Albania’s Interior Minister Fatmir Xhafaj, only a few minutes before the meeting of the parliamentary Commission of Mandates for the removal of deputy Saimir Tahiri’s mandate, warned that the prosecution has not presented to the Parliament the necessary legal evidence to have the former interior minister’s mandate removed.

Xhafaj went further, revealing the plan to obstruct the process against Tahiri. Apparently thje majority is using the tactic of sabotage of this hot issue by putting it in the furrows or politicization.

"What has been written by the prosecutors of the Serious Crimes is not something that expresses the will of law and the credibility in facts, which means that, in my opinion, segments or individuals of the Prosecution are being used politically in such a hot political situation”.

By saying that, Xhafaj tried to deflect the unprecedented scandal of a “Renaissance” minister direct implication in the drugs traffic activity from a case of the law enforcing justice organs to a political battle.

Only minutes after that, Albania’s Atty-Gen Adriatik Llalla was asked to comment Xhafaj’s statement.

“Mr. Xhafaj is not clear about the law modifications. The Prosecution for Serious Crimes is following the criminality situation with special attention”, Llalla said.

It looks like a last-minute plan by PM Rama, after Tahiri threatened – if not protected, as a sign of self-defense and vendetta – to open Pandora’s box, within which the Prime Minister is. The plan started to be put in practice as soon as the Commission’s meeting started.

Speaker Gramoz Ruçi, followed by other Socialist MPs, asked for previous penal precedents to be used in this case, insisting for media’s presence during the session, impeding like this the presentation of classified document and forcing the immunity’s removal to be made based only the formal note introduced by the accusation’s organ.

Today is the first chance of a successful (if it will be reached) implementation of the Judiciary Reform, for which Edi Rama and his men have yelled for so long.

Prosecutor Hajdarmataj referred exactly to the Constitutional amendments within the framework of the Judiciary Reform (Constitutional Dispositions, Article 73) and the Code of the Penal Procedure for classified materials that should not become public.

Sessions behind closed doors are a common practice in the courtrooms too, let alone this very moment when the enquiry process is in intensive development and very delicate, because it has to do with organized crime that has infiltrated as high as the State’s cupola.

But it seems the Socialist have made up their mind to protect Tahiri or at least give him the message “we did everything for you… what happened to you is not on us”.

It is the first time to see the Judiciary Reform be implement and a case of this level, according to the Constitutional amendments, is not a competence of the General Prosecution Office or High Court, but it’s in the hands of the Prosecution for Serious Crimes.

Tahiri’s case is actually inaugurating the implementation of the Judiciary Reform. Rama seems to be doing everything to sabotage it, risking to create right from the start a precedent that may blow the most important project after the installation of democracy in Albania.

SYRI.net