FLASH
Shkruar nga Blendi Kajsiu
Judge Pëllumbi's decision to detain the mayor was not based on the wiretaps. The two main arguments for this decision were Veliaj's position as mayor and the risk of flight.
The fact that SPAK is the most successful institution in the history of the Albanian state in the fight against corruption at the highest levels of politics makes it even more necessary to criticize and monitor its standards.
These standards have not always been democratic or well-justified. Such was the recent case when a SPAK prosecutor wiretapped a member of the Constitutional Court who was not under investigation, without any approval from any judge and in a case to which SPAK was a party.
It is a case that smells strongly of anti-constitutionality, conflict of interest and violation of the fundamental rights of a citizen, moreover a member of the Constitutional Court. Not even the legal basis of such an action (likely Article 22, point 8 of the Code of Criminal Procedure) can remove the strong anti-democratic smell of such an action.
The criticism of SPAK in this case was more than fair and constructive because it highlighted a fundamental problem in the legislation that regulates the work of this institution. It was a first step to encourage the improvement of this legislation, either by the parliament or by bringing to the Constitutional Court the articles of the Criminal Procedure Code that allow SPAK prosecutors to wiretap courts without permission from a judge, especially in cases where SPAK is a party to the case under trial.
Unfortunately, the serious case of the wiretapping of the Constitutional Court by SPAK did not produce any constructive debate in our media and public space on how the legislation regulating the activity of SPAK should or could be improved, so that this institution does not produce democratic and constitutional violations.
Many of our media outlets, both left and right, used the case of the wiretapping of the Constitutional Court simply as more evidence that SPAK is an anti-democratic institution whose activity is focused solely on violating human rights. An interpretation that has as its main goal the delegitimization of SPAK and not its improvement.
The same thing happened with the now-infamous wiretaps of Mayor Veliaj in his cell. A media frenzy was created over them, also with the help of pro-SPAK media, according to which the evidence of these wiretaps was SPAK's main argument to justify Mayor Veliaj's detention.
It all turned out to be a soap bubble, as it was difficult to identify any legal or ethical violations on the part of Mayor Veliaj from the wiretaps. His request to his family to contact local newspapers or journalists to publish his version of events was neither illegal, nor immoral, nor did it constitute a threat to SPAK investigators. So there was nothing scandalous about these wiretaps.
This is where the anti-SPAK propaganda began. The bursting of this bubble was identified in many media outlets as evidence of the weakness of the evidence that SPAK had to detain Mayor Veliaj. The impression was created that Veliaj was being held in detention because he had asked some family members to contact some journalists.
In fact, Judge Pëllumbi's decision to detain the mayor was not based on these wiretaps. The two main arguments for this decision were Veliaj's position as mayor and the risk of flight. Although the mayor's defense may disagree with these arguments, they are reasonable and not speculative.
The escape of senior socialist officials investigated by SPAK is not a fantasy. Therefore, it is not a speculative argument.
Just as Veliaj's position as mayor makes it very difficult to investigate him while he is free from SPAK. A mayor has enough power to block an investigation that has as witnesses his subordinates or businessmen who benefit from the municipality's budget. Under these conditions, the decision is not at all scandalous, although many may argue that it is unfair.
What is scandalous is the fact that senior Albanian officials and politicians do not resign from their positions when they are being investigated by the judiciary for serious crimes such as corruption or money laundering. Resignation does not imply guilt but transparency and a guarantee for an investigative process that is carried out without political and administrative pressures.
Innocence gained under these conditions is much more credible than innocence gained while a politician is a high-ranking official, MP, or opposition leader. Therefore, this should be the basic democratic and political standard that should be created by our media.
Unfortunately, rather than aligning with democratic standards, our media aligns with political camps. For this reason, the criticism they make of SPAK, even when it starts from a constructive basis, very quickly turns into propaganda that is more concerned with reproducing the political swamp in which the media vegetates than with justice.
Lini një Përgjigje