Message of the People`s Advocate

REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA
PEOPLE'S ADVOCATE
Address: Bulv: “Dëshmorët e Kombit”. Nr.3,
Tirana, ALBANIA
Tel:+355 4 253 891
Fax:+355 4 226 095
March 2004
Message of the People’s Advocate
Honorable Chairman of the Parliament
Honorable Members of the Parliament
I am honored and delighted to provide you with the 2003 Annual
Report of the People’s Advocate, which reflects the activity of the
People’s Advocate institution, such as the Parliament has conceived his
role: to focus on supervising the performance of the public administration
in order to have a better governance system.
Considering the fact that this year marks the second year since the
European powers opened the negotiation for signing of the Agreement of
Association and Stabilization of Albania with the European Union, it is
natural that even the activity carried out by the People'
s Advocate in
Albania should be focused on establishing and safeguarding the high
standards of good governance and administration of the state affairs.
The People’s Advocate has developed into a modern, wellfunctioning and integrated institution, welcomed from both the public
administration and the citizens. We all are aware of the fact that
reforming the judicial system and strengthening internal affairs is
amongst the top tasks Albania is undertaking to accomplish with the help
of the international community, as problems in these areas often lead to
violations of human rights – a worldwide concern. The increase in all
forms of crimes, such as prostitution, various kinds of trafficking and
corruption has become a main concern of the international community
and cannot be related only to one country.
The People’s Advocate, acting as a mediator between citizens and
public administration has a wide vision on how to be successful in his
work: he relies on the cooperation of the public institutions and the civil
society to provide citizens with high standards of life and to strengthen
the authority of the state in accordance with the European values and
democratic western standards.
For the reasons mentioned above, as well as the comments made on
the requirements Albania has to meet to join the European Union, the
building and strengthening of the People’s Advocate institution is a very
important step to be taken in the future.
On the other hand, the social, economic and political situation shall
always play an important role in the achievement of the People’s
Advocate mission and vice-versa. In the end, the final objective remains
2
the same: building a democratic society in conformity with the western
democracies, without any partial influence of any kind.
Taking into account what the Albanian legislation set forth, taking
into account even its compatibility of the latter with the European
legislation, taking into account even the commitments of Albania towards
association and integration into the European Union, the People'
s
Advocate avails himself of this opportunity to remind, as always, the
Albanian public administration of its obligation to collaborate and
understand the recommendations submitted by the People'
s Advocate,
whom the individuals could approach with their complaints. In the final
analysis, the just resolution of the complaints lodged will enhance the
citizen’s trust in their government.
The People’s Advocate believes that a joint endeavor between
political forces and governmental bodies is needed to fight organized
crime, all kinds of trafficking and drugs and to create an effective judicial
system. This is of equal importance to economic reform and foreign
investments. To achieve those goals, would require not only a huge
commitment from enforcement agencies but important changes in the
penal and penal procedure codes.
However, the People’s Advocate shares the opinion that, whatever
efforts it would take to join the European family, the price paid, should,
in no way, affect the fundamental freedoms and human rights. The
People’s Advocate should focus his work on protecting and guaranteeing
of social rights, more precisely, those related to fulfilling the basic living
standards, such as the right to education, utilities and communication,
especially for vulnerable people, like people with disabilities, elderly or
children, who greatly depend on their government to have low-cost access
to public services.
It is a great pleasure to represent the fourth report of the People’s
Advocate, and in the meantime, I am open to questions and look forward
to your evaluation and assessment.
Thank you!
People’s Advocate
Ermir Dobjani
Tirana, March 2004
3
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Message of the People'
s Advocate
2
Table of Contents
4
Introduction
6
Brief Presentation of Report
9
CHAPTER I
1.
2.
3.
4.
The structure, organigram, and qualities of the People'
s
Advocate staff
International support
The Institution'
s budget allocated for year 2003
Challenges, the institution'
s targets for year 2004 onwards
10
15
16
17
CHAPTER II
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Summarizing statistics for year 2003
People'
s Advocate and Albanian Parliament
People'
s Advocate and Constitutional Court
General opinions on the situation of human rights in
Albania
The activity of People'
s Advocate and Media
a. Office of People’s Complaints
b. Open Days – An experience to be continued
International Relations
The Cooperation with the International Organizations of
Human Rights
National Conference on: “The execution of the court
decisions on the protection of individual rights
Other Activities of the People'
s Advocate Institution during
2003
20
24
26
31
37
44
54
56
63
CHAPTER III
Concrete activity of the People'
s Advocate targeting the
complaints, requests, and notifications (cases), classified
according to the governmental institutions
1.
Council of Ministers (Government)
4
66
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
Ministry of Justice
People’s Advocate and his relationship with courts and
judiciary
Complaints against Public Prosecutor Office
Ministry of Public Order
Ministry of Defense
Ministry of Local Government and Decentralization
Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs
Ministry of Territory Regulation and Tourism
Ministry of Economy
Ministry of Agriculture and Food
Ministry of Finance
Ministry of Education and Science
Ministry of Health
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Transports and Telecommunications
Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports
Ministry of Environment
Ministry of Industry and Energy
Secret Services
Conclusions concerning the cases related to Consumers
77
92
99
105
131
136
145
152
162
165
169
172
173
175
177
180
181
182
185
186
CHAPTER IV
1. Follow-up on cases presented in the 2002 Annual Report
s Advocate
2. Cases started at the initiative of the People'
(“Ex officio”)
188
189
APPENDIXES
1. Evaluations of the International Institutions and Authorities
on the People'
s Advocate performance and activity
s
2. Acknowledgement letters addressed to the People'
Advocate
3. Tables
4. Graphs
5
196
199
203
225
INTRODUCTION
We all are witnesses of the cold war times, where human rights
were the vanguard of the democratization process, which needed new
institutions not only dealing with new problems surfacing, but changing
the face of the current institutions as well.
Being only part of foreign policies at the very beginning and
becoming an integral part of a whole mechanism, including the internal
policies and in-country legislations, especially in the former communist
dictatorships, human rights are an indicator of how governments fulfill its
obligations towards citizens, who invested them with power.
The People’s Advocate, now in the fourth year of his activity, is
playing an important role, together with other institutions, in improving
the function of the state mechanism. Through supervising the
administrative behavior of the governmental institutions and public
authorities, he tries to achieve his objective: protection of human rights
and fundamental freedoms of the citizens through reestablishment of
violated rights.
Good governance and administrative behavior are conditioned even
by the existence of an independent and unbiased system capable of
examining the manner of government performance. This is beneficial,
both to the government and the citizens.
The Albanian Parliament approved of the People'
s Advocate,
thereby defining the values and principles inherent in this institution:
independence, impartiality, professionalism and confidentiality. It is
through his activity that the People'
s Advocate contributes in bringing
together the public administration with the citizens it serves. Our
immediate goal is to attain the indicators and standards the International
Community has assigned and implements with respect to the national
institutions of human rights protection.
For the international institutions and organizations, the
Ombudsman and other human rights institutions constitute the
fundamental element associated with the human rights infrastructure in a
democratic society. Viewed from the perspective of integration for our
country, since the European Community legislation is mandatory for each
Member State, this legislation, especially under our circumstances,
constitutes a source of reference even for the Institution of the People’s
Advocate, especially with respect to providing arguments related to the
recommendations submitted to the administration. It is for this reason that
we take an active part in the communication and collaboration network
with the Ombudsmen'
s Offices in the region, within the framework of the
Ombudsman'
s European Institute.
6
In this sense, in addition to protecting human rights, one of its
principal targets is the development of what is labeled as the culture of
good governance. It implies good administration, openness, transparency,
and accountability on the part of the public administration to the
taxpayers paying taxes to support it. The People'
s Advocate, through his
recommendations, tries to educate the public administration, hence
making it aware of the real role it has to play in relation to citizens, that is
focused on the factual reason of its existence, respectively the status of
civil servants paid by the citizens, rather than that of stingy ownership of
the citizens'rights.
The fundamental features for the Institution of the People’s
Advocate are independence from the government, or any other political
bias, ease of contacts, speed of performance, flexibility, effectiveness and
powerfulness of his recommendations. We would like to highlight the
“powerfulness of recommendations”, since it is the very absence of the
compelling powers, which stipulates even the existence of the
argumentative power to the highest degree possible. It is exactly the
legislation-based "argumentative power" which transforms the
recommendation provided by the People'
s Advocate from formally "nonbinding" to essentially "convincing to be implemented".
We would like to point out that the Institution of the People’s
Advocate all around the world, is expressed in terms of the model
associated with the mechanism of checks and balances, which, in view of
being a constituent part of public power, prevents and hinders the
excessive activity of the latter. It even teaches the authorities the
principles of administrative behavior and ethics. This institution
contributes towards accomplishing what has been termed as "soft justice".
It is less formal in character, but easily attainable for all the citizens
concerned. Since it is an institution capable of being flexible and
multidisciplinary, the People'
s Advocate intends to adequately enhance
progress on the part of administration and good governance.
The mere existence of the Institution of the People’s Advocate
exerts a positive influence on public administration, at least for the simple
reason that the latter is conscious of the fact that there is a third party
monitoring and observing its performance in relation to the citizens. On
the other hand, we have made efforts and are continuously making efforts
with a view toward informing the people that they can lodge complaints
with our institution, through an easy and cost-free procedure, against the
decisions adopted by the public administration, in case they are
considered unjust or unfavorable to them.
In the other countries, there is evidence of the Ombudsman'
s
Institution contributing towards positively changing the public image of
public administration. Even with us, that could assist in enhancing the
7
awareness of the Albanian public administration as regards the quality of
its decisions, and its responsibility towards the citizens.
We emphasize again in this report that the People'
s Advocate is not
and will never be opposed to the government, irrespective of the political
forces in power, but will always be serving as reviewer towards better
governance. That is the essence of the philosophy inherent in the
functioning for this institution, hence, as such, it should be well
understood and treated by all the policy-making parties and partners in
Albania.
8
BRIEF PRESENTATION OF REPORT
According to article 63 of the Constitution of the Republic of
Albania, and article 26 of Law No. 8454, dated 04.02.1999, “On People'
s
Advocate”, the People'
s Advocate submits to the Albanian Parliament the
Annual Report, which shall be discussed in a plenary session.
The Annual Report submitted by the People'
s Advocate is one of
the main instruments which contribute to the well-functioning of the rule
of law, respecting and protecting the human rights, strengthening
democracy, good administration of affairs by the public administration,
likewise formulating the country'
s development policies by the latter.
After the first report submitted in March 2001, on the activity
carried out during year 2000, the second report submitted in March 2002
for the year 2001 and the third report submitted on April 2003, this is the
fourth report prepared by the People'
s Advocate. We have followed the
same structure as for the other reports, to make it easier to access by
interested parties. Its conceptual aspect and manner enable the acquisition
of comprehensive information as regards the methodology employed and
the activity areas for the Institution of the People’s Advocate, the
statistical data included. The activities organized and carried out by the
institution, international support, opinions on the situation of human
rights in Albania, as well as the opinions related to good administration of
works in Albania occupy a special place in our report. In addition, special
attention has been attached to our institution'
s public relations with the
media. Our collaboration with the media has been viewed as the most
efficient means of having the necessary access to the public, hence
shaping the indispensable individuality of our Institution, likewise
exercising our function in line with the Constitution and the Law "On
People'
s Advocate".
