Tirana, February 8, 2020
The High Inspector of Justice, Mr. Artur Metani, held a press conference with journalists, as the first introductory communication with the media, a few days after taking office and establishing the Office of the High Inspector of Justice.
During the communication with journalists, Mr. Metani highlighted that the HIJ is an independent constitutional institution, which is tasked with verifying the activities of judges and prosecutors of all levels.
“I want to assure the public that the High Inspector of Justice has every will to confront all violations that seriously discredit the image of the judge and prosecutor, that undermine the delivery of justice and the exercise of the function in accordance with the law. I am aware that due to the lack of inspection for a long time, a high volume and problematic work awaits me and the HIJ regarding to the expectations.”, said the High Inspector of Justice.
The first priority of the HIJ, in addition to establishing the institution from scratch, will be the review of conditional releases which is an issue of public discussion that Mr. Metani listed at the top of the institution’s list of tasks.
“The High Inspector of Justice, in addition to the above actions, in the exercise of his constitutional functions, but also taking into account the debate and public concern regarding a series of issues, but especially regarding decision-making on early conditional release, will give priority to inspection in this regard…To me is important the phenomenon, although there may be other names besides those that have been made public, I am concerned by the fact that it is a phenomenon that has occurred in several courts, so the first inspection will be a thematic one, to identify where this phenomenon is occurring.”, said Mr. Metani.
Full press conference of the High Inspector of Justice
Mr. Artur Metani
High Inspector of Justice Mr. Artur Metani: Greetings! I thank you for your interest and appreciation of this first communication with you and this interest is undoubtedly understandable, since an important institution in the structure of the justice bodies, that of the High Inspector of Justice, has begun to come to life. This is a new, constitutional and independent institution. The mission of this institution is to verify the activity of judges and prosecutors of all levels, of members of the High Judicial Council, members of the High Prosecutorial Council, of the judicial and prosecutorial administration. The inspection functions are not new, so they do not arise today with this institution but they are functions that have existed before with the previous inspectorates of the High Council of Justice or the General Prosecutor’s Office, but the way this institution is organized and the new philosophy of this institution makes it different from previous inspections.
The Constitution has created a new institution, totally independent from the judiciary or political bodies; therefore, it is independent from the executive branch, from the High Judicial Council, from the High Prosecutorial Council, and this certainly gives another dimension to the profile of this institution.
Today we have a new institution and for this reason, it has not inherited from the past either personnel, legal or sub-legal regulations, or other functions. For this reason, this institution is starting to be built from scratch.
I am making this communication today both for the media and for the sake of transparency, but also in te context of sharing with you the first works that this institution has done in the days after my election and swearing in as the High Inspector of Justice.
From the beginning, I have been involved in carrying out the procedures for establishing the institution, registering according to the law in the relevant institutions, I have approved a provisional structure with the relevant job descriptions for all the positions that the structure has, I have contacted and communicated with all the institutions with which the HIJ will cooperate in the future, to discuss the ways and ideas of cooperation to make the High Inspector of Justice functional as soon as possible. I certainly thank all the institutions that have welcomed me and discussed this issue with me.
Secondly, today we will also launch of the official website of the High Inspector of Justice, where it is important to emphasize that the vacant positions that the HIJ has today will also be announced there. There are about 27 vacancies, 6 non-magistrate inspectors and 5 assistant inspectors with the relevant criteria and I call on all jurists, magistrates or not, who wish to contribute to the further formation of the bodies of the justice system, to apply and I guarantee that each of their applications, each expression of their interest will be evaluated with maximum care and objectivity and their desire will be fully appreciated.
Thirdly, I want to assure the public opinion that the High Inspector of Justice has every will to confront all violations, which seriously discredit the image of the judge and prosecutor, which affect the delivery of justice and the exercise of the function in accordance with the law. I am aware that due to the lack of inspection for a long time, a high volume and problematic work awaits me and HIJ, according to the the expectations.
Specifically, the High Inspector of Justice will receive a large volume of complaints, around 900, which were submitted during the transitional period 2017-2020 to the High Judicial Council or the General Prosecutor’s Office. Also, since February 1, 2020, the date of the start of the activity of this institution, the first complaints from legal entities or individuals have started to be submitted at the HIJ. Registering these complaints requires a thorough analysis with the aim of preliminary review, in terms of admissibility criteria, as well as their further processing, if it is necessary to conduct additional verifications or initiate a disciplinary investigation.
The High Inspector of Justice, within the capacities he currently possesses, is planning and taking a short-term plan of measures regarding the problems identified by the High Judicial Council, by the Ministry of Justice, or by the High Prosecutorial Council, in relation to the fulfillment of the functional duties of the HIJ office, as well as the identification of issues for which a thematic or institutional inspection is required.
At the same time, the High Inspector of Justice, in addition to the above actions, in the exercise of his constitutional duties, but also taking into account the discussion and public concern regarding a series of issues, but especially regarding decision-making on early conditional release, will give priority to inspection in this regard.
In the future, depending on the history of filling the institution with the necessary staff, the activity of the High Inspector of Justice will be extended in its entirety and in the implementation of all legal and constitutional functions of this institution. Thank you and I want to say that I am open to questions.
