Sebi Alla – In his 105-minute long speech, Prime Minister Edi Rama made many “attacks” and “suggestions” against justice, but still left pending the decision that the Socialist Party will make on whether or not to authorize the arrest of former Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku.

While he spoke about the justice system that, according to him, has deviated by accusing the state administration of “terror”; extreme security measures, or interference in the executive and legislative branches, at the same time the Foreign Affairs Committee in the European Parliament raised concerns that the Albanian government is obstructing justice in relation to the Balluku case.

In summarizing his positions, Rama said that “… anti-corruption has become a cure more harmful than the disease of corruption itself.”

Everything is suspended.

On the day when not only her political fate, but also her legal fate in relation to justice, depended on her, Belinda Balluku preferred not to be present at the meeting of the Socialist Party Parliamentary Group, but Rama spoke for her.

“I will not deal with the process that has begun in the Assembly because normally I will wait for the report of the Mandates Council before I give my final speech on the topic of immunity,” Rama said.

In the logical line of his stance, the prime minister implied that SPAK’s request for her arrest could be rejected, but the following hours and days will be decisive.

“Belinda Balluku has submitted her resignation to me three times, since the accusations were initially raised, not for corruption. The accusation is not for corruption, but for inequality in tenders, then she brought me her resignation in writing again when the suspension was made and then a third time when it was suspended by the Constitutional Court’s decision, I rejected the idea of ​​resigning,” said Rama, adding: “We cannot enter into the dance of resignations, every time an accusation comes up. We will do our job, justice will do its own.”

Justice

Often in harsh tones and sometimes in quotes about the functioning of democracy and the separation of powers, the prime minister criticized SPAK and the courts for the manner of investigation and severity and, according to him, forgetting the presumption of innocence.

“… a sporting movement of prosecutors up and down Albania has begun who have rushed into the race for the upcoming mandate of SPAK, issuing arrest warrants in droves for cases that, at best, are not criminal cases at all and, at worst, are being investigated in the world around us while they are free, as was the emblematic case of Durrës where only the prosecutor was left without issuing an arrest warrant for himself,” Rama said.

In response to the claims that he is interfering in the judicial system, the Prime Minister said that it was precisely the judiciary that interferes in the work of the legislature or the executive.

“Here today I will say one thousandth of what I actually have to say about the not only unjustifiable, but also unnecessary interventions of the judiciary in the affairs of the executive and the legislative branches together. Unjustifiable because the state has three branches of government independent of each other and if one of them interferes in the affairs of the other, the state does not function properly,” said Rama.

Investigations

The Special Prosecution Office (SPAK) on December 16 of last year officially requested the Parliament to authorize the arrest of Belinda Balluku, accused of violating the equality of tender participants in nine cases.

Earlier, in October of last year, SPAK had communicated the charges and later the GJKKO imposed the measure of “suspension from duty and ban on leaving the country.”

The Socialist Party postponed the decision-making at the meeting of the Council of Mandates and Immunities pending the decision of the Constitutional Court, which upheld the decision to suspend it. The hearing on whether or not to authorize Balluk’s arrest is expected to be held in the coming days.