This report portrays the performance and efforts made by the
public bodies and authorities (the central and local bodies and authorities
included) in the area of respect for human rights. It also introduces the
means of resolving the relevant cases, which in our opinion, should serve
as guidelines for the activity of the responsible bodies of the
administration in similar situations.
The report includes recommendations and suggestions concerning
the elimination of drawbacks and "injustices" identified in the course of
examining the complaints submitted to the People'
s Advocate.
Finally, the report involves several detailed analyses in areas,
which from our perspective and judgment constitute the essential
9
elements; therefore, much more attention will be focused on them in the
future.
CHAPTER I
1. The structure, organigram, and qualities of the
People's Advocate staff
According to article 31 of the Law No. 8454, dated 04.02.1999,
“On People’s Advocate”, the People'
s Advocate office consists of three
specialized sections responsible for the respective complaints and
requests.
Law No. 8600, dated 10.04.2000, “On Some Changes on the Law
No. 8454, dated 04.02.1999, “On People’s Advocate”, entitles the
People’s Advocate to determine the structure, staff number, the specific
qualities and qualifications, while the remuneration is regulated with a
governmental decision.
First Section, responsible for complaints against the central
governmental bodies, local governmental bodies, and third parties
working on their behalf, headed by Mr. Gezim Lleshi;
Second Section, responsible for complaints against police, secret
intelligence service, prisons, armed forces, and judiciary, headed by Mr.
Jorgo Dhrami;
Third Section or the general one, handling cases, which are not
included in the first two sections, likewise collaborating with the NGOs.
This section, headed by Mr. Riza Poda, is assigned the task to carry out
researches relevant to the area of human rights and freedoms.
In addition to the three specialized sections, the cabinet comprising
of the Head and the Counselors is the direct arm of the People’s Advocate
in accomplishing his tasks. The complaints registration section, finance
services, staff development, international relations, and the administration
are auxiliary sectors contributing to carrying out the principal tasks
assigned to the Institution. With the exception of the Cabinet, all these
auxiliary bodies are subordinated and managed by the Secretary General
of the Institution.
The Institution of the People'
s Advocate employs a staff of 47. The
People'
s Advocate himself, subsequent to article 35 of Law "On People'
s
Advocate" has endorsed the total number of employees. Out of these 47
employees, 16 lawyers, deputy commissioners are directly involved in
resolving the complaints submitted.
10
The Deputy Commissioners have been hired through a contest in
conformity with the requirements of the Law No. 8549, dated 11.11.1999
“On the Status of Civil Servants”. The staff had undergone different incountry and inter-country trainings to increase their professional
performance and acquire the relevant contemporary experience.
Some of our employees have completed the courses offered by the
Institute of Training of the Department of the Public Administration and
have been licensed accordingly.
As regards the professional qualities of our office staff, it should be
highlighted that the People'
s Advocate hold the title of “Professor
Associate Doctor”, and the Commissioner, Mr. Jorgo Dhrami hold the
doctoral degree “Doctor of Juridical Sciences". In addition to them, other
are employed as part-time lecturers at the Faculty of Law, or at the
School of Magistrates. Some of our experts have completed their postgraduate studies in the West European Universities, whereas 20 of them
master and speak one or more foreign languages fluently, mainly English,
French, Italian and German.
11
Table 1
STRUCTURE OF THE INSTITUTE OF THE PEOPLE’S ADVOCATE
PEOPLE’S ADVOCATE
CABINET
COMMISSIONER for the Section
of Administration Bodies
COMMISSIONER for the Section
of Special Services
COMMISSIONER for the
General Section
SECRETARY GENERAL
Department
of International Relations
Translation and
Library Section
Finance Section
Public Relations Section
Secretary and Archive Section
12
Human Resources
Department
Business Support
Staff
Table 2
STAFF LIST FOR THE INSTITUTION OF THE PEOPLE'S ADVOCATE
No.
DENOMINATION
I
II
PEOPLE'S ADVOCATE
CABINET
Head of Cabinet, Spokesman of People'
s Advocate
Advisor of People'
s Advocate
Secretary of People'
s Advocate
(1)
(5)
1
3
1
III
SECTION OF CENTRAL AND LOCAL
ADMINISTRATION BODIES
Commissioner
Assistant Commissioner (lawyer)
Secretary + Registrar
SECTION OF SPECIAL SERVICES
Commissioner
Assistant Commissioner (lawyer)
Secretary + Registrar
GENERAL SECTION
Commissioner
Assistant Commissioner (lawyer)
Secretary + Registrar
SECRETARY GENERAL
DEPARTMENT
OF
INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS
Director
Head of Translation and Library Section
HUMAN RESOURCES DEPARTMENT
Director
Head of Section
Driver
Office cleaner
(6)
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
IX
X
FINANCE SECTION
Head of Section
Senior accountant, Cashier
Storage - keeper
PUBLIC RELATIONS SECTION
Head of Section
Assistant Commissioner
13
EMPLOYEE
(S)
1
4
1
(8)
1
6
1
(6)
1
4
1
(1)
(2)
1
1
(11)
1
1
7
2
(3)
1
1
1
(2)
1
1
XI
SECRETARY AND ARCHIVES SECTION
Head of Section
Archivist + Secretary to General Secretary
The Institution of People'
s Advocate has a total of 47 employees
14
(2)
1
1
2. International support
Albania is a good example where the Ombudsman was created as
an immediate need of the government to gain the trust of general public,
considering what happened after the 1997 events, where the chaos and
anarchy reigned and compromised the image of the state and its
institutions.
As a result, the international community, who has been present in
Albania to help in its democratization process since the very beginning,
seemed to change its strategy, through focusing not only on the economic
and financial aid but launching projects that would help in building new
institutions and strengthening the existing ones.
Special significance has been attached to the international support
for drafting the new constitution, which was approved by a referendum in
1998. The constitution in four articles envisages the creation of the
People’s Advocate. As a result, in February 1999 the parliament adopted
the law “On People’s Advocate”.
The group called “The Group of Friends of the People'
s Advocate”
consisted of the representations of Tirana-based Council of Europe and
OSCE, the Embassies of the Kingdom of Denmark, and USA, such
organizations as USAID, World Bank, ABA-CEELI, CAFOD, ACHR,
and representatives from different Albanian NGO’s, specialized on
human rights issues, was created to help in establishing the institution of
the People’s Advocate. Naturally, the Kingdom of Denmark through
DANIDA Project has granted the greatest financial support.
The Group of Friends of the People'
s Advocate meets periodically
at the office of People'
s Advocate. It has been monitoring very closely the
establishment, strengthening, consolidation, and practical activity of the
institution, thereby rendering invaluable contribution, and assistance in
protecting the fundamental human rights and freedoms, as well as
strengthening democracy in our country. We would like to highlight this
fact, since it is through assisting our institution that the institutions and
states they represent have directly assisted the democratic processes and
new institutions, as guarantors of democracy.
Council of Europe, both through its office staff in Albania, and
directly have rendered considerable contribution by extending invitations
to attend the activities organized with the focus on human rights,
arranging visits of experts to exchange the necessary expertise, providing
financial support, etc. In this respect, we would like to mention the
15
contribution on the part of ABA-CEELI, as well as the American
Embassy, through its representative in the Group of Friends.
We have translated the pressure from the international community
for building the democratic institutions, in a positive way, through
consultations, exchanging opinions, taking initiatives and what seems to
be of very important for the well functioning of the institution, receiving
the financial resources which are very vital for the existence of the
People’s Advocate institution.
Taking into consideration the importance of the cooperation
between Ombudsmen all over the world, People’s Advocate has received
in his office 12 Ombudsmen and several foreign experts. The meetings of
the foreign Ombudsmen with the high officials in Albania have
contributed toward understanding the mission of the People’s Advocate
and the importance of creating a friendly environment from both the
governmental bodies and the public as well.
We are working toward the continuation of the international help
through another program of the Kingdom of Denmark, FRESTA. This
project aims in promoting the regional cooperation in the Balkans.
Meanwhile, the People’s Advocate is participating in a project, called
EUNOMIA, initiated by the Greek Ombudsman in cooperation with the
Directory of the Human Rights at the Council of Europe emerged from
the first round table on the Stabilization Pact. We are planning to work
with Sweden Government on the project SIDA, to establish a sub-section
dealing with children issues and the ethics between media and the
citizens.
3. The Institution's Budget allocated for year 2003
The establishing and efficient functioning of a new institution, the
People'
s Advocate being a case in point, require not only political,
institutional, potential human support, but also financial support.
From this point of view, the financial support granted to our
Institution by the International Community, especially the Danish
Government, through the Danida Project, has been omnipresent, concrete,
and efficient. This assistance has enabled our institution'
s establishing
and strengthening; hence making the accomplishment of the tasks
assigned possible. This project has ended on September 30, 2003. The
Albanian Government has had accurate and correct concepts in this
respect in view of the fact that it allocated and endorsed a budget
16
amounting to 87.039.000 lekë or 725.000 USD for year 2003, which has been
used to the extent of 88%, referring to the reporting period, respectively:
Account
No.
Denomination
600
601
602
605
231
Salaries
Social Insurance
Operative Expenses
Membership fees
Investments
Total
Planned in Expenditures Realization
Albanian
in Albanian %
Lek
Lek
42.972.000
40.107.721
93 %
6.857.000
6.807.000
99 %
29.000.000
28.148.738
97 %
210.000
94.045
45 %
8.000.000
1.559.367
19 %
87.039.000
76.716.871
88 %
The investments toward the two regional offices to be opened in
Shkoder and Gjirokaster were not used because no funds were allocated
for the staff.
As regards the budget expenses, they have been mainly utilized to
pay the employees' salaries, per diems allocated for travels within
Albania and abroad, purchases of stationery, work materials and tools,
fuels, electricity expenses, overheads, receptions for foreign delegations,
etc.
In addition, we have paid the membership fees to the Ombudsmen'
s
European Institute, the Ombudsmen'
s International Institute, and the
Association of Francophone Ombudsmen. The membership fees have
amounted to about 1,250 USD or 94.045 Albanian Lek annually.
Until September 2003, Danida’s support has been used to organize
national conferences, seminars, professional training and purchasing
supporting materials for the staff (calendars, posters, and brochures),
publication of the 2002 Annual Report, Internet fees and maintenance of
the equipment.
4. Institution's Challenges and Objectives for the Year
2004 onwards
As a new institution, People’s Advocate first and main challenge
remains the organizational, professional and financial stability.
This stability relies on the independence of the institution,
guaranteed by the constitution and the interaction with Parliament,
Government and the Judiciary. Impartiality and professionalism are two
other challenges associated with the People’s Advocate activity.
17
In our view, the following aspects should be focused special
attention, so as to meet this target:
1. Consolidating the achievements made so far, intending to
enhance the efficiency level for our institution'
s interventions in resolving
the citizens'complaints.
2. More efficient collaboration with the Albanian Parliament with a
view to effecting the necessary legal changes, which would bring about
greater efficiency for the office of People'
s Advocate.
3. Establishing more regular and closer contacts with the central
and local administration employees. Appointing our local representatives
will contribute to meet this target.
4. Continuing with the open days periodically in different regions
and other forms to reach the public.
5. Exerting influence towards respect for and stability of the
Albanian institutions, which ensure and safeguard democracy and
prosperity.
