The drastic changes to the Criminal Procedure Code that Edi Rama introduced are an attempt to turn into law the entire campaign against prosecutors and judges that he has undertaken since the arrest of Erion Veliaj, but especially after the suspension of Belinda Balluku.
At its epicenter is the maximum limitation of pre-trial detention, without final decisions, and the end of prison arrest measures for those suspected of crimes punishable by less than 5 years. But in addition to them, the 105 amended articles aim to protect the rights of those suspected of being defendants, from guarantees on how they are questioned, how their criminal case is initiated, how they should be protected from the release of wiretaps that are unrelated to the case, or how their seized mobile phone is used.
These and many other changes demonstrate a now-declared will of this majority to strip justice, but especially SPAK and GJKKO, of the repressive sword that they were given a decade ago, when the reform of reforms was voted on. Its essence is greater protection and more expanded rights for those who are investigated for serious crimes or who are suspected of being defendants.
There is no doubt that such a legal initiative comes after the scythe of justice, behind which internationals often play the strings, has wiped out many of Edi Rama's closest associates.
For the same repressiveness, for the same phenomena as the culture of intimidation of the citizen, the prime minister has not even remembered to worry before. He who, at the beginning of his first term, was screaming screen after screen with the cry "Prison, prison, prison", demanding it from the poor who stole energy to the fans who entered the football field. He who was not worried when this repressiveness was observed against Meta Berisha or Beleri, but on the contrary demanded their isolation, is at least a hypocrite in the way he has set up now.
It is easy for anyone to understand that the initiative for this package was taken by a man who fears that the noose is tightening around him. Edi Rama is worried about all his troubles, as well as personally, so he is trying to gain for the accused to date and for those who will come tomorrow, more weapons in the battle with justice. So, in short and Albanian, this is a package that has its source in the anxiety of the defendant.
But, paradoxical as it may seem, it must be admitted that this fear and anxiety also have positive effects. With the culture it inherited from the dictatorship and the unaccountable force that the 2016 Reform gave it, our justice system has often exceeded its rights. No matter how much public animosity there is towards Erion Veliaj or Ilir Meta, keeping them in prison without a final court decision, for such a long time, is not normal. The average number of days of imprisonment without trial, with which SPAK and GJKKO punish them, five times higher than that of European countries, constitutes an intolerable standard. By inflating the false fable of a justice system that will strike at impunity, an arbitrary power was created in Albania that is least interested in the rights and dignity of the person. And this is not just about the cases of Beqaj or Beler, Koka or Salianja, Veliaj or Meta, Balluk or Berisha, but about the fact that a machine that is accustomed to abuse, no longer knows how to stop on this path. Double the days in detention, compared to EU countries, breaking into cells without respect for rights, arbitrariness of interrogation, the subordination of the judge to the prosecutor, are not suffered only by high-ranking officials or their predecessors, they have already become a norm to which the majority are subject. Therefore, although the recent changes have the exclusive purpose of easing the latter, although they stem from the troubles of Gysi, Vlora, Bela or Lali and the fear that Rama feels that his turn may come after them, they have a broader effect. This is one of those typical cases where, although the leader only thinks about his own back, the effect it causes also benefits a large number of people who may be affected by an increasingly repressive justice system. Therefore, being aware that this package stems from Rama's distress, it should be supported as a consequence of the shield effect from repressive justice that it creates for a wide circle of citizens.
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