The Special Prosecutor's Office of Albania (SPAK) has requested that former Prime Minister Sali Berisha be guarded by police at the door while under house arrest and barred from communicating with other people who are not part of the family, the Albanian Post reported. ".
On this issue, the Special Court for Combating Corruption and Organized Crime (GJKKO) announced that it will issue a decision on the measure against him on December 28.
The former prime minister's side pointed out that this measure is unfounded and that it is being done for the purpose of revenge.
"House arrest is the duty of the one on whom it is imposed. What you are saying refers to persons whose terms of detention have expired, who are dangerous. This cannot be compared to Mr. Berisha. There was no argument for this," his defense attorney Gench Gyokutai said.
The situation, emphasized the lawyer Kreshnik Spahiu, arose as a result of the procedural violations of the former prime minister.
"Any citizen of the Republic of Albania, if he refuses to comply with the court's decision regarding the security measure "obligation to appear", will be imprisoned with a stricter measure of personal security. Since the Criminal Procedure Code was drafted, this has been the special rule. When the prosecution finds that the accused refuses the security measures, it demands stricter measures," said Spahiu.
Thus, according to the analyst, in the case of Berisha, SPAK simply fulfilled its obligation.
"It was unprecedented that a person accused of corruption was investigated for free. In 100% of criminal practice, there is no case in which a person accused of corruption was investigated for free. Berisha was privileged by SPAK and was treated unequally by favoring him with "obligation to appear"".
Meanwhile, political scientist Shpendi Gashi raises the question of "doubts caused by the requested measure".
"Essentially, is it about applying a simple legal procedure or blocking the leader of the opposition? This action blocks the massification of the opposition squads and leaves the opposition without a leader in the next election. So its morale is going down," Gashi said.
Spahiu interpreted the situation differently. According to him, Berisha's "tricks" to avoid the obligation to appear forced the Special Prosecutor's Office to change its legal position.
"If citizen Berisha reports to the judicial police on the days set by the court, he will not have to be arrested," the lawyer claims.
BGNES reminds that Berisha is accused of passive corruption in the matter of the privatization of the former sports club "Partizani", because of which SPAK requested house arrest.
The latter came as a measure after the lawmaker failed to comply with a court order issued on October 20 that imposed an obligation to appear and a ban on leaving the country.
The session will be presided over by Judge Gyoka, whom Berisha has not missed an opportunity to attack.
All this is happening after the Assembly of Albania approved with 75 votes "for" SPAK's request to change Berisha's security measures./BGNES
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