6. Continuance of the program to strengthen the office’s capacities,
including the further qualification of our staff.
7. We expect to preserve the actual administrative endurance
through the regional projects and FRESTA program of the Kingdom of
Denmark.
8. In 2004 we are planning to work with Sweden Government on
the SIDA project to establish a sub-section dealing with children issues
and the ethics between media and the citizens.
9. Mediation remains a primary goal for our institution. We are
envisaging creating a separate structure within the institution dealing with
mediation. The completion of this task depends greatly on the
supplementary staff and their training and we are going to address the
issue to the competent authorities.
10. Financial endurance might be questioned for the future since
the government is applying a very strict financial policy in considerably
reducing the budget. Our successes, other than the dedication
characterizing our staff, can be attributed to various trainings taken either
abroad at our homologues offices or in Albania. In the situation that the
funds from foreign organizations will be reduced in the future, we need
internal support but it is clear that we are not a priority for the
government compared with other institutions and this can affect the
principle of the independence of our institution.
11. Lack of offices needed in order to perform the normal activity.
In July 2000, the time when the government accorded to our institution
10 offices it was unclear as to our need for space in order to allow us to
18
carry out the tasks derived by the Constitution and the International
Community. At present, after more than three years of his activity, which
seems to satisfy both the government and the international community,
the need for additional space has become an emergency.
Also, the increasing work volume has brought up the need of an
Archive, reformatting the complaints and public relations office and
experts, a library, offices for the commissioners, as well.
In conclusion, the challenges we will face within the Process of
Association and Stabilization to the European Union are increasing the
standards in handling the cases, increasing the authority and cooperation
with public institutions and strengthening the collaboration with
international partners.
In our opinion and belief the political and financial commitment of
the Albanian Government and Parliament to support People'
s Advocate,
as a modern type institution, which plays a significant role in the
democratic process in our country, does exist and will exist.
In the course of the four years of our activity, there have never
been identified any instances of direct criticism on grounds of political
biases, since unless impartiality is maintained, we could very easily
become target of political objections. Thanks to our high professional and
ethical values, we will continue to avoid biases, hence maintaining the
principle of political impartiality.
The positive practice and good messages delivered to the Albanian
people have created the necessary environment and awareness
enhancement, so that the Albanian citizens could utilize our instrument of
protecting their rights against the violations inflicted by public
administration.
Through the dialogue established between the Institution of
People'
s Advocate, the human rights organizations, the Albanian
Parliament and Government, we will continuously encourage the
authorities to undertake measures targeting improvements of legislation
and its implementation. It highlights, and brings into the fore the
significant role the People'
s Advocate plays in the area of democratic
transformations.
It is clear to the People’s Advocate that good laws give strong
messages. During carrying out his work, the People’s Advocate
encounters with wrongdoings. Thus he relies strongly on the cooperation
with Parliament and the Law and Human Rights Commissions to amend
and change the existing laws to reduce the risk of abusive behavior from
the different government bodies and public servants.
19
CHAPTER II
1. Summarizing Statistics for Year 2003
(Cases classified according to the respective areas, and the
solutions provided)
In the three previous reports submitted to the Parliament, we have
reserved an important place to statistics, illustrating the complaints
examined by the People’s Advocate for the year being.
The efficiency of establishing and making a new institution
function, first and foremost, is measured in quantitative terms, i.e. the
volume of work performed to accomplish his principal task: protecting
the human rights and freedoms of individuals, groups of individuals, or
NGOs against the illicit or incorrect actions or omissions on the part of
the Albanian public administration bodies.
Setting up within the institution such a system which would be
ready and willing to assist at any time the citizens submitting complaints,
or making any request, without hindering them, thereby making them feel
comfortable and welcome, and immediately benefit from the institution'
s
services, the way they deserve and expect from our administration has
been a significant task for the People'
s Advocate. To meet the target of
enhancing the quality level of services provided to citizens by our office,
we have adapted patterns of other counterpart offices in Europe. In June
2001, Public Relations Office has commenced functioning. It is in this
office that the citizens, at any time during the visiting hours, can submit
their complaints, or requests, likewise be given the appropriate
explanations by one of the office experts.
During 2002 and 2003 our office handled a considerable amount of
complaints. Thus, in 2002, the People’s Advocate Office handled 2115
complaints, requests and notifications, of which 1412 had been given an
immediate answer from experts showing the citizens where to address
their complaints. In 2003, were handled 2160 complaints, requests and
notifications, of which 1412 had been given an immediate answer from
experts. Taking into account the increasing number of the complaints in
the previous years, the Office of the Public Relations was structured and
now it operates as a Section of Public Relations.
Referring to the process of handling the complaints submitted, it
could be pointed out that many of them were beyond his jurisdiction,
20
therefore the citizens have been advised as regards the ways they have to
pursue to have their problem resolved.
During the period of January 1 to December 31, 2003, the People’s
Advocate Office handled 4400 complaints (the complaints and requests
handled by the complaints and public relations office included) of which
767 had been carried over from year 2002, hence reported as such in the
Annual Report pertinent to year 2002.
Therefore in 2003, 2767 complaints, requests and notifications had
been envisaged from our institution, of which 576 complaints or 21%
should be considered in the year 2004. Compared to year 2002, in 2003
there is a 15% decrease of complaints, requests and notifications. The
decrease is a relative figure and doesn’t show the real volume of our
work, because we had many cases where there were numerous of
complaints. For instance, after initiating the changes in the telephone fees
and electricity, we received 6000 signatures from the citizens; those are
reported as one complaint. In addition, after receiving a complaint from a
policeman against the Commission on Awarding the Ranks, we had to
deal with 1216 other policemen and 384 employees of the Ministry of
Public Order, which are not included in the number of complaints.
Referring to the process of handling the complaints submitted, it
should be pointed out that 844 of them, or 38% were beyond the
jurisdiction, therefore the citizens have been advised as regards the ways
they have to pursue to have their problem resolved.
Referring to the complaints within the jurisdiction and authority of
the People’s Advocate, 761 complaints, or 59 % of them have resulted to
be unjust, whereas 471 complaints or 37 % of them have resulted to be
well grounded, of which 114 have been respectively recommended for
further handling to public authorities, with a view to enhancing public
administration, thereby safeguarding, and ensuring the standards of good
governance. For the sake of accuracy, it should be clarified that, of those
positively resolved cases, not all of them have been supported with
written recommendations, since not infrequently have the positive
solutions been achieved during the stage of receiving the necessary
explanations or orally mediating with the public administration
authorities, which finally realized their mistakes, hence giving up their
initial negative attitudes. It is clearly evident that correct and just policies
require good information basis, which has been paid due attention by the
People'
s Advocate in the course of administrating the above-mentioned
data.
In this Annual Report we will present the cases treated by the
People’s Advocate Office, classified according to the respective
21
Ministries, and the other bodies or entities of the Albanian Public
Administration subordinated to them, against which the complaint or
request has been submitted.
The number of complaints, requests and notifications dealt with by
the Institution of the People'
s Advocate during year 2002, has been as
follows:
1. Council of Ministers
Government itself
a- Supervisory Group for the Pyramid
Schemes
b- Tangible Properties Registration
Offices
c- Commissions for Ownership Restoration
and Compensation
d- Institute of Integration for the Former
Politically Persecuted Individuals
- 105, of which
- 14
2. Ministry of Justice
Ministry itself
a- Prisons
b- Bailiff'
s Office
- 306, of which
- 8
- 147
- 151
3. Judiciary
a- Courts
- 375
4. Prosecutor's Office
- 163
5. Ministry of Public Order
- 284
6. Ministry of Defense
- 154
7. Ministry of Local Government and
Decentralization
Ministry Itself
- 323, of which
- 36
8. Local Governmental Bodies
a. Commune
b. Municipality
c. Prefecture
9. Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs
- 61
- 202
- 24
- 229, of which
22
-
9
- 44
- 27
- 11
Ministry itself
a- Institute of Social Insurance
b- State Social Services
- 18
- 183
- 28
9. Ministry of Territory Regulation
and Tourism
Ministry itself
a. Illegal Construction
b. Water pipeline, canalization
- 153, of which
- 32
- 117
- 4
10. Ministry of Economy
-
2
11. Ministry of Agriculture and Food
-
58
12. Ministry of Finance
Ministry itself
a. National Agency for Privatization
-
48, of which
33
15
13. Ministry of Education and Science
-
63
14. Ministry of Health
-
24
15. Ministry of Foreign Affairs
-
12
16. Ministry of Transports and
Telecommunications
a. Ministry itself
b. Telecom
- 62, of which
- 6
- 56
17. Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports - 17
18. Ministry of Environment
-
19. Ministry of Industry and Energy
Ministry itself
b. Electric Power Corporation
- 71, of which
- 21
- 50
20. Secret Services
Others
- 2
- 314
TOTAL
- 2767 complaints
23
2
2. People's Advocate and Albanian Parliament
The People'
s Advocate is aware of his institutional position as an
Institution legally established the Albanian Parliament, whereas in his
capacity as an individual he has been voted by this same Parliament. At
the same time, he feels himself as “…a strong arm of the Parliament over
the public administration, so that in the process of enforcing laws he
could manage to attain the lawmaker'
s targets".
From the time it was established onwards, the Institution of
People'
s Advocate has constantly felt the care, and support of the People'
s
Assembly for the Republic of Albania as regards its strengthening and
consolidation.
The People’s Advocate Office on several occasions has informed
the Presidency of the Parliament as well as several Parliamentary
commissions regarding his activity and/or special cases. In addition, we
have been very active in several discussions on different draft laws and
have sent recommendations to be considered by the deputies during the
discussions in the Parliamentary commissions.
The presidency of the Parliament has shown willingness in meeting
with our homologues all around the world and informing them about the
achievements of our institution from his point of view. Apart from that,
the Finance Commission understands of our requests for granting the
financial budget, which would guarantee normal functioning of our
office. Although, we have not had a solution yet on setting up two offices
in Gjirokaster and Shkoder as we have presented in detail in the section
of the Budget.
A. In 2001 and 2002 reports, we informed the Parliament that we
have recommended the government on three occasions to take measures
relevant to drafting laws and other acts so as to meet its obligations
emerging from the Constitution of Republic of Albania. These
recommendations haven’t been considered yet, so we feel the obligation
to mention them again:
1- On implementing article 181, paragraph 1 of the Constitution on
correctly regulating the issues related to properties.
Regarding this issue, a draft-law has been prepared with the
assistance of the Presence of OSCE Office in Tirana and has been
submitted to the Parliament for approval. The Associations of Former
Owners have their remarks and suggestions about some articles and they
have come to our office and presented them to us and have required our
assistance to send the draft-law to the Venice Commission at the Council
of Europe.
24
2- On signing agreements with the religious communities, as
required by article 10 of the Albanian Constitution.
Based on the official information delivered by the Chairman of the
Committee on Beliefs, part of the government, a master agreement
between different religious communities has been drafted and has to be
examined and approved by the government since 2002. To encourage this
process, in December 2002 we sent a reminder to the Prime Minister of
the obligation derived by article 10 of the Constitution and we haven’t
heard from them yet. The fulfillment of this obligation is a priority for the
government in order to prevent some negative phenomena, such as the
scarf for women and beard for men, the tendency to get access into the
public school institutions and reflected in the deviation of Muslim rites in
some undeveloped areas, which carries the risk of breaking the harmony
between religions.
