The Constitutional Court before the test, will it affect the law on the integrity of SPAK and GJKKO. The case of Gerd Hoxha

2025-03-25 11:40:00, Opinione Desada Metaj

The Constitutional Court before the test, will it affect the law on the

On March 27, the Constitutional Court will examine in a plenary session, based on documents, one of the articles of Law No. 95 of 2016 “On the organization and functioning of institutions to combat corruption and organized crime”. In other words, the law on which the Special Prosecution Office (SPAK) and the Special Anti-Corruption Courts operate.

And for this, the court has a precedent. It concerns the case of Judge Gerd Hoxha, a judge at the Court of Tirana, who ran to become part of the Special Court after successfully passing the vetting process. Hoxha was not appointed to this position, after the Special Commission, which consists of two SPAK prosecutors, a Special Judge and two BKH investigators, disqualified him. The reason, as Gerd Hoxha, currently deputy president of the Court of Tirana, claims, was a photo of him with the mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj. The photo, according to Hoxha, was a coincidence, as he was invited to an activity of the British Embassy in Tirana, where the image that the commission used as an argument against him was also taken. But was the photo the only argument that led the members of the commission to vote against him? Most likely, the photo with Erion Veliaj is just one clue that led to the decision against Judge Hoxha, who, in his current function, but also in his intended one, is clear that the integrity of the figure is an important and sometimes decisive element for being part of the GJKKO.

After the decision not to admit him to the Special Court, Judge Hoxha set in motion the Administrative Court of Tirana, and the latter invested the Constitutional Court to interpret Article 6, point 5 of Law No. 95 of 2016.

This article expressly provides:

"The Special Courts against Corruption and Organized Crime, the Special Prosecution Office and the National Bureau of Investigation shall establish the Special Commission for the Verification of the Assets and Character of Candidates to verify the security conditions prior to assignment or appointment, consisting of:

a) two prosecutors of the Special Prosecution Office, selected by lot. The selection process by lot is monitored by the Ombudsman;
b) a judge of the special courts against corruption and organized crime, selected by lot. The selection process by lot is monitored by the Ombudsman;
c) an employee of the financial investigation section of the Special Prosecution Office, appointed by the Director of the Special Prosecution Office;
d) an investigator of the National Bureau of Investigation, appointed by the Director of the National Bureau of Investigation”.

The law authorizes the Commission to conduct the necessary verifications of the assets and character of candidates for SPAK and GJKKO. This commission submits a detailed report to the nominating institution within 120 days, which becomes part of the candidate's file.

This week, the Constitutional Court will review whether or not this article conflicts with the fundamental act of the state. The interested parties in this process are the Parliament of Albania and the Council of Ministers.

The decision on the matter in question is of extremely high interest, at a time when both the majority and the opposition are invested in weakening SPAK, while this institution is conducting criminal investigations against important political figures from all sides.

Judge Hoxha, without a doubt, has the legitimate right to challenge at every level of the judiciary the decision that prohibited him from joining the anti-corruption court.

But it seems that the activation of the Constitutional Court is linked to larger interests, which focus on weakening the special anti-corruption structure. Especially in the context of a Constitutional Court, whose integrity has been questioned by recent moves to illegally extend mandates or interventions to dismantle the decision on wiretapping of …/ CNA