Press Release

Prosecutor General of Albania, Adriatik Llalla, is on a working visit in Germany. He talks for DW about Albania - Germany cooperation in the field of justice and challenges of the Prosecution Office in Albania.

Deutsche Welle: Mr. Llalla, the agenda of a General Prosecutor is usually busy, but given the present reality in Albania your agenda seems to be especially charged. How do you manage this challenge?
Adriatik Llalla: The agenda of the Prosecutor General is the one of a manager of the most important institutions in a state. So, as a manager, the Prosecutor General has as the main task the human resources management within the framework of the investigation and coordination with other institutions, nationally and internationally, in the fight against crime.

In fact, it must be admitted that the activity against crime from year to year is being added thanks to the commitment of all law enforcement structures in Albania, but also to the support and cooperation with international authorities. Albania has a new democracy, which continues to face the ongoing challenges towards strengthening democracy. Corruption is a challenge that requires a lot of energy to cope with, after lying in almost all sectors and public levels. This conclusion is the result of the results of the investigation that the Prosecution Office has developed and is developing. The culture of fairness in public services in Albania still has much work to do to be closer to European Union standards. Also, criminal groups, mainly those that operate in the narcotic trafficking field, have had for years a considerable space to create and strengthen their criminal activity.

Today, the challenge of the Albanian state, including the Prosecutor's Office is facing and dismantling of criminal and corrupt structures created for years. It is not easy, but not impossible. Albania is willing to strengthen the rule of law. The Prosecution Office has the support of the parliamentary political factor to strengthen its role and, in a country where society is politicized, this is a positive value in the work of independent institutions. Also, we have earned the trust of international partners after we are witnessing that we are serious partners in the fight against organized crime. But again it should be noted that we still have much work to do.

One of the main conditions that the EU has in the process of integration of Albania in this union is the effective fight against corruption and organized crime. A key role in this respect plays precisely the institution that you lead. Why has stagnated Albania in this direction, so where is the work halting?

More than stagnation, as you set, in our assessment, there is progress in the fight against corruption and organized crime. There have been attacked criminal groups, which have widespread in Albania and other countries of the European Union. There have been brought to criminal responsibility the officials, who until a short time ago were considered unpunishable. Obviously, it is a good start, but again it is a start. So we accept that the expectation of the public in Albania is very high in the investigative activity, especially in the fight against corruption. If citizens, have to pay a bribe in a good part of the public service, this of course means a lack of trust in state institutions. This is the major challenge of law enforcement agencies: to strengthen public confidence. During 2014 and subsequently, a high number of senior officials of different levels in, tax administration, local government, property agencies, medicine, education, etc., are taken under criminal responsibility or are convicted of corrupt acts or abuse of power. Also, there are judges and prosecutors who are accused.

One of the most sensational cases recently, the so-called case of "Xibrakë" was discovered with data, exactly from Germany. How do you explain that such a lab could act so long undisturbed in Albania and the signal to the Albanian institutions comes precisely from a place so far away as Germany?
This matter continues to be under investigation in Albania. Several persons were arrested and being investigated on this activity and their role, but also on their potential collaborators. Maybe it is worth a few moments to explain how this investigation started. In mid-December 2014, the German judicial authorities sought legal assistance from the Albanian authorities to allow a procedural action, on behalf of their investigation on narcotics trafficking. Upon receiving this request, along the assistance provided to the German authorities, Prosecution Office for Serious Crimes in Albania launched an investigation on its behalf, as information arrived from Germany could also be valid for the territory of the Republic of Albania. So this is one of those typical cases of proactive investigation where investigative institutions take their own initiative on investigation based only on indirect information.

The investigation of this group of people has continued about 3 weeks, in close collaboration with the State Police and had a successful result: it was discovered a cocaine laboratory, one of the largest discovered in Albania. The investigation is ongoing and I believe that when it is completed we will probably have a clearer situation from how long this laboratory had operated, therefore, if it has functioned for a few days or for a longer time. At this stage of the investigation, it cannot be given a correct answer if the laboratory has been functioning for a long time.