3- On adopting the law related to rehabilitation or compensation
for the illegitimate acts or actions performed by the state bodies, as
required by article 44 of the Constitution. The Ministry of Justice is
assigned by the government to draft a project-law during 2003, task not
completed yet.
B. During the year 2003, in compliance with our recommendations,
amendments have been made to existing law:
1- The Parliamentarian Commission on the Human Rights took the
legislative initiative to propose the amendment of Law No. 8328, dated
16.04.1998 “On the Rights and Treatment of Prisoners”. As a result, the
above law was amended from the Parliament with Law No. 9071, dated
22.05.2003, thus vesting the People’s Advocate with power on the
inspection of prisons.
2- In addition, we have submitted to the Human Rights, Law and
Public Order and Secret Services Commissions, a recommendation to
initiate the amendment of article 4 of Law No. 8292, dated 25.02.1998
“On the Special Forces and Fast Intervention”, because the existing law
does not contain any legal ground to punish the policemen who violate
human rights.
The Human Rights Commission submitted the amendment to the
Parliament, which rejected it.
We would like to thank the deputies, Vangjel Dule, Pjeter Arbnori,
Shpetim Kateshi and Ligoraq Karamelo for taking into consideration our
recommendations and submitted them to the Parliament.
We will provide you with details on the relevant sections of this
Report.
25
C. In addition, during 2003 we have submitted to the Parliament
the below recommendations:
1- Recommendation to ameliorate the Electoral Code regarding the
right to vote of the incarcerated people at the place of incarceration and
not at their residence. We submitted this recommendation to the
bipartisan commission who drafted the Electoral Code during 2003. The
recommendation was not included into the code even though they
verbally agreed on the proposal.
2- Recommendation to the Human Right Commission to take into
consideration and take appropriate measures of the requirement of the
article 57 of the Penal Code which count one day in pre-prison equal to
one and a half days in prison when the incarcerate has exceeded the preprison time after the court decision has been into effect. This
recommendation is under consideration.
It is our duty to provide more information to the Albanian
Parliament concerning our activity, the situation of legitimacy, and the
implementation of human rights by the Albanian public administration.
Apart from that, we should be making best use of our opportunity to
make direct recommendations to the Parliamentary committees the
attainment of their legislative initiative to the interest of protecting the
fundamental human rights and freedoms.
3. People's Advocate and Constitutional Court
According to the Constitution of the Republic of Albania, the
People'
s Advocate is included among the subjects entitled to commission
and set in motion the Constitutional Court.
But, according to article 134, of the Constitution, the subjects
entitled to set in motion the Constitutional Court are classified in two
groups: subjects entitled to submit a request unconditionally, and subjects
entitled to submit a request conditionally “concerning cases related to
their own interests only ". This difference derives from the content of
article 2, article 134, of the Constitution. The People'
s Advocate is
included in the target group of subjects entitled to approach the
Constitutional Court conditionally.
Defining through interpretation the range of issues, which
constitute "interests of People'
s Advocate", the very moment we
commenced our activity, was significant as regards the functioning of the
People'
s Advocate Institution. Therefore, in June 2000, we addressed the
26
Constitutional Court with our request to interpret the signification of
"issues related to the interests of People'
s Advocate".
In compliance with its competencies, through adopting its Decision
No. 49, dated 31.07.2000, the Constitutional Court decided that “People'
s
Advocate enjoys the right to submit his request to the Constitutional
Court concerning the compatibility of legislation, or normative acts with
the Constitution, or international agreements, concerning the
compatibility of international agreements with the Constitution, as well as
to interpret the Constitution, provided the issue concerned is associated
with his interests". In addition, the People'
s Advocate is entitled to submit
requests as regards issues related to his function of protecting the
individual'
s legitimate rights, freedoms, and interests, provided they have
been violated by illegitimate and incorrect actions or omissions
committed by public administration bodies and identified by People'
s
Advocate, as wells as when the constitutional rules related to the
organization and functioning of his institution have been violated". We
are pleased with this Verdict adopted by the Constitutional Court, since it
does not restrict our duty as defenders of the fundamental human rights
and freedoms.
The entitlement to address the Constitutional Court is envisaged by
paragraph c of article 24 of Law No. 8454, dated 04.02.1999 “On
People'
s Advocate”, which determined that “In case the People'
s
Advocate notices that it is the content of law, or normative acts, but not
their implementation, which enables and leads to the violation of human
rights, recognized by the Constitution or other laws, the People'
s
Advocate is enjoys the right:
c) To recommend the Constitutional Court the invalidation of such
acts".
We have applied our entitlement to submit four requests with the
Constitutional Court in three instances. The example of the following
case has been reflected in the 2000, 2001 and 2002 reports.
1. In his letter, a citizen, former land owner complains that the
Decision of the Council of Ministers No.119, dated 18.03.2000 “On the
privatization procedures through bidding the state-owned packets of
shares for the commercial companies operating in the non-strategic
sectors” has restricted him and the other former land owners, having
equal conditions, one of the fundamental human rights, e.g. exercising the
right to his legitimate property.
Having examined the case concerned, the Constitutional Court,
through adopting the Decision No. 26, dated 24.04.2001, decided to
recognize our request, hence invalidating as anti-constitutional, paragraph
27
1, clause “c” of Council of Ministers Decision No. 119, dated 18.03.2000
“On the privatization procedures through bidding the state-owned packets
of shares for the commercial companies operating in the non-strategic
sectors”, as well as paragraph 4 of Council of Ministers Decision No.
438, dated 14.08.1995 "On Privatization of the State-Owned Enterprises
Transformed into Commercial Companies", only as regards the sections
wherein it has been stated: First “and the land price determined according
to the Council of Ministers Decision No. 312, dated 30.06.1994”, and
Second “... in proportions corresponding to the land price recognized by
the respective Decision adopted by the Council of Ministers No. 312,
dated 30.06.1994”.
The verdict adopted by the Constitutional Court has been
welcomed by public opinion, especially by the former owners of the land
wherein the state-owned objects subjected to privatization have been
built. On the other hand, this verdict is significant, since it constitutes the
constitutional foundation for the entire legislation, which should be
changed by the Albanian Parliament, subsequent to the application of
paragraph 1, article 181 of the Constitution, which obliges the Albanian
Parliament “within a period of two to three years from the time this
Constitution comes into effect, to issue and adopt the laws correctly
regulating the various cases associated with the expropriations and
confiscation carried out before this Constitution has been endorsed,
thereby guided by the criteria envisaged in article 41". (Guarantees to
protect the right to private ownership.) Therefore, we have sent a copy of
this decision (even though it was published in 1991 in the Official
Gazette) as a reminder, both to the ad hoc Parliamentary commission in
charge of drafting a new Law on Restitution and Compensation of the
Former Owners, and the Commission on Law and Constitutional Issues.
We expect that even the draft laws prepared by the Parliament,
subsequent to article 181/1, of the Constitution, should be endorsed
taking into consideration this verdict, so as to completely observe the
entire range of the fundamental rights the enormous stratum of people,
respectively former owners, are entitled to.
As a result, the government made changes accordingly. Thus the
Decision No. 119, dated 27.02.2003 “On some changes and amendments
of the Decision No. 119, dated 27.02.2003 of the Council of Ministers
“On the Procedures of the Privatization through Auction of the State
Shares of Stocks of the Commercial Companies operating in the nonstrategic sectors”, pg. 3 foresees:
Pg. 1 of letter “C” of chapter I, annulled by the Constitutional
Court Decision No. 26, dated 24.04.2001, should be amended as follows:
28
“1. The former land owner, as a plaintiff, contrary to the other
plaintiffs, in accordance with Law No. 7698, dated 15.04.1993, “ On the
Restitution and Compensation of the Former Owners”, changed by other
laws, are entitled of shares of the company under privatization, based on
the surface of the land defined with decision of the Commission on
Restitution and Compensation of the Former Owners, within the limits of
the company and the price of land, as described in the Decision of
Council of Ministers “ On the Criteria and Procedures of Evaluation and
Selling of the Land of State Enterprises, subject to privatization or
conversion into commercial company (as well as the land of state-owned
companies).
2. In 2001, we have submitted a request to the Constitutional Court
to invalidate as anti-constitutional part of Law No. 8377, dated
22.07.1998 “On declaring moratorium and obligations of the former
enterprises of Foreign Trade Ministry of the Republic of Albania due to
the foreign creditors”.
Unfortunately, as we mentioned in the 2002 Report, the
Constitutional Court failed to the treat the case essentially and
fundamentally, so as to examine our claims that this law violates the
rights of the juridical subjects (equivalent to the individuals'rights,
provided they are in compliance with article 16/2, of the Constitution.)
The Constitutional Court, through its Decision No. 178, dated 08.11.2001
rejected our request on the grounds of "lack of legitimacy":
“The People’s Advocate requests the annulment of a law that is not
considered as an administrative public act. Therefore, this court,
subsequent to the application of article 134/2 and article 60 of the
Constitution, concludes that in the situation that the People’s Advocate,
not being an interested party in the case, lacks the legitimacy to initiate
proceedings by this court.”
In the meantime, the Constitutional Court decided upon another
request submitted by the People’s Advocate concerning the anticonstitutionality of paragraph 3 and 5, article 289 of the Customs Code,
which in our opinion violate article 13 of the European Convention on
Human Rights, and article 8 of the Universal Declaration on Human
Rights “On an Effective Complaining”.
We submitted the request to the Constitutional Court in November
2001. The Tirana Chamber of Commerce and Industry is a party in the
process. According to article 134, pg. f of the Constitution, the Chamber
of Commerce may address to the Constitutional Court for issues relating
to its interests (to us this attitude seems a paradox, because the
29
Constitution vests the Chamber of Commerce with the same prerogatives
as for addressing to the Constitutional Court.)
On January 24, 2002 the Constitutional Court envisaged the case.
The People’s Advocate presented before the court the arguments why this
court should accept his request and we included the argument in the 2002
report.
After more than 2 years, Constitutional Court with Decision No. 2,
dated 13.02.2004, dismissed our request by a majority of votes (3 to2), on
the basis of lack of legitimacy from the People’s Advocate requesting the
annulment of laws issues by Parliament.
In the previous reports, we have emphasized that the People'
s
Advocate implements the verdicts adopted by the Constitutional Court,
but nevertheless is not deprived of his right to express his opinions
concerning the juridical constituent elements of any law or judicial
verdict, within the framework of academic discussion.
Therefore, in our opinion, the Constitutional Court, through
adopting Decision No. 178, dated 8.11.2001, has acted in contravention
with its previous Decision No. 49, dated 31.07.2000, serving to interpret
paragraph 2, article 134 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania.
As pointed out in several occasions, Decision No. 49, dated 31.07.2000
has been welcomed in terms of the scope of activity it offered the
People'
s Advocate, as genuine defender of the fundamental human rights
and freedoms in Albania, which has constituted and still constitutes the
essence of interests for this Institution. As regards the transition countries,
even the conclusions of the Ljubljana Conference, organized by Council
of Europe, with the National Human Rights Institutions, have emphasized
that “... It is important for the Ombudsmen to be capable of submitting to
the Constitutional Court an evaluation of the legal and constitutional
aspect of rules”. The above Constitutional Court verdict has been
criticized by Human Rights Watch in its 2002 Report, published in
January 2003 in the section about Albania: “a Decision of the
Constitutional Court (ruled in 2001) seemed to have considerably limited
the competence of the People’s Advocate to initiate any proceedings
regarding the constitutionality of the legislation.”