Question 1: Regarding the public accusations against you, that you are the brother of the former minister of the government headed by Rama. How much does this fact hinder you in the exercise of your duties and secondly, what are the issues that you will examine, upon starting work, namely with the conditional release, because some of the cases, as has already been made public, are very serious cases, but there are also other cases that may not be known to the public opinion?
High Inspector of Justice Mr. Artur Metani: Regarding the first question, I believe that time is the best indicator for everything and the best judge of all of us.
Regarding the second question, I appreciate that we avoid names, what matters to me is the phenomenon, although there may be other names besides those that have been made public, I am concerned by the fact that it is a phenomenon that has occurred in several courts, so the first inspection will be thematic, to identify where this phenomenon is occurring, then, respecting the standards of investigation, I will also make public the cases, where intervention will be made and how it will be made.
Question 2: Mr. Metani, the justice system has been attacked and criticized in recent days regarding conditional release, for a series of decisions, whether civil or criminal. Since the day you took office, how bad is the justice system currently, how many of those 900 complaints you mentioned are against judges and prosecutors?
High Inspector of Justice Mr. Artur Metani: In this number of complaints, it is certainly necessary to identify (and this is the process that we will analyze now), how many are for judges, how many for prosecutors, how many are valid and how many are not, how many are within the deadlines and how many are beyond them, in fact, the entire group of complaints that comes will be reviewed as a whole. Whether justice is good or bad (black or white), this is a political assessment in the general sense of the word, it is an assessment that everyone can make. As far as I am concerned, I have no duty to make assessments, I have a duty to monitor every court or prosecution office decision, from this moment on and this is what I will do to exercise my duty, which the Assembly has entrusted to me and I believe public opinion as well.
Question 3: There are many studies and public opinion monitoring on the quality of justice work and there is a very high public perception of corruption. Saying black or white is not political because citizens say that corruption in justice is very high. What will be part of your contribution to improve the situation, by first recognizing corruption and the current situation, so according to you, what is the situation?
High Inspector of Justice Mr. Artur Metani: My duties are sanctined in the Constitution, in the law, and I will strictly adhere to them. Personal or discretionary assessments are things that do not belong to this institution. I will implement what I have as a duty to do and what I have been assigned, and I will do this starting today.
Question 4: Mr. Metani, out of the 900 complaints that have been filed so far with HIJ, what are the main concerns that citizens are presenting, in relation to judges and prosecutors? (If you have managed to study them in such a short time)
High Inspector of Justice Mr. Artur Metani: Of course, it is a large number and if I had succeeded in identifying them all in a few days, it would be very good, but in as little as I have seen, the concerns are in all areas; criminal, civil, commercial, administrative, are issues that affect few citizens perhaps, but the phenomenon is worrying and I will take them all as a priority. I said the priority for me, at the moment is the one I mentioned above (the phenomenon of early conditional release.
Question 5: In the total of 900 complaints that you expect to review, there must definitely be complaints against judges and prosecutors dismissmed by the Vetting process; What is going to happen with these compaints , will they be dismissed or reviewed ?
High Inspector of Justice Mr. Artur Metani: All of them will be part of the verification and then the investigation, if it is assessed that it will go towards the investigation. I have also asked the and the Appeal Chamber, which are the Vetting bodies, to also provide me with their decisions, in which, according to them, they have identified disciplinary violations of judges and prosecutors and I will also consider those types of decisions, which these bodies have referred to the High Judicial Council, or the High Prosecutorial Council. Regarding to how will we proceed, there will be a very transparent communication of this institution with the media and I assure you that I will always be here, to share what I can share about my work.
Question 6: How will you prioritize early releases, when this phenomenon occurs, under what citeria and to whom, as far as you have observed or received from media reports?
High Inspector of Justice Mr. Artur Metani: Once again, I would like to avoid specific names and specific cases, because that is not the intention and if you focus on a specific case, you will certainly make a mistake. It is important to focus on the phenomenon and what emerges from the phenomenon is an issue that will be the work of the inspectors and the inspection and I will make it public at the moment when it is ready to be expressed publicly.
Question 7: Mr. Metani, the Laws Committee has approved changes regarding the status of judges and prosecutors, which normally reduces the power and legal protection, regarding the latter, while increasing the competencies of your institution and giving it the power to a certain extent to also carry out checks on the integrity of the background and professional skills. Wvhat is your comment on these changes?
High Inspector of Justice Mr. Artur Metani: These are not the only changes. The most important is the change related to suspension, there was a vacuum created after the decision of the Constitutional Court regarding the law on the status of judges and prosecutors. I think that the intervention was necessary. It is important for me that the intervention is functional and that the purpose for which this intervention is being made becomes real. This is my comment.
Question 8: What will be the position of the HIJ regarding the Anti-KÇK package action that has already started for several days, which also includes prosecutors and judges?
High Inspector of Justice Mr. Artur Metani: The normative act on the seizure of assets related to crime, or those called Anti-KÇK, is not related to my work as High Inspector of Justice. My work is related to those changes that have been made in the law on the status of judges and prosecutors and the opinion is what I said before. Thank you!
