During the hearing held by the Committee on Legal Affairs, Public Administration and Human Rights on the Annual Report on the activity of the institution during 2021, High Inspector of Justice, Mr. Artur Metani responded to the questions of the MP-s.
When asked about the independence from politics and internal and external influences in the exercise of his duties, Mr. Metani said:
“I definitely agree that the new architecture of the justice system today gives no chances to politics, political institutions, financial interests or whatever, to put pressure on magistrates in Albania. Today, magistrates in Albania are guaranteed by law, this is also as a result of that good separation of powers, which has been done through the division of labor of the new justice institutions.
Do I feel pressured by politics? No! My short answer is no, because the Constitution and the law have given me the guarantee that we will not feel intimidated by politics, political institutions, or anyone else who might think of putting pressure of any kind on the High Inspector of Justice. Yes, I feel the pressure inside; pressure from my family from the society, pressure from you, in the good sense of the word, for the expectations you have for me personally but also for the institution, and of course there is pressure from the society. These are strong pressures, which one feels around the clock. That’s why I am concerned about all the things you mentioned in the report because I want the work to be as efficient and as fast as possible.
Without a doubt the issue of intimidation coming from politics, has become a topic for debate here. I have personally been active in public reactions with statements, even against ministers, and in public conferences, the most recent one was a week ago, about what is being said regarding judges and prosecutors. I think it creates a cacophony among attack, criticism and intimidation. I think we should divide the relationship of the politics with the judiciary into 3 levels. First there are legal or institutional intimidation and these are phenomena that I am not aware of, to be fair, I do not see any legal attacks launched by the judiciary. The second level is the denunciations, and this is related to one of the questions you raised, the denunciations that are made public, especially by public institutions. I suggest that denunciations should not be made in the media, but in institutions such as the High Inspector of Justice or other institutions, and the institutions and standards of the system with independent institutions be respected. We should put an end to the public denunciation of magistrates who violate the law. And the third level is criticism of the magistrate’s work. Anyone can express an opinion about the work of justice, no matter if it is criticism or evaluations, I do not think that once the justice speaks, everyone should remain silent. Everyone in Albania has the right to comment on the decisions taken by the judiciary, but respecting boundaries when talking about the judiciary is not a strong point of ours, as there are many cases of bullying judges and prosecutors’ work. However, this is a matter of a democratic environment that politics should create in relation to the judiciary, this is not something said or written, it is something that is felt and proven. That is why we say that the justice reform needs it’s time to give its effects, because due to the democratic social environment it needs its time. The independence of judges and prosecutors cannot function without democracy, and vice versa, there is no democracy without the independence of the judiciary. It takes time to understand this.
Regarding the question of whether HIJ is oriented in its activity towards being proactive or reactive, High Inspector Metani answered.
“I would like to make another comment. I think we have been proactive, not reactive, the inspections or procedures we have started, have undoubtedly been part of the complaints or information received from citizens, but they have also been reactions of our institution, aiming at giving the public the message that institutions are here. Despite our difficulties we are here and we are working so that the public and politics, in the general sense of the word, can have confidence that the institutions are functioning even though it is difficult for many reasons. Not only on human resources, but what is most important, on the work standards that this new institution must have, exactly for the weight you mentioned. Every act issued by the High Inspector of Justice is evaluated by the HIJ in details, not just as part of procedure, but because of the standard it sets, because for us it is very important that the independence of magistrates is not violated by the work of the High Inspector of Justice; it is very easy to violate this unwritten balance, even with a letter sent by the High Inspector of Justice.”
