Scheme revealed that "eliminates competition" during parallel transfers of prosecutors

The review by the High Prosecutorial Council, KLP, on Friday, May 23, of the draft acts for the ranking of prosecutors in competition for several vacant positions in the prosecution offices of Tirana and Durrës, sparked discussions among the members of this council, where allegations were raised about the lack of competitive competition among magistrates, caused by the procedure followed so far, which gives candidates the opportunity to express preferences for the vacancies.

The Chairman of the Career Development Commission at the KLP, member magistrate Sokol Stojani, presented the data on the prosecutors who have run for each of the positions in these two prosecutors' offices. He noted that certain prosecutors have declared preferences for one of the positions. According to Stojani, in most cases some of the prosecutors have withdrawn their candidacy, leaving only one of them in the race. Those who remained in the race were declared winners and transferred to the vacant positions through parallel movement in the prosecutors' offices of Tirana and Durrës.

And in those cases, when despite the withdrawal of some candidates from the race, two or three prosecutors remained in the race, it turned out that in the end only one was a real contender for the vacancy, as the others had already been appointed, given that they had applied for more than one position.

Non-magistrate member of the KLP, Erion Fejzulla, considered the conduct of this procedure by the council for transfers through parallel moves to be a misinterpretation of the legislation and regulations, noting that there can be no preferential positions within a prosecutor's office. According to him, there can be preferences on the part of prosecutors for positions in different prosecutor's offices, to choose one between two or more prosecutor's offices, but not to have a preference for positions in the same office.

He underlined that this procedure that is being followed has eliminated competition and that it has forced prosecutors to decide among themselves who will fill one of the vacancies and that under these conditions, the KLP remains simply a notary. "We should not lead prosecutors to express preferences for a chair on the first floor or on the second floor of the same prosecutor's office," said Fejzulla.

Member prosecutor, Zeqir Hodo, considered the statement made by Fejzulla to be correct, noting that with this procedure the competition is lost because it is affected by the technical aspect. According to Hodo, parallel transfers to vacant positions should be carried out on the basis of merit and not through technicalities. He emphasized that they should discuss what they can do to make the competitions based on the principle of meritocracy.

And the prosecutor member, Vatë Staka, stated that with this procedure, the commission is overloaded with unnecessary work. "100 procedures must be carried out for 10 vacant positions," he stated, underlining that only one procedure could be carried out if there were no preferential treatment for vacant positions within a prosecutor's office.

It was also found that this procedure caused delays in carrying out parallel transfers.

Non-magistrate member Erind Mërkuri affirmed that this is how the law is written and that there is also practice of the Administrative College of the Supreme Court on this issue that imposes this procedure. He stated that the council could propose a legal amendment regarding this circumstance, where there would be a different definition for judges than for prosecutors.

The chairman of the commission, Sokol Stojani, said that it seems that when the law was made, the court was thought of and in this case it makes sense, since the court has criminal and civil chambers and candidate judges for vacant positions can express preferences for positions in which they have experience. "The law has mistakenly put us in the same boat," said Stojani and considered the suggestion of Wednesday to propose legal changes to be correct.

But, according to him, if the council itself were to make the procedural changes, it would cause great confusion at this moment.

However, Fejzulla insisted, calling the law clear and saying that if they read it correctly, they had no reason to be influenced by the Supreme Court's practice. "We can say about preference for offices, in Tirana, Durrës or somewhere else and not within an office," he reiterated and underlined that his call was for the council's reflection and not to open a debate.

Hodo also raised concerns about the temporary appointments of prosecutors' heads. According to him, the Berat Prosecutor's Office has been temporarily appointing heads for 5 years and proposed delegation as the best and legal solution to this situation.

Stojani said that if they were to appoint someone without his consent, it would be worse, as he would show poor performance as a leader. According to Stojani, it is different when you appoint a prosecutor to investigate a case, as the law determines it. "Transferring a leader without consent is a means to destroy an office," said Stojani and concluded that magistrates are pragmatists.

But member Erion Fejzulla responded that he did not think that "prosecutors' offices are tourist attractions." According to him, the temporary appointment should not exceed the permanent one. Fejzullah underlined that a leader who has been on temporary appointments for 5 years had managed to consume nearly two terms of permanent leadership. Reporter.al