While thousands of Albanians wait decades to legalize their homes and others end up behind bars for "illegally" building chicken coops and opening windows on their properties, the Government issues arbitrary decisions that allow famous politically connected businessmen , who have abused the construction permits, to buy back the property built in violation of the law, without any criminal consequences, thus violating her promise that the confiscated properties will be used for the homeless.
Author: Leonora Sula
The house of Fiqiri Sefa, in Laprakë, Tirana, is a modest, one-story residence, surrounded by a cultivated garden, where he will most likely plant the vegetables of the season. Having come to Tirana since the 80s, his family initially settled in the village of Bërxulle in the capital.
"In March of `93 I came here, to Laprakë. I started to build the house myself, - says the 48-year-old, who has spent 20 years of his life in emigration. - I have always worked as a driver in Albania", he adds.
The story of Fiqiri Sefa is a story that thousands of Albanians know, since a large part of it they have gone through themselves during the process of forming the democratic, Albanian state. Although his apartment was built, at a time when our country almost did not recognize building permits, legalizations, etc., even after 30 years, his family does not have a document to prove the ownership of the apartment, although his efforts did not have been absent.
"I registered the object from the beginning, we made the request for legalization permits.
"We will come today, we will come tomorrow, we have been told", he says, adding that the necessary measurements of the object have been made. - "Wait, we will bring it to you" and they didn't bring it to us. Then the New Ring road was built and the process was completely blocked", Mr. Sefa continues, adding that the ownership certificate was never issued.
"Governments changed, they came and lied, they asked for a lot of money. A legalization permit cost 7 to 8 thousand euros", he says, indicating that at that time he could not afford to pay such a figure. Faced with this situation, the 48-year-old lost hope that he could have the certificate in his hand, proving that his family owned the building, which they built and where they lived for 30 years.
"I'm not interested anymore, they just came, even two years ago they came and measured my house and said: "Keep the phone open, when we pick you up, you'll come and make the payment". They didn't get it", he says, adding that there is no information as to why legalization was not possible. The only institution, where the 48-year-old has knocked to get information, is the Land Registry.
"They told me: 'Wait, we will come to measure their houses, we are in the process,'" he says, also casting shadows on corruption in this institution, as according to him some were asking for money or you must have someone known to them. add a friend to help you.
"I have all the invoices, when we sent the letters for the legalization process. The apartment is in the name of my father, Dervish Sefa. I haven't received any answer for two years, since the Ring road was completely blocked and they said that "now you are out of the game", - he concludes.
But Fiqiri Sefa's family is not the only one with this problem. In our country, there are thousands of citizens who suffer from this situation. According to the magazine Monitor, in an article from 2021, the objects whose owners had made the self-declaration, in an attempt to legalize them, were 320 thousand, of which only 210 thousand were legalized, while another 110 thousand remained in the process and of these 60-70 thousand were illegal.
Unauthorized constructions, the state with two standards, sorry for the businessmen, criminal prosecution for the citizens
In September 2022, the Albanian government approved a Decision of the Council of Ministers on the rules and procedures for the confiscation for public interest of buildings built without permission and for the purpose of profit. Simply put, the construction businessmen, who had built more than the permit allowed, would have the construction on the permit seized and would be given the opportunity to buy this space at a value not lower than the market value, as well as they paid a fine.
However, this treatment is not the same for ordinary citizens, who ended up before the courts, according to the provisions of the Criminal Code in force. According to Article 199 of the Penal Code, which states that, "The illegal construction of an object on one's own land is punishable by a fine or imprisonment of up to one year." This crime, committed on public or state land or on another's land, is punishable by imprisonment from one to five years. And this act, when it has brought serious consequences or is committed for the purpose of profit, is punishable by imprisonment from three to eight years".
And the cases of citizens who have been prosecuted and convicted are not few.
According to this VKM, the confiscated constructions can be transferred with the right of pre-emption to the entity developing the object or any entity authorized by it, for a value not less than the market price and the secured funds are used for expropriation, treatment special or compensations for the purpose of carrying out public works.
According to the Office of the General Prosecutor of the Republic, from 2012 to the first 9 months of 2022, the number of citizens accused of illegal construction is 8.859. Of these citizens, 5.585 were convicted according to the provisions of Article 199 of the Criminal Code, while the rest were acquitted.
There have been no shortage of cases of criminal prosecution even of older people due to the construction without permission, even of a chicken coop. Such is the case of the 82-year-old woman from Narta, Vlora, who became publicly known, where due to the unauthorized reconstruction of the existing chicken coop, she faced the black squads of the courts.
