December 19, 2024
Today, the Public Commissioner appeared before the Appeal Chamber to proceed with the judicial review of the appeal against Decision no. 479/2021 of the Independent Qualification Commission regarding the assessee Mr. Arben Dosti, currently serving as a judge at the First Instance Court of General Jurisdiction in Tirana.
After verifying the attendance of the parties in the hearing, the presiding judge invited the parties to present their views regarding the public denunciations.
The Public Commissioner stated that the prior denunciations had already been included in the appeal. Regarding the denunciations submitted after the appeal, the Commissioner left it to the panel’s discretion to determine whether further investigation was necessary.
The assessee opposed the allegations raised in the denunciations and submitted additional evidence. Subsequently, he responded to questions addressed by the international observer and, through his legal representative reiterated the following requests: additional time to secure a bank document in Greece, the possibility of submitting fingerprint traces for the purpose of investigating the background criterion, the declassification of the report from the National Authority for Classified Information Security, and requested to the Appeal Chamber once again to seek information from the Ministry of Justice regarding his judicial status in Greece.
The adjudicating panel decided to admit, as evidence, the documents that were submitted in proper legal form by the assessee during the two hearings held at the Appeal Chamber. The panel also granted the assessee the opportunity to provide, in compliance with the required legal format, the additional supporting documents regarding the criminal record in Greece by the following hearing.
The panel overruled the assessee’s request to declassify the NASCI report, deeming it unfounded in law. Hence, the request for additional time to secure the bank document from Greece.
Furthermore, the adjudicating panel overruled the assessee’s request to verify his judicial status through the comparison and verification of fingerprint traces submitted in one of the formats outlined in his request. It also decided to overrule the assessee’s request for obtaining information from the Ministry of Justice of Greece regarding his judicial status.
Subsequently, the adjudicating panel decided to open a judicial investigation into three public denunciations. The panel requested the assessee to provide judicial documents and case files related to the allegations raised in the denunciations. Additionally, the panel resolved to seek information from law enforcement agencies to review the same details previously examined by the Independent Qualification Commission during the re-evaluation process for the assessee, Arben Dosti.
The date of the subsequent hearing will be announced by the judicial secretariat once the Appeal Chamber has obtained the relevant information from the law enforcement agencies.
Pursuant to point 1, Article 16 of the regulation of the Institution of Public Commissioners, the appeal is published on the official website of this institution: https://ikp.al/ankime
The Institution of Public Commissioners has been established and operates under Article 179/b and the Annex of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania and Law No. 84/2016, “On the Transitional Re-evaluation of Judges and Prosecutors in the Republic of Albania”.
The Public Commissioners represent the public interest during the transitional process of re-evaluation of judges and prosecutors in the Republic of Albania.