VOA Analysis: Sky ECC, SPAK's 'weapon' against organized crime, is challenged in the Constitutional Court!

 

Sky ECC communications have given Albania’s Special Prosecution Office an advantage in cracking down on organized crime and its links to politics and business, but their use as evidence is being challenged in the Constitutional Court. This material was prepared by journalist Klodiana Lala and is a collaboration between BIRN and Voice of America.

In Albania, the fight against organized crime has been transformed by a technology previously used by criminal groups to communicate in secret. Sky ECC, an encrypted app that advertised absolute privacy, has become the main weapon of the Special Prosecution Office in recent years, revealing thousands of conversations linking criminals, politicians and businessmen in Albania.

Thanks to the dismantling of the Sky ECC system, SPAK has hit at least nine powerful criminal organizations, made dozens of arrests and shed light on serious events of recent years. These communications are also considered by prosecutors as an advantage to better understand the extent of Albanian organized crime and its penetration into public administration and law enforcement agencies.

"Sky has helped us understand the scope of Albanian organized crime, which includes Albania, Europe, but also Latin, Central and South America. It has helped us understand the level of organization, the financial power that criminal groups have," says SPAK prosecutor Klodian Braho.

"It has also helped us understand their penetration into public administration, the police, the prosecution, as well as judicial bodies," he added.

Sky ECC is an application developed by the Canadian company Sky Global. This application offered advanced encryption and was widely used by criminal organizations for illegal activities, such as drug and arms trafficking.

However, in March 2021, French, Belgian and Dutch authorities managed to decrypt the communications. Prosecutor Braho says that among the Sky ECC users were thousands of Albanians, both in Albanian territory and abroad.

“The Albanian language is one of the most used languages ​​on the Sky ECC platform,” said Braho.

But not everyone agrees with the treatment of Sky ECC data as evidence in court. One of the users is suspected of being businessman Pëllumb Gjoka, a strategic investor in the government, who is accused of premeditated murder as part of a structured criminal group that was hit during Operation Metamorphosis in July 2023.

Gjoka has appealed the decision to keep him in prison to the Constitutional Court, challenging his arrest based on evidence obtained by Sky ECC as illegal. Former Justice Minister Ylli Manjani, who is also Gjoka's lawyer, argues that the use of this data as evidence in court constitutes a violation of human rights and privacy rules.

"We are faced with the fact that we have massive interceptions. With a wiretapping device, between two communication servers of Sky devices, all the information has been taken. Whatever you find there, you can use it for national security data, but not as judicial evidence," said Manjani.

"We are not in a debate with Sky ECC. We are in a judicial debate with the Albanian prosecution and the Albanian courts. The data obtained by Sky ECC must be subject to legality control in the country where it is used. If even a court decision is issued in France authorizing the wiretapping of Pëllumb Gjoka, then we can accept the evidence," he stressed.

Gjoka's appeal to the Constitutional Court is not the first judicial challenge against the use of data from the encrypted application as evidence. Similar lawsuits have also been filed in the European Courts. Former Minister of Justice, Eduard Halimi, explains that all decisions have been unanimous and, according to him, converge on three main components.

"First, the right to protection of the privacy of individuals is very important, even if they have engaged in criminal activity. Secondly, the authority and the state responsible for collecting the data and respecting the standards is where they were collected. So, France is responsible, it collected them and then transmitted them. The Strasbourg Court says that these data were collected in accordance with French and European standards," said Halimi.

"Thirdly, each state must analyze and use this data in accordance with its legislation. Also, this data must be subject to judicial review to be considered legal," he stressed.

Although the use of Sky ECC decrypted messages has given prosecutors a significant advantage in the fight against organized crime, documenting the criminal events linked to these messages remains a complex investigative process. For prosecutor Klodian Braho, this process requires time, care and professionalism.

"In Sky you can find communications that have evidentiary value, but you can also find opinions, conjectures and rumors. The challenge of the investigation group, the prosecutor and the investigators is to make the most accurate assessment of these communications. This is done by combining the Sky ECC communications with other evidence, documents and testimonies from witnesses," Braho emphasized.

On December 19, the Constitutional Court’s judicial panel will rule on this issue, determining whether the use of Sky ECC data as evidence complies with the Constitution and international standards. This decision will have a significant impact on the future of the fight against organized crime in Albania./ VOA