In the "Sy m'sy" column on social networks, Edi Rama spoke about justice and the work of the Prosecutor's Office and the Special Court. He emphasized that the government has been silent for more than 5 years, but not anymore.
Rama recalled that since it was in opposition, the Socialist Party had included in its program a commitment to an independent judiciary.
The Prime Minister rejected accusations of attacks on justice, clarifying that his criticism of the arrest of the mayor of Tirana without a final verdict is not an attack at all, but a demand for respect for democratic standards. He called this a duty of the government to raise its voice, as it is one of the basic conditions for integration into the European Union.
Rama also explained that the government has been silent for many years, not because it has not seen problems, but to ensure the consolidation of the independence of justice institutions, which until the reform did not have independence. He said that now is the time to talk about strengthening democracy and to criticize any violation of justice standards.
"Are you telling the truth, I haven't made a clear choice in 12 years, or you, my dear, Gjergj, along with anyone who thinks like you, should keep in mind some things that seem simple to me.
First, if I had not made the clear choice, not 12, but 16 years ago, to fight for an independent judiciary, what you see today, has been written in our program since we were in opposition, - then it would still be unimaginable for justice to strike left and right all the way up, just as it has been unimaginable for 100 or so years, right, since the creation of the Albanian state and until we reformed the judiciary, entering this sea on foot, in a country where never, never has a person connected to political power gone to court.
Second, I don't know what you mean when you say "attacks on justice", but if you mean what I said regarding the detention without trial of the Mayor of Tirana, then we need to clarify again.
I think that demanding democratic standards in a justice process, even more so for the elected officials of the capital's Municipality, who are removed from office and taken to prison without being declared a defendant, let alone guilty, is not at all an attack on justice; demanding that the new justice system understand that the high goal does not in any way justify the low means, is not an attack on justice, but an obligation. It is our obligation to raise our voice because this is one of the fundamental conditions of Albania 2030 in the EU: A country where the law rules and where justice only provides justice and does not do injustice.
Therefore, when there are problems with democratic standards, in a justice process, we cannot and should not say this now, but we will say it whenever necessary, we will say it with our heads held high and we will say it loudly.
We were silent, completely silent for 5 years in a row, 5 years or more even, not because we didn't see problems, not because we weren't scandalized in some case or didn't have sensitivity to a pressure that has sometimes gone to the point of absurdity on administration employees, but we were strategically silent, we were silent to guarantee an atmosphere where the independence of the new justice institutions could be consolidated, in a country where justice has never, ever had independence and where the norm has been intimidation and its taking over by political power.
Now that independence seems to me to be the watermelon with proof, - when the people say - it is even clearly the source of a self-confidence of the prosecution and the special court, we will talk about strengthening democracy and will be critical whenever democratic standards are violated by justice, because an independent justice, a professional justice, a justice that guarantees the freedoms and constitutional rights of everyone, without exception, is the essence of a strong European democracy. Whereas an independent justice, but professionally lame and disregarding freedoms and constitutional rights and even the constitutional separation of powers, can turn into a threat to democracy itself, into a real problem for society, into an obstacle to the economy.
Do you know, Gjergj, what makes a trial in a dictatorship, in an autocracy, or a trial in a democracy different? In an autocracy, the prosecutor and the judge are one, a single body against the accused, while in a democratic trial, not only are they separate, but the judge is above the parties and the accused and the accusers are completely equal before the law and before the judge.
If this fundamental premise is not respected and if there are signs that the abuse of the independence of the judiciary can become a path without legal certainty in the body of society, then the problem is no longer simply that of those who are directly mistreated by a power that is puffed up with itself, but it is a problem for the country, it is a problem for society and as such it is definitely mine as prime minister, but also yours as a citizen, not to attack it, but to criticize it and help justice to be democratized, strengthened, consolidated as a guarantor of the legal order, as a guarantor of the equality of all before the law, not by making us, the prosecutor and judge of prosecutors and judges, but by pointing the finger at the intolerable problem of violating standards and by encouraging all relevant reflections; not by taking the side of the accused regarding the claims of the prosecutor and the judge, but by not remaining silent when the latter exceed the framework of the law with Maliqi's galoshes and the prosecutor and the court become a single galosh, as in a dictatorship or autocracy, not far from in any way by dissolving SPAK or threatening SPAK, which we must protect first and foremost from the owl and the scum of the swamp, even with our vote on May 11, but definitely from the risk of getting carried away when they speak, fighting all together, but in parallel, for the increase in the standard of justice and for a triumph of the aspiration for European justice on May 11.
Now, dear Gjergji, whether I failed or not to become a state, we leave that to the few years ahead of us, because in these years ahead, I will do my utmost to ensure that Albania rises to the top of the European Union, and if it does, it will only rise because it has become a state, otherwise you cannot even reach that top.
Now the choice has never been clearer; either with me in Europe, or with the barn owl back there in the hole!" said Rama. (A2 Televizion)
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