We would like to make it easier to understand by presenting to you
the fact that Constitutional Court has legitimated the Helsinki Committee,
that is an NGO, to submit requests before this court regarding the
violations of human rights, and consider the request submitted by the
People’s Advocate, a constitutional institution, as lacking the legitimacy
by the Constitution.
30
4. People’s Advocate and Human Rights Situation in
Albania (General Opinions)
The 1998 Albanian Constitution, in article 15.1 foresees: “The
fundamental human rights and freedoms are indivisible, inalienable, and
inviolable and stand at the basis of the entire juridical order”, while
paragraph 2: “The organs of public power, in fulfillment of their duties,
shall respect the fundamental rights and freedoms, as well as contribute to
their realization”. The limitation of the rights and freedoms provided for
in the Constitution may be established only by law for the public interest
or for the protection of the rights of others. These limitations may not
infringe on the essence of the rights and freedoms and in no case may
exceed the limitations provided for in the European Convention on
Human Rights and the European Union Human Rights Charter (Nice
Convention.)
It must be highlighted that the legislation related to human rights in
Albania is modern in character thanks to the merging of the entire set of
international standards on human rights. The Albanian Constitution
envisages that the norms and principles recognized by international law,
and the international agreements recognized by Albania, are an integral
part of the Albanian legal system, likewise these norms are a priority as
compared to the Albanian legislation applicable. However, there is still
much to be done on the part of the judiciary and the public administration
as regards the implementation of the international standards associated
with the genuine protection of human rights in Albania.
The People’s Advocate avails himself of the opportunity to offer
special considerations on the human rights issue. In this report, in the
section focusing on certain areas, we have expressed our opinions about
the situation of human rights and freedoms in Albania. Whereas, as
regards the problems we are introducing in the following, we have relied
not only on the complaints submitted to our Institution, but also in the
information, and surveys published in the Albanian media, whose
credibility is, of course, of average degree. Naturally, even the reports
focusing on Albania, submitted by the prestigious bodies and institutions,
such as the Council of Europe, European Union, Human Rights Watch
and especially the Reports on the human rights and freedoms in Albania,
submitted by the US State Department, have been taken into account.
- The right to life, as one of the fundamental human rights, remains
in danger, as long as weapons stay in hands of people out of control, who
use them everyday to take other people’s lives. As we have mentioned in
31
the previous report, the law on collecting weapons hasn’t been effective
and the structures have failed to put it into implementation.
The right to life was the main focus of the National Conference
organized by the People’s Advocate in December 2001. The Conference
aimed at initiating a joint national strategy by all the state bodies and
NGOs, as regards the imperative and sustainable preventive measures in
defense of the right to life, especially targeting the phenomenon of blood
feud. The conclusions and Recommendations drawn by the Conference
have been published. To our knowledge, the Ministry of Public Order,
Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Social Affairs, Ministry of Local
Government and Decentralization and Ministry of Education and Science
have been responsive to our recommendations.
- It is common knowledge that the situation of individual freedoms
and rights, such as freedom of expression, press, media and television,
freedom of conscience and religion, individual freedom, inviolability of
habitat, freedom of privacy and correspondence are guaranteed by law.
There are and will be complaints, or their defense through the judicial
processes organised, but in our opinion, the individual rights and
freedoms have been respected. Therefore, the violators of human rights
and freedoms have been punished, in cases where the individuals whose
rights have been violated have proven such violations.
- However, with respect to freedom of press, media, and television,
it should be admitted that such freedom has been exceeded in several
instances. Various journalists have failed to take into consideration what
is foreseen in No. 8517, dated 22.07.1999, “On Protecting Personal Data
Confidentiality". Not infrequently have our Media provided detailed
personal data, which violates the right of privacy according to the
aforementioned law. This phenomenon is far more pronounced in cases
of charges on criminal offences, even more in cases when the children
(minors) have been accused and inflicted detriments or cases involving
trafficking in women.
Quite often, the journalists have run to take photos or interviews
and provide the whole identity of the abused children or trafficking
women and ignoring that such actions cause irreparable damages to the
abused victims. We have observed that there are journalists that are
attached to the police and get the information in the first place.
-Law guarantees political freedoms and rights, such as the right of
election, organization and assembly; hence they are generally respected.
As we have mentioned in the 2002 report, we have implemented and
strongly relied on the principle of impartiality, so as not to compromise
us in the natural unhappiness of politics, which is always associative of
32
competitions to power. Therefore, the People'
s Advocate would like to
state the view that he completely agrees with the respective evaluations.
In addition, everyone involved should contribute towards implementing
the ODIHR Recommendations, with a view to respecting the fundamental
right of free vote for every citizen of the Republic of Albania.
The People’s Advocate submitted two recommendations regarding
the election for the local governmental bodies held on October 12, 2003,
made open to the public since August 2003, and appointed the Chairman
of the Media Monitor Board.
First, removing of the dead from the list of voters. This
recommendation has been partly considered.
Second, not including as members of electoral commissions from
the Central Electoral Commission, persons that had been involved in
falsifications or showing behaviours that implicate the image of the
electoral process. This recommendation was rejected, and actually during
the electoral process some of those people caused problems. In fact, the
2003 elections have been criticized for that, and the irregularity on the
voter’s lists. We suggest that, apart from creating an accurate voters’
register, the Electoral Code needs to be changed and amended and the
judges should be appointed to monitor the counting of votes and the
publication of results, with participation of the commissioners from
different electoral subjects.
Third, the appointment of the Chairman of the Media Monitor
Board from the People’s Advocate during the electoral process resulted in
a positive assessment of the activity of the Board from all the electoral
subjects.
- It has been rightly observed that several other rights and freedoms
have been violated or failed to be realised. The International Conference
on the trafficking of children, held in Tirana on January 19, 2004, with
the initiative of the Council of Europe and The Ministry of Labour and
Social Affairs, emphasized that, even though Albania has ratified the UN
Convention “On the Child’s Rights” since 1992, trafficking of Albanian
children remain a very critical issue. Trafficking on children is a known
worldwide phenomenon, especially for the former dictatorship countries.
While Albania is a transit country for other forms of trafficking, as drugs,
prostitution and illegal immigrants, she is a source of trafficking for
children. Without minimizing the positive steps made during those two
last years, especially the strengthening of border control and drafting by
the Government of the National Strategy on Children, the number (not
officially) of trafficking children during 1991-2000, went up to 4000, of
which 3000 went to Greece and 1000 to Italy. These children without
33
parental care face maltreatment, sexual and physical abuse, organ or other
kind of trafficking. Their family or relatives have sold some of them to
different mafia and criminal organizations and especially girls between
14-18 years old have been used for large profits.
Most of the trafficking children come from divorced families, those
who lack education and parental care, families with numerous children
and in a very difficult economic situation, rural families with several
children who expect from older children to support the rest of the family,
orphans, children whose parents work or live abroad, children
abandoning school and working on the streets as beggars or doing illegal
work.
The living situation of these children is miserable, they are forced
to do difficult jobs, especially baggers, working for hours and being paid
less than other trafficking children. Those children serve as a good target
for trafficking because they are low-cost and make high-incomes.
Trafficking of children is made in the same ways as other
trafficking; sometimes the traficants use false documents as their parents
or guardians. We have had complaints regarding the international
adoptions of Albanian children as a way of trafficking but we need to
investigate those cases in particular.
Street children, most of them coming from gipsy or roma
populations, represent the most vulnerable category who are mostly
exposed to maltreatment, danger, illiteracy, malnutrition, and ending up
working as beggars, street vendors, shoe polisher, etc.
Some of those children have abandoned school, others work parttime after school and help their families. Those children belong mainly to
families that have emigrated from the rural regions of North of Albania to
big cities in central part or costal regions. In North Albania, numerous
children, prone to blood feud, are in a really miserable situation.
The reasons that have caused the increasing of trafficking are
relating to the very low economic and social situation of the country, the
crisis that the Albanian family is facing today, and foremost the nonimplementation of laws and lack of cooperation of different bodies, like
police, the office of general prosecutor, courts, Intel, school, local
governance, social and aid institutions. There have been cases where
corrupted state employees have favoured the phenomena and none of
them have been sentenced for their illegal actions.
The People’s Advocate during the examination of each case has
considered the obligations issued by international conventions and
internal laws. As a result, People’s Advocate has informed the competent
authorities to take proper measures. Some cases are made public and we
34
have seen positive results. In 2003 we submitted recommendations to the
Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Public Order in order to alert them
about the importance of the issue and to remind them to take complete
control of their structures in achieving the obligations emanated from
international and Albanian laws protecting the rights of children.
Also, we have recommended that there be solid grounds for a
dynamic and effective cooperation between the Ministry of Labour and
Social Affairs, Ministry of Education and other governmental and nongovernmental bodies, as mentioned in the Strategy of Government on
Children, but are far from being enforced.
This coming year, in collaboration with Save the Children, we will
establish in our office, a sub-section, dealing specifically with children
issues. But in our opinion, Albania in the current situation needs a strong
state structure, which will promote and protect children rights from
abusive behaviour of state authorities and individuals. This requires
political and financial commitment and a legislative reform as well.
In our opinion, it is indispensable to draft a law on the children'
s
rights, which would contribute to the protection of children'
s rights. In
addition, in our view, the special minor'
s courts and lack of a penitentiary
system for minors are not functioning. Failure to establish the Centre of
Minors'Education (with special focus on establishing the separate minors'
prison) is worth noting.
- Women'
s rights violations are really serious and grave. There are
no official and accurate figures on the number of the Albanian girls
subjected to trafficking and prostitution all over Europe, especially in
Italy and Greece, except those provided by the Media. Women'
s
trafficking for prostitution remains to be a serious problem, treated in
terms of organised crime, is even trans-national in character. However, it
seems as if the burden of success or failure has been shifted to the law
enforcement bodies, police, prosecutor'
s office, court of justice, etc. Even
the regional initiatives in this respect have no chances to offer final
solutions for the phenomenon concerned, since the reasons leading to it,
are of political, social, cultural, economic nature, and so on.
As we mentioned in our previous reports, it is important to
strengthen legislation, adopt programmes and policies, even monitoring
this process by the respective bodies assigned by the governmental
structures to carry out this task specifically. “The Committee for Equal
Opportunities”, now being a part of the Ministry of Labour and Social
Affairs, having the same number of staff and experts (13) as the People’s
Advocate, seems to be focused on doing studies and outlining policies.
35
We think its reorganization will help in being more concrete and effective
in protecting and promoting women’s rights in Albania.
- Treatment of prisoners and detainees remains very problematic
even though there have been some successes over the years. Low health
care is a significant problem for several handicapped persons. Treating
the mentally sick persons in our mental hospitals is a great concern as
well. The Albanian press has been often dealing with the problem of
grave hygiene, food, heating, accommodation conditions, etc. The
situation has been described and presented even in the previous reports.
The CPT (European Committee for the Prevention of Torture) and
Council of Europe inspections during 1998 and 2001 continuously have
presented the situation as desperately grave. We deeply welcome
publishing of the above reports from the Albanian Government and
express our conviction, that Parliament and the Government will take
measures to comply with the CPT recommendations.
