 |
| Ardi Veliu, Police Director of the Albanian State |
The government empowered the Director-General of State Police and a special structure called Law Force Operation with prosecutorial and court powers, considering it an "emergency intervention" to tighten the fight against organized crime, terrorism and a range of other criminal offenses in the country.
The legal package adopted as the Normative Act on Friday has been presented by Prime Minister Edi Rama under the populist title 'AntiKÇK'. It was published on the Prime Minister's website as well as in the Official Journal, taking the power of law.
The Normative Act consists of 39 articles and will have a provisional effect until December 31, 2020. Its target will be the persons convicted by final judgment within or outside Albania as well as persons under investigation for criminal offenses related to organizations or structured criminal groups, terrorism as well as 27 other serious crimes, including murder, violent theft, and destruction of property.
The legal package is built on two main pillars; taking personal restrictive measures against convicted or under investigation persons as well as measures of a property character. The latter can also be doubly penalized by both government law and the Criminal Code or the Antimafia Package.
The law does not affect judges and prosecutors in any line, though Prime Minister Edi Rama built the narrative of the emergency of this intervention with the damage caused by the people of justice, whom he ironically described as a "gang of the kind take what you can take" (referring to the corruption of the judges).
A number of civil society organizations warned on Friday of the danger of violating the Constitution through this act and denounced its adoption without public consultation and beyond a state of emergency.
“Considering it as a package of particular importance that could undermine the respect for the rights of citizens, the above organizations call that the discussion of this package should be comprehensive and in compliance with the Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights,” The organizations stated.
Normative acts are a provision in the Albanian Constitution, which allows the government, in the event of a civil emergency, to adopt a decision with the force of law, which comes into force immediately but is subject to parliamentary procedure later.
In power for 7 years, the Albanian Government has not yet explained what is the emergency that justifies the use of this constitutional tool.