High Inspector of Justice Artur Metani gave an interview for “Breaking”, a show on Top News, about the 15-month work of the institution he leads, with the journalist Sidorela Gjoni.
When asked about the dismissals of magistrates during these months of work at the request of the High Inspector of Justice, Mr. Metani said that this is not the purpose of the institution. “The purpose of this institution is to help as much as possible that the judicial system and the justice system perform as well as possible to serve the interests of the citizens. Individual inspections, proceedings of certain judges as well as thematic inspections can also assist the justice system. This is the cornerstone of the High Inspector of Justice work, thematic inspections, which means finding solutions to the problems the system has today, and therefore I say, that finding the truth is our purpose not the disciplinary measures against the judges. Consequently, on the one hand, there is the protection of the civic interest and on the other hand there is the protection of the independence of judges and prosecutors.”
However, independence goes hand in hand with responsibility, underlined Mr. Metani and as far as the High Inspector of Justice is concerned, no one is untouchable before the law. “No guarantee for anyone. The law will apply to everyone equally, without regard to their social status, including me. We are all part of a working, decision-making mechanism controlled and monitored by law and by the bodies which are appointed to control everyone’s work. “No one is and will ever be untouchable in terms of the competencies I have.”
When asked whether it is possible for a judge or prosecutor today not to be influenced by politics, the High Inspector of Justice said that now this is guaranteed by the new constitutional legislation for each justice institution. “The constitution and the law today leave no room for judges and prosecutors to be dependent on any political institution, or other institutions, that can put pressure on judges and prosecutors in their decision-making process. In my view, this reform has firstly brought the benefit of creating an effective system against the possibility to interfere with the performance of the judges and prosecutors. Secondly, as I previously mentioned, this independence must be felt by all of us. We must feel independent so that others respect us as independent. “
The full interview of the High Inspector of Justice for the show “Breaking” on Top News with the journalist Sidorela Gjoni.
Journalist: Mr. Metani thank you for being in “Breaking”. You were elected by the Parliament, with 98 votes in favor, and have been High Inspector of Justice for 15 months now. Now you are in the reporting phase in the Parliament…
High Inspector of Justice Artur Metani: Yes. It is the annual report to the Parliament of the Republic of Albania. The balance is hard to say in short. I can first introduce you to the idea of the High Inspector of Justice Office. The High Inspector of Justice was elected as you said in your insert, on January 20, last year, but I took office on February 1, 2020. It is the first time that such an institution has been created. The inspection of judges and prosecutors has existed before but in another format. The Ministry of Justice had previously had an Inspectorate under its auspices, the High Judicial Council had an Inspectorate under its auspices, the General Prosecutor also had its monitor unit or inspectorates, let’s say, for the work of prosecutors. None of these inspectorates already exist; they are unified in the High Inspector of Justice Office. The High Inspector of Justice now inspects every magistrate, from the General Prosecutor to the prosecutors of the first instance, from the president of the Supreme Court to the judges of the first instance. As a new institution, it had a lot of difficulties, because it inherited nothing from the past but problems, neither an office, infrastructure nor human resources, and on February 1 we were very few, at the beginning of the institution work. I am pleased to say now that a good job has been done during these months, from February to December 2020 which I report to the Parliament for. Considerable work has been done in setting up or providing physical infrastructure, approving the sub-legal infrastructure, completing human resources with magistrate inspectors or non-magistrate inspectors, with assistant inspectors as well as the administrative part of the institution. The development strategy of the institution has been drafted and approved. A large number of complaints inherited by the former HCJ or the HJC have been reviewed and verified. This is because, until the moment when the High Inspector of Justice Office was created, every complaint was recorded by these institutions but with the establishment of the HIJ Office, they were transferred to HIJ. A large number of complaints have been handled. I can say the number of complaints handled has reached about a thousand. In my view, we have a considerable number of disciplinary proceedings against judges and prosecutors. There are 7 requests of the High Inspector of Justice addressed to the High Judicial Council for disciplinary measures for judges and 2 requests for prosecutors addressed to the High Prosecutorial Council. Measures taken against some magistrates have been made public; others are in process in both Councils.
Journalist: Is it easier to dismiss a judge or a prosecutor nowadays?
High Inspector of Justice Artur Metani: Dismissing judges and prosecutors have never been easy, neither today nor before, because this is a characteristic of the figure of the judge and the prosecutor. The judge or prosecutor is not an easily dismissed figure, the purpose of this institution is to help as much as possible that the judicial system and the justice system perform as well as possible to serve the interests of the citizens. Individual inspections, proceedings of certain judges as well as thematic inspections can also assist the justice system. This is the cornerstone of the High Inspector of Justice work, thematic inspections, which means finding solutions to the problems the system has today, and therefore I say, that finding the truth is our purpose not the disciplinary measures against the judges. Consequently, on the one hand, there is the protection of the civic interest and on the other hand, there is the protection of the independence of judges and prosecutors.
