20 May 2022

The Public Commissioner was present today at the Appeal Chamber while continued the judicial review of the appeal filed against the Decision no. 229/2020, of the Independent Qualification Commission, for the assessee, Mr. Dritan Banushi, judge/Head of Gjirokastra Court of Appeal.

After verifying the parties’ presence in the hearing, the assessee and his lawyer filed additional objections regarding the financial analysis prepared by the Public Commissioner, claiming that this analysis was incomplete, erroneous and did not include or treat any data presented in the objections of the assessee.

Regarding the new denunciation, filed at the Appeal Chamber on the day of the previous hearing, on April 26, 2022, the assessee stated that it was a repeated denunciation, in connection with which the Chamber had expressed with an intermediate decision that: “with regard to the denunciations, no facts and circumstances were found valid for further investigations”.

Subsequently, the Public Commissioner and the assessee responded some clarifying questions related to the case, addressed by the presiding judge.

Attached to the answer, regarding the rapporteur’s question about the methodology used for the preparation of the financial analysis, the Public Commissioner filed by the adjudication panel a letter from the High Inspectorate of Declaration and Audit of Assets and Conflict of Interest (HIDAACI) on the methodology used to calculate the living costs, which the panel decided to accept in the capacity of evidence.

After this evidence was made available to the assessee, his lawyer requested time to analyze the document and prepare the position accordingly.

Therefore, the adjudication panel decided to adjourn the following hearing session on May 27, .2022, at 9:00 a.m. During this hearing, the parties should also be prepared for the final conclusions of the case.

Pursuant to paragraph 1, of Article 16, of the regulation of the Institution of Public Commissioners, the appeal and the elements of the case are published on the official website of this institution: http://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”.

Public Commissioners represent the public interest during the transitional process of re-evaluation of judges and prosecutors in the Republic of Albania.​

PDF