- Health care, aid, and social assistance stay at poor levels for lack
of financial resources as well as corruptive and abusive behaviours. We
welcome the ratification from Albania of “The Revised European Chart”;
thereby its implementation requiring concrete steps by authorities.
It is understandable that not all the economic and social aspects can
be fully guaranteed. However, the government should take steps forward
not backward in terms of accomplishing them. Although it might be
difficult for everyone to be employed, the government should make
maximum efforts to offer employment opportunities, equal chances, and
an adequate working environment. In this respect, the Ministry of Labour
and Social Affairs should develop strategies, which should have accurate
figures concerning the capable labour force, periodically informing the
government of the real situation, thereby proposing concrete measures to
overcome this situation.
- Corruption is widespread both in the administration and judiciary.
We would like to cite our Prime Minister’s speech held on January 26,
2004 during the assessment of the government activity for the year 2003:
“Rendering justice from the court is still a torment for citizens and
institutions, even though the previous year marked a positive step toward
the enforcement of the court decisions, which has increased the trust of
people in the courts but not in the justice system. As a result, the selfjustice remains an open door for committing crimes by citizens”.
Therefore, we recommend that we need to continue to improve the legal
framework, e.g. the legislative techniques in all levels; fighting the
corruption inside the judiciary; the need for improvement in the activity
of the Inspectorate of High Council of Justice; the approaching of the
36
national legislation with the international standards and mechanisms,
especially on issues like money laundering, corruption, terrorism and
protection of witnesses; improvement of the relations between Public
Prosecution’s Office, Police and Courts; and fighting organized crime.
As a conclusion, it should be emphasised that the Parliament and
the Government in Albania are responsible for the situation of the
fundamental human rights and freedoms. In this framework, aware of his
role, the People'
s Advocate has a clear vision of his responsibility and
duties in protecting the fundamental human rights and freedoms of
citizens.
5. People's Advocate and Media
The public image of the People’s Advocate, as a national
institution protecting human rights, takes a great importance in our daily
activity. The collaboration with the Media has been considered as the
most efficient means of acquiring the necessary access to the public, as
well as creating the indispensable integrity in exercising the function,
which both the Constitution and the Law "On People'
s Advocate" have
envisaged.
Public relations include, amongst other things, the ethics with
individuals and institutions as well, regardless of the hierarchy. But they
take their dimension through contacts with the fourth power, the Media.
It has always been the vision of the People'
s Advocate that public
relations signify not only the communication with public through the
Media, but also the transparency concerning the institutional relations
between him and the Parliament, Government, Local Government,
NGOs, i.e. everything our institution creates and performs within the
scope of its jurisdiction, through employing the competencies recognised
by law.
Relations with the Media have been a priority for our institution,
because our objective is to earn the public’s trust. We are confident that
success can be achieved through responding to the complaints with a high
professionalism and being transparent and open to the public. We have
aimed to void any demagogy in relations with the Media. We believe that
we have succeeded by applying a unique strategy of communication,
which consists of three levels: first, we have provided to the Media,
materials from existing cases; second, we have given general opinions by
explaining our mission, competences and jurisdiction after every concrete
case; third, the notifications for the Media have been distributed
considering the case and the office activity.
37
Irrespective of the drawbacks present in any newly established
institution, the practice so far has identified the problem-range made
public in the media, as well as reflected in the activity and performance
tables for our institution, appended to our report.
According to the 2003 statistics, we have appeared 340 times in the
written media and 97 times in the electronic media, which represent 100
more contacts compared to the year 2002. This shows not only the
quantity of our work but the quality as well, which consists in
geographical diversity and variety of themes.
Being in touch with the Media has helped us to become acquainted
not only with the complaints of several individuals, but also the Albanian
Government’s priorities. Hence, we have addressed our efforts towards
attacking and creating precedents in those government areas, which
required the establishment and enhancement of public services standards,
the implementation of the right to information, transparency, privacy of
personal information, in the activity of police forces, and other areas, as
reflected in the respective chapter for this report.
We have seen the Media as our ally to inform the public opinion
about the resistance we face sometimes from some public officials who
don’t take into consideration the recommendations made by us, moreover
they forget that even though the recommendations are not mandatory,
they have to act in conformity with them because they are based on the
laws. We would like to thank those officials who have welcomed our
suggestions and have proceeded in conformity with them. As for the
public servants that have not reflected our recommendations, we are
providing this Parliament with concrete cases throughout the report and it
is its task or the responsibility of high officials of the state administration
to take proper measures and to find responsible employees that violate the
rights of citizens while exercising their powers. The People’s Advocate is
considered as an “extended arm” of the Parliament and the annual report
is the instrument of how the People’s Advocate has observed the activity
of the public administration upon the individuals, which have vested
those organs with power through their votes and expect in return to be
represented by them in the state institutions.
The media and press organs have been given the notification
thereby requiring the accreditation of a journalist, who would maintain
permanent contacts with the People'
s Advocate institution. In this respect,
the commissioners prepare monthly statistics related to their respective
sections. As advised by the People'
s Advocate, these data are made
available to the Spokesperson, who will reflect them in the press, as the
occasion arises. In our practice, the journalists could contact at least three
38
staff members. The goal has been better clarification of the problem to be
dealt with in the press, as well as to transmit to the Media the idea we
intend to convey to the readership, with a view to educating them with the
correct legal practices.
The variety and diversity of the problem-range employed in our
commitment to the press has been reflected, on a no comment basis, in
the respective tables concerning media coverage. Similarly, even
proceeding from the headlines of information by us and about us, the
activity performed is evident.
The information the press provides constitutes a significant aspect
of our activity, as is the case with commissioning and setting in motion
spontaneously, at our initiative foreseen by article 13 of Law “On
People’s Advocate”. The entire spectrum of the Albanian daily and
periodic press is especially screened every day in our office.
The information, which is interesting in terms of our office scope
of activity, is distributed to the respective sections, according to their
problem-range. Afterwards, depending on the circumstances, following
the respective verification carried out, they either initiate investigation, or
record them for research purposes.
As regards the media coverage strategy, we have taken into
account the enhancement of public awareness, and the educational effect
of information targeting both the citizens and the public administration.
That has been possible through continuously covering in the press all the
instances of understanding by the administration, thereby restoring the
rights of the citizens that had been violated. Apart from that, the press has
assisted us even through its role as a means of exerting pressure on us, on
the administration or, on the individuals vested with public authority,
provided the latter have turned a deaf ear towards our recommendations.
The means employed have been envisaged in the strategy initially
formulated for our informative and explanatory activity targeting various
community groups. During year 2003, we managed to republish in
English and Albanian the brochure “People’s Advocate in Albania – The
Ombudsman”, two new posters on several issues of human rights, the
publications “Legal Acts, Protecting the Rights of Albanian Prisoners
Abroad” and “The Right to Information, a Fundamental Right”, five
leaflets regarding the mission, the competences and the ways of
addressing to the People’s Advocate; An informative and promotional
documentary film on the institution of the People'
s Advocate was
produced and is broadcasted by most of the local and national TV
channels. We have likewise produced five institutional spots, with a view
39
to informing our public concerning the services we offer and the ways of
acquiring such services. These forms of activity will be further enriched
in the future. Installing information technology has enabled us to work
towards having our web site, wherein the individuals interested in our
office and its activity can find the entire range of information required.
It is understandable that media coverage is always in compliance
with the problem-range and work intensity of our institution.
In addition to periodically analyzing the activity of each section,
we have also been making efforts towards implementing the essential
issues of our strategy in the area of public relations, especially through
the Media. In all, this Strategy of media coverage, as an important part of
Public Relations, has been formulated in the year 2000 and has been
published in the previous reports.
A. The Section of Public Relations
1. Organizational Work
The Office of Public Relations is part of the People’s Advocate
structure. The considerable amount of requests, complaints and
notifications we receive from individuals for violations of human rights,
brought the need to establish the office of public relations which, in 2003,
was restructured into the Section of the people’s complaints. At the same
time, we have ameliorated the infrastructure within this office in order to
better serve the needs of people, through creating facilities in presenting
their complaints, how to access the state documents, being transparent in
our work and providing them with professional legal aid. We have
implemented the experience of our homologue offices in Europe, Spain in
particular. We have always kept in mind to implement the foreign
experience within the framework of the regulation of our Constitution and
other laws, which recognize to citizens, the right to complaint,
information and fair solution to their problems from the public entities or
public officials.
The relation with the public is a very important aspect of our
activity. The People’s Advocate constitutes a structure whose mission is
protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms of the citizens. We
have aimed at insuring strong and good relations with citizens and as a
result, we have acquired their trust. We have become part of the solution
to their problems and the Office of People’s Complaints has its merits.
This office has helped citizens in filling their complaints or requests,
40
orienting them to the right institution if their request is beyond our
jurisdiction and further assistance after accepting the complaint.
2. Summary of Statistics
Taking into the account the high number of complaints and the
variety of the problematic, we would like to give more details on the
Section of People’s Complaints. During year 2003, the Section of the
People’s Complaints received 2160 complaints and requests. In the table
below, we have displayed the complaints monthly and those within our
jurisdiction.
Month
Accepted
Complaints
January
Febuary
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
158
147
163
184
204
192
210
50
219
237
186
210
30
22
43
52
44
41
42
28
50
70
56
40
2160
527
Total
During year 2003, out of 2160 complaints or requests, our institution
examined 527 or 24%; while 1633 or 76% even were not within our
jurisdiction, our office has provided them with the relevant information
and help to address to the right authority. Out of them, 1098 or 51% were
beyond the jurisdiction of the People’s Advocate and 535 or 25% needed
consultations, legal aid for problems other than the scope of People’s
Advocate.
41
3. The Topics of Complaints
We have reflected the complaints accepted by our office
throughout the report, but we would like to give you an expose of the
problems raised in the complaints and requests that are beyond our
jurisdiction to be considered by this body to understand the range of
people’s concerns and problems.
Referring the first category of complaints, those beyond our
jurisdiction, we have noticed that most of them complain against the court
decisions of all levels as unjust, unfair, prejudiced and a huge
disappointment. Through facts presented on their complaints, the citizens
seem to have lost the trust of the judiciary. Also, we have received a lot
of complaints toward advocates who, instead of representing the clients’
rights in the court, act as intermediary in bribing the judges and
prosecutors. We have had complaints for advocates that have not
represented their clients throughout the whole process or have not
returned the money for an unfinished job. These phenomena speak for
elements of corruption, low job performance of ethics and
professionalism and illegal interests.
Another big concern for the citizens is the property issues. The
Commissions on the Restitution of the Former Properties through their
decisions have created many conflicts between citizens, such as
recognizing more than one owner for the same property, suspicious
owners, and restitution of the properties prohibited by law located in the
urban area.
The same phenomenon happened with the rural properties by
creating conflict between the former and new owners, which flounder at
the courts for months and years. We also would like to point out that
some citizens have reflected illegal behaviors by occupying land and
agricultural plots, which have caused many problems including murders
or other criminal felonies.
Another phenomenon quite different and spoken with protest and
half voice regards the procedures of application for foreign visas of
Albanian citizens and the discrimination that Albanians face abroad from
foreign authorities. From all the complaints we have received, we have
recognized that especially Italian and Greek Embassies treat Albanian
citizens without respect and dignity that a human being deserves.
