FLASH
Shkruar nga Skënder Minxhozi
Grenell's posting of Rama's message, seemingly distant from the Albanian context, is in fact not so. The Americans who govern today in Washington have an expressed allergy to courts and prosecutors who, as in the case of Hashim Thaçi, show excessive zeal to extend the list of charges and put pressure on the accused...
Donald Trump's close aide, Richard Grenell, has shared a message on social media criticizing the Albanian prime minister regarding the Kosovo Special Court's ban on former president Hashim Thaçi from attending his father's funeral. "A new humiliation from a shameful and shameless tribunal that has turned international justice into a farce, democratic rights into empty words, and the goodwill of the Kosovo Assembly into the most brutal boomerang," Rama wrote in the message, which was re-shared by President Trump's close official.
And there is nothing surprising here, since the fundamentally skeptical attitude of American Republicans towards the judiciary, and towards American prosecutors and judges in particular, is well known. The investigative and judicial saga with over 90 criminal charges against Donald Trump, threatened to land him in prison last fall. Only the victory of the presidency on November 5 saved Trump from the almost certain shackles that were being prepared in several US states.
Grenell's reaction reflects not only this culture of denial of the current rulers in America towards a part of their country's justice, but more broadly towards other judicial processes involving potential Trump allies around the world or even officials who are viewed favorably in Washington. For years, Grenell has spoken out against the process against Hashim Thaçi, which added to the rumors that a Trump victory in the elections would, among other things, also mean imminent freedom for the former Kosovo president.
Broadening the scope of Richard Grenell's reaction, what his appearance alongside Hashim Thaçi shows us is the not-so-hidden allergy of the current American administration to the excesses that, according to them, the justice systems in third countries are showing towards politics, business and the media. This stance is part of the campaign against prosecutors and judges that Trump has undertaken in the US, promising to punish those who brought dozens of serious charges against him, but which fell as if by magic as soon as he won the elections.
Here in Albania, Americans have remained silent after Donald Trump's electoral victory, regarding the rapid developments that have involved our new justice system, which has recently been on a collision course with its main "ally" among the political elite, the left-wing governing majority.
No statement has been made by the American embassy, much less by institutions in Washington, since the arrest without trial of Mayor Veliaj provoked a harsh reaction from Prime Minister Rama towards SPAK that has been going on for weeks. Without touching on the investigation part, Rama has been harshly criticizing the new justice system for the fact that it is applying a harsh standard of detention for the mayor of Tirana. The cases of Berisha, Meta and Veliaj, where the suspects were arrested and imprisoned without being declared defendants, have been added to other controversial events such as the wiretapping of members of the Constitutional Court without a court decision.
Rama reminded Altin Dumani on Wednesday that he now has a sword in his hand "that we gave him." He also reminded him of the period when he was a prosecutor and did not conduct the investigations and arrests that he does today. An appeal that also sounds like a call to attention to who is actually the "author and owner" of the sword that the new justice system holds in its hand today.
All this remote squabble between the government and SPAK has occurred after the new justice system launched investigations into high-level officials, investigations that have put the public's scrutiny on the prosecutors and judges themselves.
Albania is once again being confirmed as a country of extremes. In the space of a few years, we are going from a system dominated by partyocracy where no one was punished, to a jungle law established with the iron fist of the new justice, which arrests, intercepts and punishes anyone with standards that in some aspects seem theatrical and exaggerated. See the Strasbourg decision for Thoma Gëllçi. Or if you want to know how selective and “a la carte” this iron fist of special justice is, see the other Strasbourg decision for January 21 that is ignored by SPAK as if it were a piece of grocery paper!
Between the zealous attitude towards Gëllç and the silence about January 21 or even about Gërdec, one gets the impression that there is a selective approach of the new justice system towards those hot files that have kept Albanians in suspense for decades and that have been among the main impetuses for the justice reform itself after 2013.
In this context, even the posting of Rama's message by Grenell, seemingly distant from the Albanian context, is in fact not so. The Americans who govern today in Washington, have an expressed allergy to the courts and prosecutors who, as in the case of Hashim Thaçi, show excessive zeal to extend the list of charges and put pressure on the accused. After nine years since the constitutional justice reform package was voted in the Parliament, it is time for the new Albanian justice to find and pursue the fragile balance between rights and the investigation and punishment of crime and corruption.
Today's Trump administration mentions this strong message to its justice system every day. Rightly or wrongly, in a normal way or even by politicizing it and pushing it beyond the lines. This chessboard where politics and law, politicians and prosecutors or judges play, is very complex and delicate and sensitive. It requires a sense of measure and self-restraint where we Albanians have historically and repeatedly proven that we are incapable of behaving carefully. And if we get the sword in our hands, we want to use it as we want, not as we should.
Lini një Përgjigje