The saga ends. The mandate of Holta Zaçaj ends on March 10, 2025. It is the Constitutional Court itself that overthrew its president Holta Zaçaj with a majority of votes. Initially, it unanimously decided to reject Zacaj's request for an opinion from the Venice Commission and suspend the examination of the case until that opinion is received, writes A2 CNN.
The court clarifies in the public announcement that it is responsible for announcing the vacancy and notifying the naming body, in this case the Supreme Court and not the other way around, as happened with the decision of Sokol Sadushi. The court clarifies that after the constitutional reform of 2016, this is the first case when it faces the content and implementation of Article 179, point 3, of the Constitution and.
179/3. In order to regularly renew the composition of the Constitutional Court, the judge who will replace the judge whose term ends in 2017 will remain in office until 2025 and the new judge who will replace the judge whose term ends in 2020, will remain in office until 2028. Other judges of the Constitutional Court are appointed for the entire duration of mandate, according to the law.
Constitutional Court
At first sight, this article does not determine the date of the end of the mandate, but only the year 2025. Similarly, article 86 of the organic law of the Court, as well as the act of election of Holta Zaçaj by the Special Meeting of Supreme Court Judges in January 2023. But the Constitutional Court noted that the purpose of Article 179, point 3, of the Constitution is to guarantee the regular renewal of the composition of the Court. Likewise, the text of this provision does not speak of successor judges, but of the substitute judge of the one whose mandate ended in 2017. The court took into consideration the fact that the Constitution provides for the date of commencement of the duty to take the oath before the President of the Republic, the same reference also for the organic law.
In the acts announcing the vacancy, the appointing body, the Supreme Court, has specified that the new judge who is elected remains in office until March 2025. The court reiterates that the principle of independence also means that the judge, at the time of appointment, must to know the duration of this mandate, based on the relevant legal regulations, and this duration cannot be left to the discretion of the bodies that appointed/elected him.
Although the Constitutional Court makes it clear that a vacancy should not have been announced by the President of the Supreme Court, she still decided to continue the procedure initiated by that naming body for the new member of the Constitutional Court. This is because both the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court consider March 10 as the end date of Judge Holta Zaçaj's mandate. (A2 Televizion)
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