Journalist Elisa Gjerani: We will talk about justice. An international conference with counterparts from EU countries was held on Friday to discuss the Albanian justice system. It is my pleasure to have via Skype, Mr. Metani, High Inspector of Justice. Thank you Mr. Metani!
High Inspector of Justice Mr. Artur Metani: Thank you for your invitation.
Journalist: Is the Albanian inspection system of judges and prosecutors similar to that of EU countries? What are the challenges seen from this perspective?
High Inspector of Justice Mr. Artur Metani: The conference held in Tirana on Friday, with the Justice Inspection Services of European Union countries and the Albanian Inspector is part of the activities that the High Inspector of Justice Office in Albania, is organizing in relation to the international dimension of this office. Since the establishment of this office, the High Inspector of Justice has been in contact with the European Network of Inspection Services (RESIJ) and now that the Albanian Inspector is part of this network, in the context of our cooperation, we organised this conference. The Inspection Services forms of organisation in Europe are different. I would mention three main ones. One is the Albanian model, where the High Inspector of Justice is an independent body elected by the Assembly, independent of the Councils, independent of the Minister of Justice, or of other justice institutions. There are systems such as Italy or France, in which the Inspector or Inspection Services are under the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice. There are other places which offer a different overview of their organization, such as the report or the dependence of the Inspector, or the inspection service, i.e., it depends on the High Judicial Council as the case may be. However, the forms of organization for the idea of this conference did not differ much, but the important thing was the topic or principles on which the Inspection Services gathered to discuss. This is because despite the countries’ differences, systems differences or inspection services differences, the problems remain the same, no matter the addressing level of these problems.
Journalist: Clear enough, on the other hand your conference topic was about the independence of judges and prosecutors. But in our country, there have been o lot of debates and dissatisfaction related to decisions given by the Courts or Prosecution Offices, what can be done about this? What has your Institution done about it?
High Inspector of Justice Mr. Artur Metani: The relationship between the public interest in the administration of justice, i.e., the way judges and prosecutors exercise their duties on the one hand and their independence on the other, as an important element for the democratic functioning of society is a ratio and a balance that is not easy to find, as it is a ratio or a balance present everywhere. According to the conclusions of the conference, this is a dimension that affects all countries, regardless their level, differences of the democratic, political or institutional system of inspection services or courts and prosecution offices. The important thing is that societies must find the right balance between these two important interests for the development of the society. Without a doubt these problems are more acute in Albania because such is the situation here, even after the adoption of the reform in Albania. The most important thing is that the heat of the moment, or the serious problems we face today, do not distract us from the main focus, which should be finding the right balance, because finding the right balance does not serve only to resolve a situation today, but to see or create a platform and vision for the functioning of institutions for years to come, for decades to come, because a bad precedent today is a precedent that cannot be undone tomorrow. For this reason, the investment or initiatives taken by the High Inspector of Justice within the competencies he has are seen in this light and try to include exactly this democratic, constitutional balance, which is important not for the Office of the High Inspector Justice, which is important not for judges, but it is in fact healthy for the society, for the democratic development of the society.
Journalist: In fact, as an institution, you have been monitoring for 2 years and 4 months the behaviour of the judges and prosecutors in the context of the implementation of ethical and professional norms. What change do you think you have made in these two and a half years?
High Inspector of Justice Mr. Artur Metani: This is an important and fundamental question, and I would not like answer, about what has been done well and what has been done badly by this office, to come from the High Inspector of Justice. This is evaluated by the society; this is evaluated by the relevant institutions. It is important to me, or I would like this assessment to be based on indicators and concrete professional analysis and not on perceptions. This is very important, not just for evaluating the High Inspector of Justice work, but for evaluating the work of any institution emerging from justice reform because obviously the expectations were high, the problems that the system is facing are very large, institutions are functioning. But how they are functioning and how they are working should be measured based on professional, scientific and analytical indicators and not on a perception or a general assessment. What is important for the institution is to work. The High Inspector of Justice Office from the moment of its creation has tried to touch every dimension of the field it covers, to exercise every competence it has. To bring a figure as an example, only last year the Institution of the High Inspector of Justice conducted 18 disciplinary proceedings, some with severe measures such as dismissals, some with lighter ones, precisely to show, first to judges and prosecutors, that the system is functioning, that the Office of the High Inspector of Justice is active, it is here and it is constitutionally monitoring the work of every judge and prosecutor. But also, to show both the citizens and the institutions that the office is functioning as well and that every claim or complaint that citizens or institutions have against the judicial system, must be addressed to this institution, because they will find answers provided by law. For me it is important to build confidence that the system is working, that the system must be respected, that every complaint must come to this office to be dealt with legally, as provided by law, and step by step the system will begin to recover if we respect the system we have set up, the system we want to respect, the system which will absolutely guarantee us the democratic functioning of the institutions. Only in this way can we move forward democratically, respecting the system we have set up and the values for which the new institutions were established.
Journalist: The justice reform was in fact approved and a series of expectations arose with it, expectations not only from the public, but also from other institutions that thought they would find justice based on this reform. Do you think that today it has fulfilled the mission which it was created for?
High Inspector of Justice Mr. Artur Metani: It is too early to answer this question, because at least the Office of the High Inspector of Justice, for example, has only been established for two years, so it is too early to make such analysis. First, I appreciate the new architecture of the justice system. For me it is a very good architecture that works, it is an architecture that preserves exactly what is important for the institutions, which is the separation and balance of powers. Today there is no possibility of new justice institutions overlapping; today there is no possibility that new justice institutions will unconstitutionally influence the work of judges and prosecutors; today there is no possibility that politics or other interest groups will, in the negative sense of the word, affect the work of justice institutions and consequently the work of judges and prosecutors. I appreciate this model we have chosen. It is obviously too early to say that this model is the best, it is too early to say that this model works perfectly, it is too early to say whether this model should be changed or not, because to give such an assessment, first of all each organ must pass its systemic cycle. Second, situation in Albania, also because of this reform, is in a traumatic state and this is something we all accept and the challenge is not to accept this. The challenge is to find solutions as soon as possible, to respond as quickly as possible to the expectations of the citizen. This is what the institutions are trying to do, first the Office of the High Inspector of Justice, but I believe, the other institutions as well, which are giving their own results. The effects of these results are obviously not automatic and mechanical to give an effect of increasing expectation and confidence in 24 seconds, or 24 hours. This will take its time to confront these values for which the institutions of justice were created and which they are giving. The important thing is that the institutions are producing, working and producing, a little more, a little less, it does not matter, it matters that the system is working.
Journalist: Finally, do you have a comment on the new court map?
High Inspector of Justice Mr. Artur Metani: The Office of the High Inspector of Justice has not been part of the discussions on the new court map, because the law has provided the bodies to deal with the ideation, conception and approval of this map, such as the High Judicial Council, the Minister of Justice, and then the Council of Ministers. So, I have no comment on that.
Journalist: Thank you very much Mr. Metani for being in Breaking.
High Inspector of Justice Mr. Artur Metani: Thank you.
Intervistën e plotë mund ta ndiqni në videon si më poshtë.