July 17, 2024

Today, the Public Commissioner was present at the Appeal Chamber to initiate the judicial review of the appeal filed against the Decision no. 661/2023, issued by the Independent Qualification Commission, pertaining to the assessee, Mr. Besnik Hoxha, serving as a judge at the First Instance Court of Tirana General Jurisdiction.

Upon verifying the attendance of the parties’ in the hearing, the presiding judge
informed that the submissions on the grounds and objections of the appeal had been made available to the parties. After confirming their acquaintance with the acts mentioned above, the presiding judge invited them also to present their arguments during the hearing.

Adhering to the findings in the appeal, based also on IMO’s Recommendation, the Public Commissioner deemed that the assessee failed to prove otherwise concerning the results of the investigation into asset control, proficiency and background criteria, as well as identified cases of conflict of interest and other findings in the recommendation. In conclusion, the Public Commissioner requested the adjudication panel to amend decision no. 661/2023, and to dismiss from office the assessee, Mr. Besnik Hoxha.

Through the legal representative, the assessee objected the appeal grounds, deeming them unsupported by evidence, and submitted additional acts for review.

The adjudication panel in an interim decision, opted not to accept the additional acts, noting that one of them was part of the assessee’s previous submissions, and the other acts could be conferred online on the official website of the High Court.

In response to the Public Commissioner’s request for a reasonable deadline to present the final discussions, the adjudication panel adjourned the following hearing on July 22, 2024, at 10:00 AM.

Pursuant to point 1, 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”.

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