Albanian invention, VKM on the law, experts: The only institution that can seize is the court
"In addition to criminal responsibility, for all persons who commit this type of administrative or criminal offense, criminal proceedings can be initiated", - says lawyer Saimir Visha, who adds that Albania has the substantive law, where any construction without permission of the competent bodies is considered criminal offense.
"Once the criminal offense is committed, its seizure, confiscation or demolition can begin", - says Mr. Visha, adding that, at the same time, we are the only country in the world that, in addition to the law, also has a normative act, because VKM, despite having the power of a law, is a by-law and, as long as we have the law, it prevails and not the act. "But like the miracles that happen here. We have currently issued a VKM and this VKM should be abolished only by the Constitutional Court, since the law on constructions without permission exists", he concludes.
Even for the former prosecutor, Eugen Beci, we are dealing with parallelism, because the criminal case is independent from the administrative case.
"The only body in Albania that deals with seizures and confiscations is the court, not the government, except when we are dealing with terrorist acts", he says.
Former prosecutor Beci says that for someone who has built without a permit, the criminal case should come first and then the administrative one.
For the former representative of the prosecution body, the government's justification that justice is not doing its job properly is not valid, saying that criminal charges should have been filed.
"It would be more correct, more legal and more democratic. The government cannot say that since the judiciary is not working, I am replacing it. This does not make sense", he says.
But is the opportunity, given to builders, to buy the construction part without a permit, an escape route from criminal prosecution?
Lawyer Ledio Braho says: "No, it is not an escape route. Article 52 itself of the law no. 107/2014 "On planning and development of the territory", as amended, in its point 1 provides, among other things, that "in terms of this law, the following violations, regardless of whether they constitute a criminal offense, constitute administrative offenses and are punished", - he says, adding that the confiscation or the right of pre-emption, which is recognized to violators of the law, is complementary in relation to the criminal proceedings.
Although multi-storied buildings without permission were identified in the heart of the Albanian capital, no official, who should have stopped these constructions, has been criminally prosecuted. Braho states that it is the responsibility of the IKMT to take measures for disciplinary proceedings on a case-by-case basis for responsible officials under it or local inspectors, who are under the authority of the local government and, if it is found that there are problems and elements of criminal offenses , it is definitely necessary to proceed with criminal charges.
Government officials are surprised by the unauthorized constructions in the capital, but there is only 1 report in the prosecutor's office
"This is the most flagrant, symbolic example of breaking the law. 2 floors underground and 7 floors above ground, 9 floors of construction without any paper. How this happened is a mystery to us", - this is what the Minister of Infrastructure and Energy, Belinda Balluku, would declare in September 2022, on the first day of the launch of the government action to seize spaces without permission .
The minister's statement was made by Farka, surprising everyone with the mystery surrounding the construction of this palace without permission, since the logic of an average Albanian cannot accept that neither the state bodies have seen nor the expression that they have closed a eyes and an ear, but what logic can accept is that they have become blind by will.
Officially asked about the criminal charges filed in the prosecution bodies, IMT, Tirana states that this institution exercises its legal duties and responsibilities, based on Law No. 9780, dated 16.07.2007 "On the Inspection and Protection of the Territory from Illegal Constructions" (amended), VKM No. 408, dated 13.05.2015 "On the approval of the Territory Development Regulation", Law No. 1 07/2014, dated 31.07.2014 "On Territorial Planning and Development" (amended), VKM no. 894, dated 04.11.2015 "On the unification of territory control procedures by the National Inspectorate of Territory Protection and the Local Inspectorate of Territory Protection".
"As a competent body for the identification and punishment of entities that do not respect the legislation in force in the field of construction, it informs you that it has identified every illegal object and measures have been taken against them", - says IMT officially for ACQJ.
But the truth is quite different. IMT, Tirana, has not only failed to do its duty to identify illegal constructions in the capital, but has become blind and deaf in front of them.
Officially asked, the Prosecutor's Office of Tirana informs that for the year 2022 the Municipality of Tirana and IKMT have deposited only one material, which was referred to construction without permission. However, against IMT Tirana are also the decisions of IKMT, which seized as construction without permission based on the VKM approved by the Albanian government 71.989 square meters in the towers and buildings built and under construction in the capital.
In a balance made for ACQJ, the Prosecutor's Office of Tirana states that during the last 10 years, 2.436 criminal proceedings have been registered with it for violation of Article 199/a of the Criminal Code, of which 1.046 have been sent for trial.
While IKMT informs that from 2016 to 2022, it has taken 1.241 decisions for building demolition, 997 decisions for fines and has carried out 3.528 building demolitions.
