Press Release

To H.E Bujar NISHANI 

       President of the Republic

       Mr Ilir META
       Chairman of the Assambly
     
Honorable Gentelmans,

Feeling obliged as the  General Prosecutor of the Republic of Albania, decreed by the President and approved in the Parliament with the absolute majority of the votes of the parliament, I have the obigation to inform You on the below facts; the General Prosecution of Albania in the latest days found itself under a great and unprecedented preasure from the United States of America Embassy in Tirana.

Throught some non diplomatic movements some of the hight level prosecutors of the Albanian Prosecution Office, including the General Prosecutor Himself, have been visa revoked or canceled by the Counselar Servise of the US Embassy.  The visa was obtained legaly and according all the regulations and procedures needed.

We consider such behavior, for which we emphasise is a nondiplomatc and offensive behavior, there are reasons directly related with personal manners and benefits of the USA ambassador in Tirana, Mr Donald Lu.

A few weeks ago the US embassy notified the GP Mr Llalla that his non emigrant diplomatic Visa and his wife’s also has been CANCELED.  Such action, against all the cooperative of communication and cooperation manners,   was taken after a visit for health reasons of the GP’s wife in USA territory.
We consider such actions of Ambasador Lu a direct consequence of all his threatening behaviors agains our office during all these years.
Its been a while now that the Ambassador represent himself as a promotor of the Judicial Reform in Albania, and in this regards has preassured the GP and our Office to react openly on the favor of the legislative changes, even in cases that lately has shown to be unconstitutional and against humman rights, considered such from Venice Commission opinions.

In official and non official communications Ambassador Lu, has made himself very clear to the General Prosecutor, that unless GP didn’t defent publicly the proposed legal ammendaments he would find himself in personal and institutional trouble.

More than once the Ambassador has directly preasured the General Prosecutor to stop the investigations against the foreign companies, for which there were reasonable doubts that they commited criminal offences.
The most flagrant case, even documented in written, is the direct interference of the US ambassador in Tirana, in the investigation of a gas petrolium company “Bankers Petroleum”.  This company was directly acused and linked with criminal offences od brytaly damaging the health and patrimony of the citizens in the area.  After that the company was also investigating for money Laoundering and tax evasion.
Ambassador Lu, against every diplomatic and professional behavior, insisted for the investigation to stop immediately, othervise there will be direct consequences fot the General Prosecutor and the GP Office.

Honorable Gentelmen,
The US embassy also canceled the US Visa, to the Prosecutor Rovena Gashi.  She is the Director of Foreign Jurisdictional Directory and at the same time Director of the Decriminalisation Sector in the General Prosecutor’s office.

Mrs Gashi, is a Magistrate Prosecutor, has hyad entirely professional opinions for some very problematic aspects of the Judicial Reform, and these opinions were openly expressed in the presence of Ambassador Lu and other albanian and foreign experts.
The General Prosecutor Office considers this openly non diplomatic and non professional actions taken against Prosecutor Rovena Gashi, directly related to the expression of her opinions which were not in unison with those of othet national and international experts.

Mrs Gashi is one of most important hight officials, Prosecutors, of the Albanian Prosecutor’s office, dealing with the international cooperation, expecially with transnational organised crime and global terrorism.
She also chairs the Decriminalisation office, a hight and very important structure in the General Prosecutors Office.  The concrete and excelent results that this structure is having against the criminalised parliament deputies and the hight criminalised administration officials, concerned in criminal offences inside and outside albania, which are already expelled from their public functions has troubled a lot of people.

Ms Gashi and the structure she directs, is going on with the work and the results will concretly have consequences for other Parliamentary deputies, who have been thretened publicly and privately by the US ambassador to use their votes in Parliament of the projects laws on the Judicial Reform.  Sms directly send to this deputies by the ambassador and the Embassy have been published also in the written media.
Let me also inform You that Ms Gashi was the candidate and now is elected to be a member of the newly created institution, The Council of Nominations.  She being a School of Magistrate Prosecutor, is the only one fullfilling the law criteria to represent the GPO in the Council of Nominations.  One day before she was urgently summened from the Embassy council to have a meeting with him.

Since she was attending a Meeting of  IPA 2014 “International Cooperation in Criminal Justice: Prosecutors’ Network of the Western Balkans”, in Germany she returned immediately, judging that something important must need her assistence as the Director of International department, including also a terrorism  case.
Getting at the Consular office, The Prosecutor Gashi was not attended by the consul as she expected, but from someone of the staff and without any explenation, was commicated that her USA non immigrant Visa was revoked.
This fact that Ms Gashi was urgently asked to show up at the embassy only one day before her election asa member of the Council of Nominations, is considered a very non diplomatic and a threatening behavior against her personally and professionally and also against the General Prosecutors office, for the particular interests of political interested in “grabbing”the judicial institutions.

Following, I want to Inform You, that the US embassy has also revoked the US non-immigrant visa also to other officials of the Prosecutors Office, Prosecutors who ae investigating power persons in Albania, who are publicly known as close cooperators of Ambassador Lu in Albania.

Such individuals with the support of Ambassador, are part of political groups, but are highly suspected to be part of organised crime sections and ate trying in every possible way and manner to delegitimize, blackmail and paralise the work and indipendence of General Prosecutors office.

This behavior against our institutions, agravating with Ambassador’s Lu non diplomatic interference, is direct consequence of the open attacs aganst all the Prosecutorial body in Albania, these lat two years, time on which the Judicial reform was discussed.

We consider the latest staments of Ambassador Lu, regarding the US visa revocation, as an open confrantation and revenge for the professional behavior of the prosecutors on the judicial reform drafts, presented by ambassador Lu.

Is important to stress here that many of the problems that we presented as such were considered humman rights breach by Venice commission opinions.

So we do not hesitate to underline here that the inappropriate behavior of the ambassador Lu, was a personal revenge of the Ambassador Lu for the public statements of the General Prosecutor.
Also we do not hesitate to stress that this extremely non diplomatic behavior of the ambasador Lu is direct consequence of his threatening behaviors toward the General Prosecutor and rejected from The GP, related to specific concrete cases, to which he is personally conected.

Honorable gentelmen,

The General Prosecutor’s office and the General prosecutor of The Republic, assure You that our institution will continue the the constitutional work in fullfilling its obligations coming from the Albanian Constitution and albanian laws.

We assure You that The General Prosecution’s Office will not be blackmailed nor from inside or ouside actors and factors, in fullfilling its constitutional obligations.

Our institution is aware that approching the General parliamentary elections in Albania, on June 017, different political fragmentations, with the political support of foreign lobers, will tent to preassure the GP Office and the Prosecutors of the Republic.  We ca guarantee You that we will take all the precautions and legal measures to assure the free voting process.

The General Prosecutors office will continue to work on the Decriminalisation law” with the main objective to assure to keep clear the Hightest figure of people’s representatives of the peoples in the Assambly and of the Public administration.

Also, the General Prosecutor’s office will continue to support the implemetation of the Judicial Reform, away from the preassure and the threatening aiming to deform the functioning of the Indipendent Judicial Institutions.

Thank You for Your understaing,

     
      GENERAL PROSECUTOR

     ADRIATIK LLALLA