Journalist: What steps should a citizen follow so that you can start an investigation for a judge or a prosecutor?
High Inspector of Justice Artur Metani: A citizen who has a complaint against any judge or prosecutor in the Republic of Albania can address it to the High Inspector of Justice Office. This can be done either through the website of the Institution where there is a complaint form together with the guide for filling it out or it can be sent by email, by mail or the citizen can come to the High Inspector of Justice Office. There is also a communication unit with citizens, to assist them if they have difficulty filling out the complaint form and so on. Once this complaint is received, it goes through the treatment filters of the High Inspector of Justice Office and the inspectors working in this Office. As you said in your insert, we review, verify, investigate, and if after the investigation it is concluded that there is a disciplinary violation, the investigative report is processed and the request is sent as the case may be to the two Councils, the High Judicial Council for Judges and the High Prosecutorial Council for prosecutors, with the proposal for a concrete measure, from the simplest measure to dismissal.
Journalist: So far we have seen dismissals, but are there any other measures that can be taken?
High Inspector of Justice Artur Metani: Yes, of course, there are other measures, from the least severe which is the confidential reprimand, the public reprimand, increasing and intensifying the violation, the importance of the violation committed, the transfer of the judge and so on, or his suspension, until the most extreme measure, which is the measure of dismissal.
Journalist: According to the law, the High Inspector of Justice also investigates the highest levels of the judicial system, i.e. the Prosecutor General, members of the High Judicial Council, the High Prosecutorial Council, etc. Will the myth of “the untouchables” fade by doing this?
High Inspector of Justice Artur Metani: To answer shortly, yes. But it certainly needs to be explained. Today, the justice reform, despite being painful, has created filters and mechanisms which are a strong guarantee for the prosecutors and judges work as well as the one of the High Inspector or the Councils, to guarantee their independence in the decision-making process, which also means a decision-making force to punish anyone who has broken the law. I made it clear the moment I was elected, and in my first appearance for the media on February 8, 2020, that I started to fight against the phenomena in the system that was serious in my point of view, such as the phenomenon of releases on parole of some convicts, an issue that was sensitive at the time. What I want to say is that there is no guarantee for anyone. The law will apply to everyone equally, without regard to their social status, including me. We are all part of a working, decision-making mechanism controlled and monitored by law and by the bodies which are appointed to control everyone’s work. “No one is and will ever be untouchable in terms of the competencies I have.
Journalist: I deliberately mentioned the fact that there have been 15 months of work so far. I do not know how satisfied you are with the progress of the work or with the goals you had set for yourself and what the next steps will be. Is everything going as intended?
High Inspector of Justice Artur Metani: Obviously, a lot more work is required in the long run. Much more results are required, yet these are results that do not give their effects immediately, because justice does not give its effect instantly. An act of the High Inspector of Justice, or the Councils, or of the prosecution or the court, does not give its effect to justice at the moment. The effect of this fight needs time to be seen. It will take time for everyone to realize that some procedures need to change, that those procedures are no longer in violation of the law. In this sense, the High Inspector of Justice work will continue the same way it will be even stronger, in a more organized way, because now human resources have been added. We are talking about a year when there were no human resources, during that year I had other priorities, such as setting up the Office, but even with these infrastructural priorities, I think that the High Inspector of Justice Office has had its results because there have been dismissals, there have been taken measures or identified violations in the system for a large number of judges and prosecutors. Now the challenge of the High Inspector of Justice Office is to move to another dimension of work, which are thematic inspections, the ones I previously mentioned, which means identifying problems or concerns of the system, responding in time to the citizens’ expectations in an organized way, because after all, this is the main goal which this painful reform was carried out for, i.e. to respond in time, with justice and impartiality to the society needs for justice.
(Insert)
Journalist: We can understand from the material of the journalist Zilie Feci that SPAK has undertaken investigations for judges and I would like to know your opinion; how do you judge such a decision in case you may also have complaints from different citizens?
High Inspector of Justice Artur Metani: Firstly, I am not aware of the case, because it is an independent activity of the prosecution work, of SPAK in particular. What I see with pleasure is that SPAK is working. What is important to note is that SPAK and every justice institution in Albania does not and should not act emotionally, but based on evidence because after all, this is the rule of law in a liberal democracy. There are a lot of complaints from citizens. The number of complaints in HIJ today is over 3500. They complain about all kinds of situations in the judicial and prosecution system, however, the law defines how to handle each complaint: when to refer to relevant institutions, i.e. if it is not a competence of HIJ when to refer to other institutions, and so on. This means that SPAK and other institutions are working. In my opinion, this is what should be considered important.
Journalist: What is your opinion about the role of SPAK in our society at the moment? Do you think that citizens’ trust in justice has increased?
High Inspector of Justice Artur Metani: It is still early days because SPAK and other justice institutions were created only two or three years ago. The important thing is that the mechanisms of the system work. This is important to me; all the new justice institutions are showing that they have started functioning. The mechanism and cooperation between them have started to work. The effects will be seen in the long run; we will see the result of HIJ work, the result of SPAK work, the result of the Council’s work, and so on.
