The High Judicial Council partially accepted the request of the High Inspector of Justice regarding the disciplinary proceeding against magistrate A. Ll., judge at the Court of First Instance of General Jurisdiction in Shkodra, by assigning the measure “Suspension from duty for 6 months”.
The High Inspector of Justice had proposed to the High Judicial Council the disciplinary measure “Dismissal from office” for magistrate A. Ll., because of the actions/inactions that constitute failure to properly fulfill the duty, in violation of the civil and criminal procedural deadlines for the reasoning of the judicial decision, as well as failure to initiate civil cases, continuously exceeding the deadlines beyond all logic. The disciplinary investigation of the HIJ against the magistrate has been initiated based on 11 filed complaints raising allegations related to the failure of properly fulfilling the duty and violation of civil and criminal procedural deadlines. During this investigation, the HIJ inspectors have also identified other facts which have been added to the investigation that has been initiated.
In many cases, since the registration of cases and their assignment to the judge, a number of inactions have been identified for a period of over 3 years. About 64% of civil cases for the year 2021 and 90% for the years 2022 and 2023 have surpassed their legal deadline regarding reasoning of the decision or submission of the case (decisions of the type mainly concerning confirmation of a legal fact for recognition of the truthfulness or marriage dissolution, recognition of ownership or division of property.) Decisions not submitted in 2023 constitute 43% of decisions beyond the legal deadline.
The investigation report highlights that respecting court and reasoning deadlines is of fundamental importance for guaranteeing the right to due process, and subsequently the right to a reasonable deadline. Such delays undermine the right of subjects to a due process of law, infringing on the right to a reasoned decision and to appeal, significantly damaging the integrity of justice and public trust in it.
The judge’s actions/ inactions were carried out at least with repeated and continuous carelessness in the form of negligence, where in some cases, caused damage to investigative procedures. The judge has significantly damaged the integrity of justice and public trust in it, even though she has 24 years of experience (an indicator of very good knowledge of exercising her duty with discipline).
After the investigation which was based on the voluminous materials administered and reviewed, the High Inspector of Justice came to the conclusion that the actions/inactions of the judge constitute a “Very serious disciplinary violation”, provided for by article 102, point 1, letters “d” and “dh” of the law “On status” and proposed to the High Judicial Council the imposition of the disciplinary measure “Dismissal from office” for judge A. Ll., (a request that was partially accepted by the High Judicial Council, which imposed another measure for the judge, that of suspension from office for 6 months).