Currently you are on a working visit to Germany: on which consists the bilateral cooperation in the field of justice?
Prosecution Office has a very positive support and cooperation with the German authorities. This also proves our visit to Germany, at the invitation of the Federal Prosecutor General, Mr. Harald Range, and we discussed the hot topics of regional and global interest. The main topic of discussion was of course the issue of international terrorism and fighting of the so-called "foreign fighters", recruited in armed conflicts in the Middle East. We shared common views on the need to intensify the cooperation between the two countries in investigation and especially in strengthening the real-time communication between the Albanian Prosecution Office and investigative authorities of the German Länder to concrete issues.

In a general plan, these meetings provided to the Albanian Prosecution Office that the German investigative authorities, as well as the German government constitute as one of our main allies in strengthening the rule of law and on our way towards the European Union.

What kind of support have you specifically asked to Germany?
Technical and legal assistance to strengthen investigative activity and the independence of the institution. German Prosecution Office is one of the leading structures in Europe regarding to investigation and we believe that its support will continue to be very important in increasing institutional capacity in the fight against corruption and organized crime. I pleasantly can say that we found full understanding by the German counterparts to these requirements.

Let us return once again to the conditions that Albania must fulfill to join the EU - a strong emphasis is also on the independence of the judiciary from politics. Are the justice institutions in Albania independent from politics?
Currently, Albania is working on Justice Reform. The main institutions under the leadership of Parliament, are committed to amend or modify a wide corpus of laws and regulations, namely to strengthen the independence of judicial institutions. Prosecution Office is an active part of the working groups established for the reform and it is concluded a comprehensive understanding of all stakeholders to realize more fully the independence of judicial structures.

If we take a case in point: in the recent weeks the whole opinion was dismayed by the so-called affair of Doshi in Albania. This event coincided in time with the dismissal of the head of the Prosecution Office for Serious Crimes. In media this was commented as a measure taken under the influence of politics. What were the reasons for the measure that you took?
The case of “Doshi” and the movement of the leader of the Prosecution Office for Serious Crime are two different issues, which brings together only the time when they occurred. In the case of the denunciation of the MP Tom Doshi, according to him were paid some people to eliminate him physically, and that investigation has already taken a different direction. Doshi deputy, and another deputy, Mark Frroku, are already taken as defendants because as a result of investigation the script for the murder of the deputy Doshi was set up by these two lawmakers for purposes that are expected to arise during the trial.

At the time the investigation began for the case of "Doshi" was conducted also the movement of the leader of the Prosecution Office for Serious Crimes, a move that was expected to be accomplished little while ago, more specifically, in January 2015. But, precisely because it was in an ongoing process the operation "Xibrakë", that we discussed above, which was finalized in January 2015, was postponed the movement of the head of this structure, as he led the investigation that was very important.
Since the beginning of my mandate as Prosecutor General, I have expressed that the leaders of Prosecution Offices cannot stay for a long time in the same job, as leaders’ work requires high pace. In this context, within the space allowed by law, directors level movements aim the increase of the pace of work.

Currently, in Albania is being discussed a lot the theme of decriminalization of parliament. Given that this is definitely a challenge for the institution you lead, when can you have concrete results in this regard? So when will Albania no longer need to have a debate about decriminalization – will it be achieved within your mandate as general prosecutor?
In my personal assessment, involvement of the theme of decriminalization in political and public market is a very important and necessary initiative. Albanian citizens need to choose and be guided by people with high ethical and moral. The debate and challenge for the decriminalization has just begun and it needs time to achieve tangible results. We cannot assume how long this process is, but it is very important that the discussion on this topic has involved the highest levels of state. Currently, the Prosecution Office has under investigation an MP, which is under "arrest" as is alleged by the Belgian authorities for a murder occurred in 1999. Also, another MP with criminal records is on trial for hitting another deputy due to his duty. So the discussion on the decriminalization has started to yield results at high levels, but also at lower levels, which are not always at public attention.