Journalist: From our conversation together, can we come up with three or four main points as to why citizens should trust your institution?
High Inspector of Justice Artur Metani: First of all, I think that the Constitution and the law today, not only for the High Inspector of Justice but for all new justice institutions do not create any possibility of dependence or legal possibility for any kind of pressure, political, economic or of any kind. This is a guarantee. This means that the new institutions of justice now have the opportunity, to show to the citizens and anyone that they are working honestly and impartially to give the citizens the service they deserve. They have the legal and constitutional possibility. Of course, this is not enough. It is necessary that judges, prosecutors as well as the new institutions of justice feel this independence given to them by the constitution and the law because if they do not feel the independence themselves, no constitution or law can give it to them. As far as I can see and analyse, as far as I am concerned in my position, new justice institutions have started to function, of course with their own problems because it is a new constitution, in terms of competencies that these bodies have. There are new laws, there are new ways of organizing these institutions, and of course, they have their problems, there is a need to match practices, there is a need to coordinate them, to coordinate standards, and so on. And these are case-by-case decisions, these are decided on time, but the important thing for me is that the institutions are functioning.
Journalist: Let me quote what you said on National Justice Day: “In a society where politics finds it difficult to recognize its limits, it is the people of justice who must preserve the independence of the institutions of democracy. They are the ones who must uphold the principles of separation of powers and the independence of institutions.” How can they perform this role and can they?
High Inspector of Justice Artur Metani: Constitutionally and legally speaking, yes, they can! But this is related to what I previously mentioned that it is us, people who work in the justice system as well as judges and prosecutors who must firstly feel the independence given by the Constitution, the independence given by law, the independence given by our positions. We must understand the role of the institutions or the judicial system in a democratic society – the balancing role between the other two powers because both the executive and the legislative power have always been characterized by conflicts and political tensions because of the political interests, this is the dynamics of the society development. The judiciary stands precisely in the midpoint of these developments, to be impartial, to strike the right balance, to service the society and the rule of law and not the two powers. For this reason, I think that the role of judges and prosecutors is very important in our society, but they have to be the first to understand it, and having understood and felt their role, they help in the implementation of the obligations arising from the constitution and the law more easily and of course, in the very end, from this behaviour in compliance with the law and the constitution the whole society benefits.
Journalist: Is it possible for a judge or prosecutor not to be directly influenced by politics today?
High Inspector of Justice Artur Metani: The constitution and the law today leave no room for judges and prosecutors to be dependent on any political institution, or other institutions, that can put pressure on judges and prosecutors in their decision-making process. In my view, this reform has firstly brought the benefit of creating an effective system against the possibility to interfere with the performance of the judges and prosecutors. This is the first thing. Secondly, as I previously mentioned, this independence must be felt by all of us. We must feel independent so that others respect us as independent.
Journalist: Shall we talk a little about your goals for the next year, let’s say?
High Inspector of Justice Artur Metani: The High Inspector of Justice work is multidimensional. Some competencies need to be performed depending on the situations that arise. One of the most important competencies, which I consider important, is to conduct thematic and institutional inspections. Why is it important? It is important because the High Inspector of Justice does not breathe down judges’ and prosecutors’ necks to find violations and propose punishments for them. Of course, those who have committed violations will get what they deserve, but the role of the High Inspector of Justice is to help the system with the problems it has.
Journalist: Maybe it can also prevent things from happening to some extent …
High Inspector of Justice Artur Metani: Without a doubt, thematic inspections reveal this. Thematic inspections study a phenomenon let’s say, in all courts and prosecutors’ offices. Why is this phenomenon happening in Albanian courts? By discovering this phenomenon, you discover that there are problems with the law, for instance, there may be problems of decisions unification by higher courts, there may be problems and disciplinary responsibilities by judges and prosecutors, but these will come as a result of a thorough and professional study, inspection and analysis, not as a result of individual ones for judges and prosecutors.
Journalist: We live in Albania and it is natural to ask you how comfortable do you feel considering your position?
High Inspector of Justice Artur Metani: Very comfortable.
Journalist: Has your new role affected your everyday life, or…
High Inspector of Justice Artur Metani: No, it has not affected me. Of course within the restrictions that this position creates, but it has not created any restrictions that I would not like. I loved this position. I have voluntarily applied for this job. On the other hand, in addition to professional satisfaction the day I was appointed, half the emotions were anxiety because I took on a task that is not easy, and what I am trying to do with my colleagues at the High Inspector of Justice Office as well as with the Councils, is to set standards and once the standards are set for everyone, the work becomes easier. Once we see the solution of a situation, not with the heat of the moment, but to find the long-term solution to the problem, once we refer to the constitution and not the interests, everything gets easier for everyone including me of course.
Journalist: Mr. Metani, thank you very much for being in “Breaking”.
High Inspector of Justice Artur Metani: Thank you.
Ckick on the video to watch the interview.