The positive side of Edi Rama’s defendant anxiety

The drastic changes to the Criminal Procedure Code presented by Edi Rama are an attempt to turn into law the entire campaign against prosecutors and judges that he has undertaken, right after the arrest of Erion Veliaj, but especially after the suspension of Belinda Balluku.

At its center is the maximum limitation of detentions without final decisions, as well as the end of prison arrest measures for those suspected of offenses punishable by less than 5 years. But alongside them, a full 105 amended articles aim to protect the rights of those suspected as defendants, from guarantees on how they are questioned, how the criminal case against them begins, how they should be protected from the release of wiretaps unrelated to the case, or how their seized mobile phone is used.

These and many other changes testify to a now-declared will of this majority to remove from the judiciary – but especially from SPAK and the GJKKO – the repressive sword that was placed in their hands a decade ago, when the reform of reforms was voted. Its essence is greater protection and expanded rights for those investigated for serious crimes or suspected as defendants.

There is no doubt that such a legal initiative comes after the scythe of justice, whose strings are often pulled by internationals, has mowed down many of Edi Rama’s closest collaborators.

For the same repressiveness, for the same phenomena such as the culture of frightening the citizen, the prime minister never bothered to worry before. He who at the start of his first term shouted from screen to screen “Prison, prison, prison”, demanding it from the destitute who stole electricity to the fans who entered the football field. He who did not worry when this repressiveness was directed at Meta, Berisha or Beleri, but on the contrary demanded their isolation, is at the very least a hypocrite in the lament he has now raised.

Anyone can easily understand that the initiative for this package was taken by a man who fears the noose is tightening around him. Edi Rama is worried about all his own “Belas”, and also personally, so he is trying to win for today’s accused and those who will come tomorrow more weapons in the battle with justice. So, in short and plainly, this is a package whose source is defendant anxiety.

But, as paradoxical as it may seem, it must be admitted that positive effects also stem from this fear and this anxiety. With the culture inherited from the dictatorship and with the unaccountable power granted by the 2016 Reform, our justice system has often exceeded its rights. However much public animosity there may be toward Erion Veliaj or Ilir Meta, keeping them in prison without a final court decision, for such a long time, is not normal. The average number of days of imprisonment without trial with which SPAK and the GJKKO punish, five times higher than that of European countries, constitutes an intolerable standard. By inflating the false fable of a justice system that would strike impunity, an arbitrary power was created in Albania that cares least of all about the rights and dignity of the person. And here it is not only about the cases of Beqaj or Beleri, Koka or Salianji, Veliaj or Meta, Balluku or Berisha, but about the fact that a machinery which learns to abuse does not know how to stop on this path.

Twice the days in pre-trial detention compared to EU countries, being thrown into a cell without respect for rights, the arbitrariness of questioning, the submission of the judge to the prosecutor – these are not suffered only by senior officials or their predecessors; they have now become a norm to which the majority is subjected. Therefore, although the latest changes have the exclusive aim of easing things for the latter, although they stem from the troubles of Gysi, Vlora, Bela or Lali and from the fear Rama feels that his turn may come after them, they have a broader effect. This is one of those typical cases where, although the leader thinks only of his own backside, the effect he causes also does good to a majority of people who may be affected by an increasingly repressive justice system. Therefore, being aware that this package stems from Rama’s trouble, it should be supported because of the shield effect it creates, before repressive justice, for a wide circle of citizens.