belonging to the former judges.

2. Procedural History:

On the 7th of May 2020, SPAK registered the criminal proceeding No. 137 for the crime of “Refusal to declare, non-declaration, concealment or fraudulent declaration of property, private interests of elected persons and public servants, or any other person that bears the legal duty to declare”, provided by article 257a/a/2 of the Criminal Code.

Afterwards, after almost a year of investigations, in April 2021, SPAK requested the Special Court to seize some immovable properties registered in the name of the former judges or their relatives.

3. Issue/s:

The main issue that the Special Court faced was:

a) If there were reasonable doubts that such properties constituted the material object of the suspected crime of asset hiding, or non-declaration?

4. Holding:

By verdicts of 20.04.2021 and 23.04.2021, the Special Court decided to approve SPAK`s requests and seize the following assets: property belonging to former judge Fatos Lulo, with a surface of 172 m2, commercial unit, situated in Tirana; property belonging to former judge Bashkim Dedja, apartment of 60 m2, situated in Golem Kavaja; 1//2 (50%) of a plot of land of 432 m2 and a building of 132.25 m2 serving as a gas station, situated in Vlora, belonging to former judge Shkëlzen Selimi; a plot of land of 2400 m2 situated in Jonufër, Vlora, belonging to Mr. Kujtim Selimi (a relative of the former judge) and

Rr. “Alqi Boshnjaku” (ish Reshit Collaku) Pallati Bora, Ap.11 TIRANË [email protected] [email protected]

55% of a plot of land of 764 m2, plus a building of 57 m2, serving as a gas station, situated in Vlora and belonging to Mr. Kujtim Selimi.

5. Rationale:

The Special Court reasoned that, according to the anti-mafia law, which imposes the burden of proof on the defendants to otherwise prove that their assets were created through legal income, there are doubts that the seized properties constitute the material object of the crime of asset hiding, or non-declaration of assets.

6. Comment:

The reaction of SPAK and the Special Court represents the first case where the anti-mafia law is used against former high profile judges, who have been dismissed as a result of the vetting process. While in the case against the former GP Llalla, the latter had resigned from office, all three former judges in the current case, have been dismissed through final and binding vetting verdicts.

Moreover, while for the former Head of the Constitutional Court Bashkim Dedja and the former member of this court, Fatos Lulo, the vetting dismissal was based on a lack of legal income to justify their assets, the dismissal of former judge Selimi, was based on the second component of the vetting process, namely integrity. Regarding the latter, according to a report drafted by IMO members, there were doubts that the former judge had inappropriate contacts with notorious members of organized crime. In a public reaction for the media, the former judge stated that his assets are legal, given the fact that his wife, who is currently a judge at the Administrative Court of Appeals, was unanimously confirmed in duty by the IQC.

The case is very important in the fight against corruption and organized crime, given the high profile positions held by the former judges, whose properties have been seized. Furthermore, this case constitutes the first concrete reaction of the new justice institutions, towards assets accumulated by former justice officials, who have been dismissed by the vetting process.

Lastly, the case was commented by the US Ambassador in Albania and the Head of the EU delegation, as an indicator of the fact that the justice reform is working.