The Unit of Inspectors and Assistant Inspectors of the High Inspector of Justice Office participated in the targeted training on identifying and addressing the issues of conflict of interest in the framework of the disciplinary investigation, organized by the experts’ mission of The EU4Justice project, which assists the HIJ.
In his welcoming speech, High Inspector of Justice Artur Metani expressed his appreciation for the EU4Justice Project, one of the important international partners that supports the HIJ goal for a continuous and professional training of the Inspectors and Assistant Inspectors team with the best practices of disciplinary investigation in general and in this specific case of the ECHR, on issues regarding the magistrates’ conflicts of interest.
“Identifying, addressing and handling issues of conflict of interest, within disciplinary investigation, remains important for the very role of this process, which is the protection of the public interest through the investigation of disciplinary violations of magistrates, said Mr. Metani. Function must be exercised conscientiously, which means that magistrates must be aware of the importance of all the duties and responsibilities assigned to them by law, as well as the consequences that any behavior of the magistrate has on the judicial or prosecution system as well as on the development of the society as a whole. Fulfilling the function with maturity and prudence means avoiding any inappropriate behavior that contradicts the law or ethics itself, because building and protecting the reputation of justice bodies as well as the public trust in the judicial system are also parts of the duty”
The main expert of the Project Mr. Álvaro García Pérez-Iraola thanked the High Inspector of Justice for the fruitful cooperation and praised the commitment of the staff in the activities offered by the Project, which aim to increase the capacities of the institution by sharing the best European experiences. Mr. Pérez-Iraola brought to attention the conception of this training in the field of dealing with the conflict of interest in the framework of the disciplinary investigation, through combining theoretical aspect with practical cases.
The two-day training conducted by the former French inspector of justice, magistrate Vincent Delbos, combined theory with the development of practical skills, encouraging team work to create strategies for effective conflict of interest management, through four case studies from the European Court of Human Rights and other international experiences, related to the identified issues of conflict of interest. Part of the training sessions were also the discussion and comparison of the Albanian and international experience on the importance and consequences of not respecting the principles and standards of the conflict of interest.