Moreover, they deny the visa without any explanations and there is no
way that they can complain because there is no such foreign competent
authority in Albania. Besides, no legal aid is provided by state or private
entities to help people in these situations. The same situation exists with
42
the extradition of Albanians from other countries. The procedures
foreseen by foreign countries are too short and they can’t physically
protect themselves before the foreign authorities. Also, we have had
complaints about the brutal and inhuman treatment of Albanian at the
border checkpoints and prisons from Greek police.
Another group of complaints beyond the jurisdiction of the
People’s Advocate, which have been considered and given the right
suggestions to citizens are those relating to the conflict between the
citizens and the private judicial subjects, mostly the dismissal of
employees, the lack of job contracts, failure from the private companies
to pay the prime of insurance for their employees, failure to pay the
salaries and other payments for a long time, and failure to respect the
status of the disposed people by the construction companies. In those
cases we have advised the citizens to address to the competent authority
(such as the State Inspectorate of Labor) to receive the necessary legal
aid. We have made it clear to the citizens that the People’s Advocate can
use his powers to intervene only when there is a failure from the
competent state authorities to solve the problems,
As a result of the overwhelming work, the office of People’s
Complaints was vested with other functional tasks. Legal advice,
direction to the right authority, and suggestions for solving different kinds
of problems are to be followed for many individuals.
As a conclusion, after more than two years of the activity of the
Office of the People’s Complaints, we are aware of other ways of
communicating with the public can be implemented and we are drafting
strategies to make relations with the citizens easier, more intensive and
continuous, finding good-understanding from the citizens during
considering and solving of their problems.
B. Open Days, an experience to be continued
As we have reported in the 2002 report, we started to implement a
new experience, so called “Open Days” as a way to a direct
communication with the public. This form reflects a new vision we took
to help citizens in need. Under the new circumstances, emerged by the
decentralization of local government, the People’s Advocate thinks that
the problems should be given a solution at the place where they appeared.
Every local representative, during his/her election and later on, promises
to make the village, commune or city a better place to live, where the
good governance will prevail.
43
“Open Days” was successfully experimented in many cities and it
seems to be very efficient. We got to know every day people’s problems,
most of them never find their way to a solution for many reasons. This
form reduces considerably the bureaucratic procedures, financial costs as
well as the abusive behaviors from certain officials and authorities,
resulting in the citizens becoming more trustful of the state, institutions
and the legislation. On the other hand, it intends to change the attitude of
citizens toward the state: looking at it not like a stranger or in a hostile
way, but a guarantee, standing up like a parent to his own child.
It is our opinion that local authorities could have resolved a lot of
problems if they had shown devotion and commitment to the people.
It is our short-term goal to extend our services to 5 isolated faraway cities in the country. To this purpose, we have drafted a project, but
we have not been able to implement it because of the lack of financial
resources.
Nevertheless, we are aiming to make it a regional project, through
the cooperation of our office with the respective offices in the Balkans,
such as Macedonia, Kosovo and Montenegro. We expect to get necessary
funds from the FRESTA project of the Kingdom of Denmark. As a result,
we used the funds left from the DANIDA project to buy two vehicles,
which should be converted into two mobile offices in order to implement
our objective, being close to the citizens where their problems appear.
6. International Relations
Being part of the big family of Ombudsmen, during the
international activities organized in 2003, we have made public the
achievements of the People’s Advocate in Albania and have exchanged
reciprocal experiences with other Ombudsmen. These contacts and
exchanges have been very productive in our work and have served to
create a close collaboration with our homologues offices.
Therefore, we have participated in several international
conferences, study visits and training, as follows:
I. Activities organised by the Council of Europe
a) The Fifth Conference on the “Reform on Judiciary”, in the
framework of the Second Plan of Action for an Efficient Performance
of the Judiciary signed on May 23, 2001 by Albania, the European
Commission and the Council of Europe
44
Sarande, 10-11 February 2003
The People’s Advocate presented a report on the performance of his
institution for the three years of his functioning, highlighting the efforts
made by the office of the People’s Advocate in implementing the
administrative procedures correctly and the restitution of the violated
rights of citizens by public authorities. He underlined that the intervention
of the People’s Advocate plays an important role in the situation that
there is not an administrative court in action.
The participants pointed out that the People’s Advocate has
established close relationships with state authorities. They greeted the
constructive way the People’s Advocate has operated in cases requiring
actions from the state. The participants underlined the support that the
People’s Advocate has received by the international community and the
need of strengthening the cooperation, especially training of the staff and
the further development of the case-managing system. They agreed on the
role of the People’s Advocate to help people to get justice and having an
efficient justice system.
b) Seminar on the “The Role of the European Convention on
Human Rights for the Protection of Human Rights and its
Employment by the People’s Advocate”
Tirana, 17-178 March 2003
The People’s Advocate in collaboration with the General Directory
of the Human Rights at the Council of Europe organized in Tirana, from
17-18 March 2003, a seminar on the “The Role of the European
Convention on Human Rights for the Protection of Human Rights and its
Employment by the People’s Advocate”.
The seminar intended to analyze the employment of the European
Convention on Human Rights during the assessment of the complaints of
the citizens from the People’s Advocate office.
Representatives from different foreign and national organizations
participated in the seminar. The Ombudsman of Slovenia, Mr. Handzhe,
presented a paper about the historic background, mechanisms and the
principles of interpretation of the ECHR, the role of the Ombudsman on
the protection of human rights and his cooperation with other national
institutions and NGOs
45
c) Conference, Commemorating the 5th Anniversary of the
Approval of the Structures of the Convention on Protection of
National Minorities of the Council of Europe
Strasburg, October 30-31, 2003
The conference, commemorating the 5th anniversary of the
approval of the structures of the Convention on Protection of National
Minorities of the Council of Europe, held in Strasburg from 30-31
October 2003 was focused on the exchanges of experiences and
perspectives from the participants regarding the achievements on the
implementation of the mentioned convention which was defined as
universal mechanism on the protection of national minorities, which is a
warranty for the stability and security of the democracy in Europe.
Representatives of our institution participated in the conference.
d) The 8th Round Table of the European Ombudsmen
Oslo, 3-5 November 2003
The People’s Advocate, Mr. Ermir Dobjani participated in the 8th
Round Table of the European Ombudsmen, organized by the Council of
Europe, in collaboration with the Parliamentarian Ombudsman of
Norway, held in Oslo, Norway, from November 3-5, 2003.
The conference was centered on the exchanges of experiences and
information on the situation of human rights of the member states, in
particular:
- Legal status of prisoners
- Human rights of minorities
- The right to access of the official documents from the public
- The powers of Ombudsmen and tribunals
The Ombudsmen emphasized the need for inclusion of European
standards and mechanisms on human rights into the strategy of their
institutions, in particular the measures taken by Ombudsmen in assuring
the respect and protection of human rights of citizens.
II. Activities organized by United Nations Organization (UNO)
a)
The session of the Annual Report of the International
Committee on the Coordination of the National Institutions
on Promoting and Protecting of Human Rights
Geneva, April 15-16, 2003
46
A group from the People’s Advocate participated as observers on the
session of annual report of the International Committee on the
Coordination of the National Institutions on Promoting and Protecting
of Human Rights, held in Geneva from 15-16 April, 2003. The group
was informed about the activity of the committee and his strategy on
the strengthening of national institutions, coordination of work and the
institutional methods of supporting the states for the protection of
human rights. In his speech, the High Commissioner of Human
Rights, highlighted the important role that the national institutions on
human rights should play as well as their commitment to raise the
awareness of the member states on respecting the principles embodied
on the conventions.
b)
Round Table on the National Institutions and the Justice
System Administration
Copenhagen, November 13-14, 2003
Two representatives from the People’s Advocate participated in the
Round Table on the National Institutions and the Justice System
Administration, organized by the High Commissioner of Human Rights
of the United Nations, in close collaboration with the Danish Institute of
Human Rights, held in Copenhagen on November 13-14, 2003,
commemorating the 10th anniversary of the approval of the Paris
Principles. This round table was intended to raise the awareness of the
state bodies of the state members on assuring a better access of the
administration of justice from the national institutions on protection of
human rights. The round table emphasizes increasing the role played by
the People’s Advocate in the justice system through his role as amicus
curia, as well as the collaboration with the offices of public prosecutor
regarding the investigations and the prevention of violation of human
rights.
III. Other International Conferences
a) The 1st Meeting of the Ombudsmen of Western Balkans
Sarajevo, January 24-26, 2003
People’s Advocate, Mr. Ermir Dobjani, invited by the Ombudsman
of Bosnie-Hercegovine, Mr. Frank Orton, joined the first meeting of the
47
Ombudsmen of Western Balkans, held in Sarajevo, on January 24-26,
2003. The meeting aimed on discussing the issues with common
interest, exchanging opinions on the current concerns and experiences
relating to the useful methods to fight the bourocracy and bad
administration.
An important place was given to the discussions on the
organization of the National Ombudsmen as a unique institution and the
best model on the fulfillment of the task of protecting and promoting
human rights.
b) The 19th Annual Conference of American Ombudsmen
(TOA)
Orlando, Florida, May 19-21, 2003
Two representatives from the People’s Advocate took part in the
19 Conference of Ombudsmen of the USA, held in Orlando, Florida
from 19-21 May 2003. The topic of the conference was “Ombudsman
Challenge: Balance of Theory and Practice”.
The Association of American Ombudsmen (TOA) is the biggest
non-profit association of professional ombudsmen, representing more
than 400 members from all over the world. This association promotes the
best organizational experiences of Ombudsmen in the world,
concentrating on corporate, universities, nonprofit, profit and state
organizations.
The participants had opportunities in round tables to discuss
different issues of general importance including: relations of Ombudsman
with the Media, impartiality, equality and justice, as work methods of
Ombudsman and sharing their experiences on different concerns.
The People’s Advocate delegation gave a presentation on the
experience of our office, the achievements and difficulties we face on
accomplishing our mission.
th
c) Seminar on the “Role of Ombudsman in South-Eastern
Europe – The Strengthening of a Rule of Law State as an
Important Step Toward Integration in Europe”
Athens, May 22-23 2003
As part of ‘Project Eunomia” of the Council of Europe and the
Greek Ombudsman on the promotion of the institutions of Ombudsman in
the Eastern-South Europe, from May 22-23, 2003, in Athens, was held a
48
seminar on the “Role of Ombudsman in South-Eastern Europe – The
Strengthening of a Rule of Law State as an Important Step Toward
Integration in Europe”. Two representatives from our office took part in
the seminar, and discussed the ways of strengthening the role of
Ombudsman as an important factor on the stability of the country and the
regional cooperation of Ombudsmen as part of the integrity of the
European Community.
d) Conference on “Ombudsman in Old and New Democracies”
Innsbruck, June 26, 2003
Invited by the European Ombudsman Institute (EOI), a
representative of the People’s Advocate took part in the conference
“Ombudsman on the Old and New Democracies”, held in Innsbruck by
the European Ombudsman Institute (EOI) in close collaboration with the
University of Innsbruck on June 26, 2003. The conference focused on the
comparative issues and the help of the European Ombudsmen to expose
the diversity in legal and practical ways of their activity.
