Meta accuses Manja: Albania surpasses even African countries in abuse of pre-trial detention

PL President Ilir Meta has reacted from prison after statements by Justice Minister Ulsi Manja on a television show regarding the situation in the country's penitentiary system.

Meta accuses Manja of the "184" file, adding that the minister should be in prison today for electoral crimes. According to Meta, the situation in prisons today is dramatic, adding that the abuse of pre-trial detention surpasses even the most dictatorial African countries.

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The famous Minister of Justice, the one of "Dossier 184", the electoral crimes of Dibra, who should have been in prison today, serving his sentence for the electoral crime that shocked the European media, the Bundestag and the European Parliament and that blocked integration for years.

But he was on the show yesterday, publicly deceiving about the dramatic situation in Albanian prisons, where detention abuse surpasses even the most dictatorial African countries.

Nearly 2/3 of the citizens who are in prison today are detained and over 1/3 of them without any charges.

If the average in European Union countries is 22–25% of the total prison population, in Albania, this average is almost 3 times higher, leading to significant overcrowding and scandalous conditions.

The extremely high number of detainees is one of the most revealing indicators of Edi Rama's arbitrary police regime, which has nothing to do with the rule of law and European standards of justice.

This high number of pre-trial detainees in Albania proves the open abuse of pre-trial detention, which is used as a criminal tool before there is a court decision, which makes the principle of innocence until proven guilty non-existent.

This leads to endless delays in court proceedings, and here, unfortunately, there are people who have been questioned only once, during two years of detention and without any charges.

Therefore, not only Amnesty International, but also the Council of Europe and the Committee for the Prevention of Torture, have continuously criticized Albania for the dire situation in prisons, for the lack of transparency in handling prisoners' complaints, for the lack of medical and therapeutic staff, which has led to inhumane treatment conditions for hundreds of detainees with health problems.

Only by voting for the "Alliance for a Greater Albania", will Albania meet European human rights standards and guarantee a fair and humane criminal justice system.

How can a Prime Minister, who 12 years ago promised free healthcare, be concerned about human rights in prisons, while now even "Amnesty International", as was forced to do in recent days, has highlighted the inhumane treatment of free citizens, as everyone knows, and the sick, not just in the Oncology Department.

The scandalous statistics of thousands of detainees, over a thousand of whom have no charges, do not hide the fact that fictitious arrest warrants have been deliberately issued, while they should have been detained long ago for electoral criminals proven by international wiretapping, who today act on behalf of Edi Rama, in Elbasan, Durrës, Lezha, Shkodra and other areas.

 

But on May 11, they will all receive the answer they deserve, we will revise the Criminal Code, in accordance with European standards, and hundreds of detainees will be investigated in freedom.

There will be no more delays in investigative and judicial processes.

Meanwhile, electoral criminals will be sent to prison, with priority, from those in the dormant Dibra file to those involved in the May 11 elections.