Press Release

The General Prosecutor, Mr. Adriatik Llalla, rely on the opinion that the Supreme Court should increase its activity in issuing unifying decisions, to standardize the practice of the lower courts, "whose decisions, in many cases, are characterized by subjectivity and even by abusiveness".

Mr. Llalla made these comments during the presentation of the publication of "Standards of trial through unifying decisions", organized by the Supreme Court on Monday (dt. 02.02.2015).
Also, noting that currently is widely discussed the Law Reform, Mr. Llalla said that "we hope and believe that the legislator will consider the request that the General Prosecutor to have the right to set in motion the United Colleges of the High Court to issue unifying decisions on various criminal matters". Giving this right legally to the General Prosecutor, "the institution of prosecution will be more active in standardization of jurisprudence which helps to guarantee and respect the fundamental human rights, as well as to strengthen the rule of law in Albania," said Mr. Llalla.

In the following is the speech of the General Prosecution, Mr. Llalla in this activity:

Dear Chairman of the Supreme Court,
Dear colleagues,

The initiative of such publication in an attempt to establish unified standards in civil, criminal and administrative trial of Albania, serves to strengthen the rule of right and guarantee the human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Unifying decisions have a fundamental value in the process of trial, as they avoid the double standards, which creates space for subjectivity and, why not, even for discretion in taking different judicial decisions. At first, subjectivity violates the rights of persons and then is followed by weakening the strength of the rule of law.
Courts, in many cases, take different decisions on similar issues. This behaviour affects directly the legitimate interests of persons, but on the other hand affects citizen trust in institutions. For this reason, the Supreme Court has an essential role in the standardization of judicial practice through unified decisions.

Based on the position of the Prosecution, standardizing the practices in the criminal court is worth for the activity of the institution. But, in our estimation, the unified decisions in civil or administrative part are very important.

There are times when social problems, especially those of civil nature, have served as premises for the offenses, where obviously conflicts as property was a basic element for committing offenses. Prosecution, in many investigations over the years, has concluded that in property cases, conflicts have originated from the fact that the property right is not resolved to the Court.
Also, the decisions of the various courts in the administrative field can bring criminal consequences.
For these reasons, based on the evaluation of the Prosecution Office, the Supreme Court should increasingly continue to operate on its legal right to extract unifying decisions, in order to prevent the consequences of the unclear or unfair decisions of the lower courts.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank the President of the High Court, Mr. Zaganjori, who was always attentive to the concerns presented by the Albanian Prosecution office and also to the initiatives undertaken in fulfilment of his duty.
Given that in this period is being discussed on Justice Reform, we greatly determine the need to assess the legal provision, through which it should be given to the  General Prosecutor the  initiative to set in motion the United Colleges in taking unified decisions on various issues.

The Prosecution Office is a body, which function is to exercise the criminal prosecution and represent the prosecution in court on behalf of the state, but taking into account, on exercising of these functions, to respect and guarantee fundamental human rights, as and protect the interests of injured parties or victims of crime.
In the current legal structure, the initiative for issuing unified decision belongs to the President of the High Court or the directors of the respective Colleges in the High Court.

So, the problem presented before the court by the Prosecution Office, at first should be assessed by the Supreme Court whether to be considered or not. Based on the practice of the last few years the Prosecution Office’s concerns are assessed and taken into account by the Supreme Court. Despite the goodwill, the valuation of the Prosecution Office’s concerns goes through a procedure, which lasts in time and directly affects the legitimate interests of citizens who expect the same standard of judgment and, after all, justice.

Thank you for your attention!