December 13, 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 presence of the parties at the hearing, the assessee, through two preliminary requests, requested the suspension of the case review in the Chamber and the declassification of the report by NASCI regarding the background control.
The adjudicating panel, after considering the assessee’s requests and the Public Commissioner’s stance on these requests, decided to proceed with the case review in the Appeal Chamber, instructing the assessee to present his claims on his requests during the rebuttal phase.
Additionally, the presiding judge informed the parties that, on October 16, 2024, the Appeal Chamber had requested information from the Ministry of Justice regarding the judicial status of the assessee in Greece and Italy.
The Public Commissioner, when asked by the presiding judge about this new development, affirmed that the appeal contains sufficient grounds to proceed with its review. Furthermore, adhering to all the appeal grounds, the Public Commissioner stated that the assessee fails to meet a trustable level in all three re-evaluation criteria. Consequently, the Public Commissioner requested the adjudicating panel to amend Decision No. 479/2021, of the Independent Qualification Commission and to dismiss from office the assessee, Mr. Arben Dosti.
The assessee, through his legal representative, requested the Appeal Chamber to resend the information request to the Ministry of Justice to verify his judicial status, claiming that under these circumstances, he could not present rebuttals regarding the appeal’s grounds.
The adjudicating panel decided to evaluate this request after the submission phase.
The assessee presented a detailed rebuttal concerning the three evaluation criteria and reiterated the request a reasonable time to submit the required document from the Greek authorities since he possessed it but lacked the apostille stamp.
The assessee also requested the adjudicating panel to open a judicial investigation, in order to admit certain new acts in the quality of evidence supporting his submissions.
When questioned about the acts, the Public Commissioner stated that, from a formal standpoint, there were no objections. Still regarding their probative value, he would address this in his final conclusions.
The presiding judge informed the parties that a new complaint had been submitted to the Appeal Chamber earlier today and was made available to them.
The adjudicating panel decided to adjourn the hearing on December 19, 2024, at 12:30, requesting the parties to express their positions regarding the complaints.
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.