“Prosecutors will now have to run” / Well-known jurists: the new code strikes at abuses with investigations and pre-trial detention

In the studio of the “Repolitix” show with journalist Denis Minga on Report Tv, the draft amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code were discussed, with essential changes relating to pre-trial detention and the rights of persons under investigation in the face of state error or abuse by the state.

Former prosecutor Ervin Karanxha described these changes as a positive development, since, according to him, the security measure of “arrest in prison” has been overused in Albania.

Karanxha stressed that Albania has become a subject of discussion in the Council of Europe and many other international bodies, including the Strasbourg Court, over the issue of excessive use of pre-trial detention.

According to former prosecutor Karanxha, with the amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code, the role of the lawyer is strengthened in relation to that of prosecutors. “We see a positive development, because as we have often discussed, in principle the security measure ‘arrest in prison’ has been overused in Albania. Albania has become a subject of discussion in the Council of Europe and many other bodies, including the Strasbourg Court. Now a change is being made and we consider it positive in principle. There are also things that need to be looked at. One positive thing is that lawyers too can conduct investigations. With the current code you cannot take actions. You file a request with the prosecuting body and in 99% of cases the request is refused. With the latest amendments, for example in the Agasi case, they can present other witnesses. So the lawyer presents evidence,” former prosecutor Karanxha said, among other things.

On the other hand, lawyer Përparim Caca, in his remarks, also described the amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code as positive, although he stressed that an entirely new code would have been better than amendments to part of it.

Caca added that the amendments to the Code strike a blow at the abusive culture of how criminal proceedings are conducted. He also listed some of the key changes, which favor the rights of the defendant in relation to the investigative bodies.

“With the amendments to the procedure code, the Prosecution, investigators, judicial police officers will have to run a bit. In all aspects, even in the procedural aspect. Because those amendments — I would have been for a new criminal procedure code, not these patches. As for this fact, I think these amendments strike a blow at an abusive culture of how criminal proceedings were conducted. We have seen many cases where defendants declare in the courtroom that they gave testimony under real conditions of pressure. Not anymore. It will be audio-visual. It is a very important procedural moment. This is a positive innovation. Why do I say it ends an abusive practice? Because the person being questioned is always left in a room in all the country’s police stations. In that room the body — the Police in the concrete case — has the right to carry out ambient interception. If they talk to each other, in complete ignorance, and something compromising emerged from these conversations, the prosecutor was notified and it was made out as if permission for interception had been obtained earlier. Now you must get permission from the Court for interception,” Caca said, among other things.