Law, Justice Reforms and Access to Justice Institutions
Abstract
Introduction: The Assembly of the Republic of Albania, by virtue of Law no.76 / 2016 On some amendments to the Law 8417 dated 21.10.1998 "Constitution of the Republic of Albania" (as amended) approved a series of new articles and a special "annex" for “Vetting", by which it clearly demonstrated its interest and willingness to undertake a wider reform of the justice system. The reasons leading to this initiative of fundamental importance underlie the real confrontation of Albanian citizens with the element of corruption in almost every area of life, but more evidently in capturing of this phenomenon within justice system. The presence of corruption in this system is not only an experience, perception or media news, but it is an evil also accepted by the protagonists of justice, judges, according to whom our system is not "liberated" from external influences. Issue to be addressed: The constitutional amendments package, approved by Law no. 76 dated 22.07.2016 brought the introduction in the Constitution of Albania of some new legal norms, which in their application, posed the need to establish ad hoc institutions as a necessity to render justice reform process more appropriate and efficient. New institutions, which will constitute the pillars of change in our justice system, and referred to as such in this Law are the High Judicial Council, the Council of Appointments in Justice, the High Prosecutorial Council, the Committee on Re-evaluation of judges, the High Inspector of Justice, etc. In particular, the scope of this paper will be the Law N.84 / 2016 adopted by the Assembly of the Republic of Albania "for the transitional revaluation of judges and prosecutors in the Republic of Albania", or the so-called "Vetting Law "which constitutes per se a body of standards regulating every aspect of work to be conducted by the Committee on Re-evaluation of judges and prosecutors. Anticipated result and methods of research: For the very first time in Albania, through inclusion of this legal instrument there will be controlled in specific fashion determined by law the work and professional integrity of judges and prosecutors, and the effect from its implementation is the professional enhancement of accountability of all judicial stakeholders and therefore improvement of the quality of the whole justice system. The anticipation of this work will be the reflection of key theoretical and practical elements where this law is based upon and ways how to apply. The opening and tackling of a theoretical debate as long as the concrete law implementation has not begun, both on its efficient way of implementation and the credibility of results it will bring in the fight against corruption in justice. The research methods will be based upon the analytical and comparable method of the paper material in this field. Conclusion: The justice system in Albania is not going well for years due to profound corruption affecting the bodies of this system. It has always been a belief that the main problem in Albania is not the lack of laws, on the contrary where we want to apply we encounter their severity and rigorousness, perhaps until the lack of tolerance, while the main problem is the lack of will to observe the laws. The reasons stay at frequent strong interventions of politics, another time at bribes in huge amounts that judges or prosecutors themselves receive in order to sidestep responsibility in a judicial process. The current reform tries to initiate work in order to remove and eliminate these problems once and for all. How much will it achieve? The interest of the entire Albanian society is strong, but will it manage to oppose strongly to the will of political stakeholders in order to accomplish this initiative. What is the opinion of our society with regard to credibility of law implementation on vetting and how much will it serve to assess in reality the professional qualification, the moral integrity and the degree of independence in their work from the influence of organized crime, corruption and political power on judges.
Keywords: Constitutional Amendments, Transitory Reassessment Law of Judges (Vetting), Independent Qualification Commission, High Judicial Council.
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