Author: Ina Allkanjari
Luljeta Kamberaj is from the city of Vlora and has been trying to get justice from the court for 6 years. Her problems became critical the day she was fired from her job near the regional hospital of this city. Left without a job, she looked at the judiciary in the hope that the law in the hands of the judges would speak in time. Kamberaj passed the first level of the court and the file ended up in the Appeal of Vlora, a court that according to the Supreme Judicial Council will be merged. Pessimistically, she writes in Sinjalizo about the odyssey she has gone through and about the challenges that await her because her file will be transferred together with the court in the capital.
"All these years and I still haven't found a solution because I haven't received a court date. When I found out that the Court of Appeal in Vlora will be closed, I was shocked, how can I follow the case in Tirana, when I have a sick person at home and I myself am sick. Where do I go, where do I ask for help to cover the expenses to go to Tirana, when I am out of work and I can't even from the health point of view. We can't manage to follow the trials in Tirana, it's impossible for us", the plaintiff further states.
Like Kamberaj, the same fate is expected for dozens of citizens who are waiting for hearings in the appeals of Korca, Vlora and Shkodra and Durrës, which according to the new map will be gathered in a single national court, the Albanian Court of Appeal. This project has been strongly opposed by the community of lawyers, 2 thousand of whom with an active license, entered the second threatened boycott. At first, by decision of the National Chamber of Advocacy, they abandoned the hearings of the foundation, while in the second strike, the board of this chamber ordered the abandonment of the personal security measures, which according to the defense's predictions, had to block the courts. But the chancellor of the largest court in the country, Donald Xhelili, admitted that in the conditions when the arrested have only 48 hours to appear before the court and when the elected lawyers are not appearing, the court has ensured the representation of the suspects with free lawyers from the state.
The consequences of the new judicial map
Durim Bajramaj, the head of the Vlora Bar, tells "Sinjalizo" that the changes brought by the new judicial map deny citizens access to justice.
"Article 6 of the Constitution states that every citizen must be heard by a judge and a decision must be made within a reasonable time for any problem that may arise, which is being denied to them. Another consequence that comes directly from the change of the judicial map is the cost of the citizen, who if the appeal goes to Tirana, will pay me the legal service, but also the cost because I will leave the cases in the court of first instance in Vlora and represent in the Appeal of Tirana, where I will waste the whole day with the case, plus the citizen will pay the cost of transportation". lawyer Bajramaj explains the costs.
But when, in one of his public appearances, the head of the KLJJ defended the new map using, among many arguments, the emptying of the vetting, the representative of the lawyers of Vlora, which is the city where two courts were closed, added:
"Now they say that only one Court of Appeal should function, meanwhile we have given them the solution from 6 Courts of Appeal, to stay at least 3 courts, one in Vlora, one in Tirana and one in Shkodër". retorts Bajramaj.
As a voice that has opposed the boycott ordered by the Chamber of Advocacy is Saimir Vishaj, another lawyer in Tirana who leads the Chamber of Criminal Lawyers. At the beginning of the session, Vishaj emphasizes for Sinjalizo that lawyers cannot abandon their clients by not representing them in court.
"The map was not born in 2022, but it has been discussed with interest groups since 2017, agreeing in principle about this type of organization. There are problems, because there are some cities that escape the basic courts, but I believe that until the approval by the Council of Ministers, the parties must agree. The law says that in order to transfer a judge from Vlora to Tirana, he must give his consent. In the specific case when the map decides to merge the 4 appeals of the districts, it means that all the appeal judges who are in the districts will come with family residence in Tirana. This is a problem."
Further, Vishaj has a proposal for urgent files that must be reviewed in the courts that will be closed, as otherwise it will be difficult to provide Services to the citizen.
"Regarding some criminal offenses, the contact, the provision of the court service to the citizen has been cut off, especially in the case of domestic violence where a woman who was raped from Tropoja will have to travel together with her aggressor to Kukës where she will be basic court. These are problems that I think should have been looked at better, especially in a category of crimes where the courts should function as they currently are", says Vishaj for Signal, singling out minors as a category where care should be taken. Minors require a special court - the lawyer mentions - with specialized lawyers, because the rights of minors prevail.
Put at the head of the movement of lawyers who are warning of escalation, Maksim Haxhia, Chairman of the Chamber of Advocates of Albania opposes the new judicial map, arguing that this change will increase the financial cost that will weigh directly on citizens' pockets and according to him increasing costs will limit citizens' access to the judiciary.
"The new judicial map, since it will prevent many citizens from going to court for the reasons I mentioned, will lead to the increase of self-judgment for the resolution of many conflicts of the administrative and criminal cycle" - declares Haxhia
Judges in front of the new judicial map
Fuat Vjerdha, the President of the Shkodër Court of Appeal, asked by "Sinjalizo" whether he agrees with the new judicial map and the merger of the Courts of Appeal in the districts into a single one, declares against it. The point of view of the well-known judge is quite different from what the General Prosecutor's Office and the High Council of Prosecutors declared earlier, which raised the green card on the proposal of the Supreme Court of Justice. Even Prime Minister Edi Rama, who heads the Council of Ministers, the latter the final institution that expresses the judicial map, declared in favor of merging the courts.
"Considering the code of ethics, I cannot speak to the media about these claims. With the institutions, when meetings are held, I have expressed my position, but due to the ethical code, I cannot in the media. My position is known as I have made it public that the Court of Appeal in Shkodra should not be merged", declared the president of the Court of Shkodra.
Earlier in January of this year, the President of the Shkodër Court of Appeal, Fuat Vjerdha, stated that such a system with a single Court of Appeal in Tirana was in force until 1998 when it was switched to a system with 6 Courts of Appeal .
