 |
| Enkelejda Hoxha |
The Court of First Instance Against Corruption and Organized Crime sentenced today the former judge of Kruja Enkelejda Hoxha to three years in prison on charges of "corruption". But due to the shortened trial, she will only suffer two years in prison.
The former judge demanded her innocence, claiming that the trial against her had political purposes, as according to her, she was targeted when Prime Minister Edi Rama had publicly mentioned her name, Albanian media reports.
She was arrested in February last year following an investigation by the Special Prosecution Office against Corruption and Organized Crime (SPAK) on suspicion of extorting money to reduce the sentences of some inmates. Nine other people were arrested along with her at the time, including a lawyer who had links to the judge, relatives of a convict, and several mediators.
According to SPAK, everything worked through a genuine scheme, where in exchange for money from 6 thousand to 12 thousand euros, the possibility of reducing the sentence was offered to convicts in Fushë-Krujë prison, thanks to the connections that other persons involved with Judge Hoxha.
The arrested lawyer, Aldo Tabaku, who was considered the main point of connection with the judge, was sentenced to 4 years in prison. While the former secretary of the Court of Kruja, Emanuela Mallkuçi was sentenced to 3 years in prison. Sentences of imprisonment were also imposed on other arrested persons. But everyone will benefit from reduced sentences due to the shortened trial.
Before her arrest, a process was initiated against former Judge Hoxha for her dismissal as a magistrate, at the request of the High Inspector of Justice, also in this case for her decisions to release from prison persons with the name of the criminal world.
The Hight Inspector of Justice (known in Albanian with the acronym 'ILD') had referred to the early release of Hekuran Bill, sentenced to life in prison for murder in England. The decision was recognized by a court of the first instance in Albania, but then the Tirana Appeal recognized a sentence of only 25 years in prison. In February last year, while he had 10 years left in prison to be pardoned, Judge Hoxha pardoned him, 5 years in prison, while another 5 years were converted into probation. Transformed into a businessman, Billa was killed in an assassination attempt in June this year.
The same practice, Judge Hoxha, who had signed several decisions that have given the freedom to dangerous convicts, had followed in the case of Ilir Paja, previously convicted in Italy, but who while serving his sentence in Albania, received several pardons, until he was later released on parole.