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A group of Judicial Police officers arrived at the palace where former Prime Minister Sali Berisha lives on "Mustafa Matohiti" street in Tirana on Saturday afternoon to communicate the measure of house arrest, previously imposed by the judge of the Special Court, Irena Chest.
According to the abbreviated decision of the court, Berisha is ordered not to leave his apartment and not to communicate with other people, except those "who live together in the same apartment with him".
After the session at the Special Court, Berisha's lawyer, Genc Gjokutaj, described the decision as unfounded and stated that they would appeal it within the deadline. Gjokutaj also opposed the decision not to allow communication for Berisha as a deprivation of rights and freedoms for a deputy.
"What was disturbing is that this decision comes with a communication ban for a deputy. Special authorization should have been obtained from this court," said Gjokutaj, who added that Berisha was waiting for the court's decision at his home.
Berisha, 79, is the most senior opposition official in three decades to face such a legal situation. The last time a former prime minister faced immunity waiver and arrest was July 1993, when the majority of the Democratic Party at that time authorized the arrest and prosecution of the former socialist prime minister, Fatos Nato.
Berisha is under investigation for the criminal offense of corruption together with his son-in-law, Jamarbër Malltezi, who is accused by SPAK of having received income worth 5.4 million euros from a construction business in an irregular manner thanks to the government's decisions taken by his father-in-law.
Both Berisha and Malltezi have opposed the accusations and described the investigation as orchestrated by Prime Minister Edi Rama. Also, Berisha and his supporters have described this measure as an attempt to annihilate the opposition.
The request to replace the measure of arrest was made after Berisha refused to implement the previous measures of the obligation to appear and the ban on leaving the country, considering them to be unconstitutional. The Code of Criminal Procedure provides for the severity of the measure in such cases.
Over the course of a week, the session for examining SPAK's request for tightening the security measure against Berisha was postponed several times. SPAK's request arrived at the court last Saturday, after receiving in the Assembly the authorization to remove Berisha's immunity on December 18, but Tuesday's session was postponed after the legal representatives of the former prime minister, lawyers Genc Gjokutaj and Sokol Mêngjesi, requested more time to familiarize yourself with the accompanying evidence.
Likewise, Berisha's lawyers requested several times the dismissal of judge Irena Gjoka, with the argument that former prime minister Berisha was the chairman of the former High Council of Justice in 1996, when, according to him, a decision was made to dismiss judge Gjoka. The requests were subsequently rejected by the court./ Birn
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