"The argument was then that a single court brought corruption", said Vjerdha, who proposed a system with three appeal courts. "I propose that the judicial map be with 3 courts, Shkodër, Tirana and Vlora, and that civil cases be tried only in Tirana, that the judges for these cases be delegated to Tirana", said the judge.
Vjerdha said that it was necessary to think about a justice as close as possible to the citizens.
"It is a national concern that a citizen today cannot be tried in his own country", He said.
Capacities of the Tirana Court of Appeal
The evaluation report of the High Judicial Council shows the advantages and disadvantages of the Tirana Court of Appeal in terms of infrastructure.
"The Tirana Court of Appeal building has 28 judges' offices and 19 administration offices; as well as 7 courtrooms (2 criminal and 5 civil). Advantages: The Tirana Court of Appeal is located in the center of the city. The court meets design standards related to security and/or avoidance of ex-parte communication (ie, there are dedicated entrances and exits for court personnel, parties and/or detainees), and the service space for the public is realized according to standards . Disadvantages: The number of courtrooms is not sufficient", it is stated in the evaluation report of the KLJ.
Sources at the Court of Appeal told "Sinjalizo" that the capacities in this court are not a concern, since there are not many judges at the moment, while in the future it is thought to invest in a new court. Meanwhile, it is predicted that from the moment of approval of the new judicial map by the Council of Ministries, it will take at least 6 months to determine the rules for the transit of files.
Durim Bajramaj, the head of the Vlora bar, says that the Court of Appeal in Tirana does not have the capacity to be the only one in Albania.
"That court cannot afford the judicial body of Tirana, let alone five judicial bodies of appeals from the districts. Even if they build some buildings, this new judicial map is still a failure for me. There is also a time effect. By law, the Court of Administrative Appeals must give a decision within 3 months from the date the file goes to court, while it is judging cases from 2016, we are 6 years behind", said Bajramaj.
According to Bajramaj, there may be 100 security measures per day in all of Albania, and these will be done in Tirana with the new map.
"Police vehicles will be sent from all districts to go to the appeal court in Tirana. First of all, we need a whole fleet of police cars, we also need a military department with police, it is a staggering cost for the state, it is the Albanians' taxes", concluded Bajramaj.
One point where Vishaj agrees with his colleagues is related to the lack of facilities at the Tirana appeals court, where hundreds of files will be collected. "The Court of Appeal in Tirana has neither the building nor other capacities. From the release of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, i.e. from the approval of the Council of Ministers to the start of work, I will spend a period of about 6 months or a year to stabilize the personnel, secretaries, offices, etc.", said Vishaj.
The same thing is confirmed by lawyer Maks Haxhia, who emphasizes that if there is only one Court of Appeal, more problems will be created than there are today.
"The Court of Appeal in Tirana does not have the proper capacities. Only one Court of Appeal will bring organizational problems, problems for the halls, for the offices, for the place where the detainees will stay, the infrastructure of office Services, secretaries, protocols, all these are problems, they have not been solved in advance. If they were resolved, it could be discussed to make the new judicial map as designed", concludes Haxhia.
The changes brought by the new judicial map
The Supreme Judicial Council approved the new judicial map in the country, which means the presence of only 13 courts of first instance, 2 administrative courts and 1 appeal court for the entire country.
The Supreme Court of Justice has approved the changes that envisage the merger of the courts in Tropoja, Krujë, Lushnje, Pogradec, Krujë, Mat, Përmet, Kurbin, Kavajë, Pukë.
The HCJ estimated that the courts should be reorganized and out of 22 courts of judicial districts, only 13 courts of general jurisdiction remain in: Berat; Diber; Durrës; Elbasan; Fern; Gjirokastra; Lezhe; Korça; Kukes; Saranda; Shkodër; Tirana and Vlora.
In this map, the administrative courts are merged, of which only two remain, one located in the city of Lushnja for the south of the country and another in Tirana for the center and the north.
Relation of the Supreme Judicial Council
In the relation of the HCJ, it is emphasized that access to the court does not mean only receiving the service near or as close as possible to the place of residence, but also receiving it in the fastest and most effective time. According to the Supreme Court of Justice, a national appeals court with general jurisdiction will enable the reduction of the time required for the completion of trials, especially for those court cases that have already "sleep" in courts of second instance.
"The trial in a national appellate court would allow to standardize the average time of completion of the trial in the reviewing jurisdiction, since the way of planning the workload of the appellate judges would be based on the same standards and thus the equality of the workload would be achieved in work of judges. Until today, in the small appellate courts, the workload has been significantly lower than in other courts, as well as the trial time of cases has been significantly less than in other courts, resulting in violation of the principle of providing justice to the citizens of the Republic of Albania", it is written in the relation, as it is emphasized that the creation of a single court of appeal would bring about a gradual decrease in the number of backlogged cases, because the creation of many sections and with specialized judges would bring about an increase in their efficiency in the exercise of judicial activity.
In total, for all appellate courts of ordinary jurisdiction, it is observed that 31% of the stock are cases older than 2 years.
From the statistical data reported by the courts, it appears that the amount of backlog cases (stock) varies significantly between courts of the same level. The Court of Appeal of Tirana records the largest number of stocks. The second place is held by the Court of Appeal of Vlorë, while the Court with the lowest stock is the Court of Appeal of Gjirokastër.
In the KLJ report, it is said that at the end of 2021, 28 cases are waiting to be examined by the appeal courts. They are mostly civil cases and only 144% of the stock are criminal cases. Distributed according to the courts, it is observed that we have an increase in the stock in all the appeals courts, but the most significant increase is reflected in Tirana with 31%.
"The comparison of the workload between the courts shows that there is a marked difference in the workload where a total workload in the Tirana Appeal of 20 cases, followed by the Vlora Appeal with 350 cases and then the Durrës Appeal with 7".
