Democratic Party Chairman Sali Berisha said in a press conference today that the new judiciary map is an irresponsible act and “a punishment for the citizens, a ruining of the Albanian citizens’ right for regular judiciary processes”.

“After halving the judges and prosecutors with the pseudo judicial reform and vetting as witch hunting, after putting justice under the full control of the executive, after creating a stock of 110,000 court files, and after denying the right for a proper trial process, Edi Rama ordered with an irresponsible act the shutdown of 18 courts of law across the country”, Berisha said in a press conference today.

“This decision will penalize and punish the residents of ten cities of the country that will need to travel hundreds of kilometers to go to the court of law in other districts, raising like this their expenditures and wasting their time”.

“The approval of the new judiciary map is a serious violation of the human rights and fundamental freedoms that are protected by the Constitution. The shutdown of many courts of law threatens and limits the access to justice for the individuals”.

“The new map of the judiciary is a flagrant contradiction of the European Parliament’s Resolution on Albania that requires explicitly an improvement of quality in the courts of law and proper trial processes. In reality, the new judicial map rejects the Resolution of the European Parliament”, said Berisha.