The role of Swedish Ombudsman was assessed as very efficient
and a positive experience of the tradition, legal framework, powers and
achievements and a good example that European Ombudsmen are long
lasting, safe and successful.
e) Visit of the Albanian Deputies and the People’s Advocate in
Denmark
Copenhagen, July 2-4, 2003
From July 2-4, 2003, the People’s Advocate and seven Deputies
of the Albanian Parliament, members of the Law and Human Rights
Commission, visited Denmark, where they had an opportunity to meet
with representatives of high-level institutions, such as the Danish
Parliament, Ombudsman and Police and learned about the Danish
experience.
f) The First International Conference of the Balkan Network
on Human Rights
Zagreb, October 3-4, 2003
49
A representative of the People’s Advocate took part in the first
international conference of the Balkan Network on the Human Rights on
“The South-Eastern European Commission on the Human Rights – the
Opportunities and Perspectives”, held in Zagreb from October 3-4, 2003.
The conference was focused on the necessity of the creation of an intergovernmental entity focusing on the improvement of regulations and
practices of human rights in the Region. The conference proceeded on
these three topics:
- The necessity of the regional cooperation of the Human Rights
National Institutes with NGO’s working on human rights issues.
- The necessity of the cooperation of the respective governments
with Human Rights National Institutes and NGOs.
- The necessity of establishing a South-Eastern European
Commission on human rights issues.
g) International Conference on “The Evolution of the Ombudsman
Institute in Europe” and the Annual Meeting of the Members of
the International Ombudsman Institute (IOI) for Europe
Nicosia, Qipro, October 9-10, 2003
Invited by the Commissioner for the Administration (Ombudsman) of
Qipro, Ms. Eliana Nicolau, two representatives of the People’s Advocates
participated in the International Conference on “The Evolution of the
Ombudsman Institute in Europe” and the Annual Meeting of the
Members of the International Ombudsman Institute (IOI) for Europe,
organized in Nicosia from 9-10 October, 2003.
h) The Statutory Congress of the Francophone Mediators and
Ombudsmen Association
Yasmine Hammamet, Tunis, October 14-17, 2003
Being a member of the Francophone Mediators and Ombudsmen
Association, which comprises 40 Ombudsmen and Mediators from 30
different countries, the People’s Advocate took part in the statutory
congress of this association on “ Ombudsman/Mediator, an Actor of the
Administrative Transparence”, held in Yasmine Hammamet, Tunis, from
14-17 October, 2003. The congress highlighted the necessity to protect
the values of the democracy, the rule of law state and the rights of
individuals and develop the above idea in four subtopics as follows:
1. Ombudsmen/Mediators and Corruption
50
2. Ombudsmen/Mediators and Administration
3. Ombudsmen/Mediators and the access of official documents
4. Ombudsmen/Mediators and the access of personal data from the
administration
i) The Regional Conference of the South-Eastern European
Ombudsmen
Sofia, Bulgaria, November 28-30, 2003
Invited by the Bulgarian Parliament and the Greek Ombudsman,
Mr. Yourgos Kaminis, the People’s Advocate, Mr. Ermir Dobjani,
participated in the Regional Conference of the South-Eastern European
Ombudsmen, held in Sofia on 28-30 November 2003. The conference
took place in the framework of the Council of Europe project
“EUNOMIA”, aiming to promote the Ombudsman Institutions in SouthEastern Europe through a variety of activities. The project intends to
create and provide middle-term support to the new mediators in SouthEastern Europe, and trainings of the Ombudsmen’ staff for the creation of
international informal network.
The conference was focused on the work performed by the regional
Ombudsmen and to consider important recommendations in order to
accomplish their tasks in the most efficient ways. The conference
discussed the regional experiences and the problems Ombudsmen face
during exercising their functions.
j) The First International Symposium on “Toward an
Uninterrupted Consummation”
Paris, France, December 1, 2003
A representative of the People’s Advocate took part in the first
international symposium on “Toward an Interrupted Consumption”, held
in Paris on December 1, 2003, organized by the Sate Secretary for the
small and medium size enterprises on trade, craftsman, self employment
and issues relating to the consumption.
IV. Visits to Albania by Ombudsmen of other countries
During their visits to the People’s Advocate office, the
Ombudsmen from Croatia and Macedonia expressed their solidarity to
help and cooperate with our institution and showed their gratitude for the
51
successes achieved by our institution. Those exchanges confirm the
readiness for cooperation and integration into euro Atlantic structures.
1. Mr. Ante Klaric, the Ombudsman of the Republic of Croatia,
paid a visit to the Ombudsman of Albania from February 27, 2003 to
March 2, 2003, in the framework of regional cooperation and
collaboration between Ombudsmen.
Mr. Klaric, a 30 years experienced lawyer, after being informed of
the activity of the People’s Advocate in Albania, expressed himself very
positively about the achievements of our institution, underlining that the
advantages of his visit was mutual. During his meetings with high-level
state authorities, he appreciated the understanding relations established
between our institution and the state authorities and highlighted the
necessity of respecting the independence of the People’s Advocate and
the importance of continuous financial support to guarantee the good
functioning of the institution.
2. From 24-27 April 2003, invited by the People’s Advocate, Mr.
Ermir Dobjani, the Ombudsman of Macedonia, Mr. Branko Naumoski,
visited Albania. The purpose of his visit was the establishment of close
cooperation of the respective offices in the framework of the regional
collaboration on the human rights issues.
Working for 25 years in the law field, Mr. Naumoski after being
informed of the activity of our office, evaluated the accomplishments
achieved by our institution during three years of its existence and
expressed his willingness to contribute in the strengthening of the
cooperation between the two offices.
V. Visits of the People’s Advocate to the Ombudsman Offices
across the world
In the framework of bilateral and regional cooperation and
collaboration, the People’s Advocate paid visits to homologues offices of
some countries.
1. From 8-11 April 2003, a delegation from our institution,
headed by the People’s Advocate, Mr. Ermir Dobjani, invited by the
Commissioner of Human Rights of the Russian Federation, Mr. Oleg
Mironov, paid a visit to Moscow.
Our visit occurred after the visit of Mr. Mironov in Albania in July
2002. During the discussions, the Russian Ombudsman highlighted that
52
the law on “People’s Advocate” in Albania, set a very good example to
the respective laws in different European countries, which has reflected
not only the foreign experience but emphasizes the Albanian tradition as
well.
Our delegation was welcomed by the high-level authorities of the
Russian Federation, i.e. the Chairman of the State Duma (Russian
Parliament) and the Vice Minister of Justice.
2. Invited by the Ombudsman of Croatia, Mr. Ante Klaric, the
People’s Advocate, Mr. Ermir Dobjani returned his visit to Croatia
Ombudsman. The purpose of the visit was to exchange experiences
between two offices and strengthening and deepening of the cooperation
through trainings, seminars and other forms of collaboration.
During his visit the President of Croatia, Mr. Stipe Mesic and
other Croatian authorities received the People’s Advocate.
VI. Visits of experience exchange and staff training arranged
for the People’s Advocate staff to the counterpart offices.
1. During the month of February 2003, experts from the
Department of Foreign Relations participated in a two-week
course of English language at the Center of English Language
in Bell, England.
2. From 25-26 September 2003, an expert of our office took part
in the training organized by the Institute of Public
Administration (PAI), London, England.
3. From 20-25 September 2003, a second group of Albanian
experts participated in a training at the Ombudsman office of
the Republic of Slovenia.
VII. Foreign Experts’ Visits to the People’s Advocate Office
1. In January 2003, the Legal Advisor at the Danish Ombudsman,
Mr. Jens Olsen, and the expert of MSI department, Mr. Christian
Moller, visited the Ombudsman of Albania, in the framework of
the professional support our office has been provided by his Danish
homologue.
2. From 9-13 March 2003, two experts from the National Office of
Netherlands Ombudsman visited our institution to afford their
professional experience to our staff.
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7. Relations with International Institutions of Human Rights.
The People’s Advocate has now established a partner relationship with
International Institutes of Human Rights, such as, Amnesty International,
Higher Commissioner of UN for Human Rights, The Committee against
Tortures and Inhumane Treatments.
The object of these relations is the exchange of information for the
particular matters of abuse of human rights from Albanian police forces and the
coordination of forces to the use of positive pressure on responsible authorities
in neighboring countries in situations where an Albanian citizen is abused,
because as we know the People’s Advocate has no jurisdiction.
In fact, Amnesty International, during 2003 requested information for
three concrete matters. The first matter being the Albanian Parliament
positioning in connection with the changes of the law for identification of the
face from Special Forces, the second matter being the murder of citizen V.B. by
Greek police and the third matter the mistreatment of G.D., also from Greek
police.
On the other hand, the People’s Advocate has voluntarily informed
Amnesty International and other international forces of additional incidents,
concrete or general in nature, which are related with the protection and
promotion of human rights from the police force.
The group, Amnesty International, insists that the justice and other
similar departments in Albania are not effective, especially in the matters
concerning what we call the phenomenon of non-punishment of the abusers of
law and human rights.
In connection with the incidents of mistreatment of Albanian citizens
from Albanian police, we sought to recall only one of them reported in the
office of People’s Advocate: the complaint of the parents P.LL and I.LL,
allegedly pretending to be abused by Tirana police.
In the information regarding this incident we have explained that the
citizen D.LL (mother of P.LL and I.LL) on May 27, 2003 has submitted her
complaint against the Station No.2 of Tirana Police because they had used
abusive methods toward the children mentioned above. In her complaint, the
mother states that the physical abuse inflicted on the children caused them to be
in a terrible health situation.
Starting from the nature of the complaint and the practice of our work,
giving priority to verify incidents like the one above, we started to investigate.
54
In this situation, we met with P.LL and I.LL on March 27, 2003 and questioned
them about the incident. However, from them we were told that despite the fact
that the police of Station 2, Tirana, used abusive force, they did not wish to
continue the matter for investigation from the Institution of People’s Advocate
or any other state institution.
Despite our explanations and security measures promising that their
complaint against the police will not be sought negatively, they stuck to their
withdrawal. In this situation based on the law “On People’s Advocate”, we were
forced to stop the investigation. For all the above, we notified the claimant
D.LL, who thanked us for our willingness to help.
In connection with the abusive incident of Albanians from the Greek
police, Amnesty International has been the first to be notified because of their
ability to be sensible, and the reason to inform the right authority from the
Greek state, not to tolerate this incident, which forms a fog of suspicion in an
already existing good relationship between two states and neighboring people.
The People’s Advocate has considered these incidents as an expression of some
xenophobic individuals, Greek toward Albanian immigrants.
Repeatedly, the People’s Advocate has thanked Amnesty International for
the sensible reaction regarding the abusive matters of Albanians from the Greek
army forces, affirming his position with them. Together we have shared the
knowledge of some incidents, in which the criminals with police or army
uniforms live above the state and the law in our neighbor country. The People’s
Advocate has given priority to the abusive incidents not only because of the
nature of the office for investigation of this matter, but also because he has
confirmed that he is about to take the same position regarding any complaint of
Greek citizen living in Albania if they were to be abused by Albanian police.
Referring to the matters publicly known like the murder of citizen V.B.
or the abuse of many other citizens, the People’s Advocate has contacted the
office of his colleague in Greece, Mr. Yorgos Kaminis, and the office of High
Committee for the Human Rights in European Committee, Mr. Alvaro Gil
Robles, The Committee against Tortures and Inhumane Treatments, missing no
opportunity to inform on these issues and even in the table meetings among
different parties such as the Seminar for the Administration of Justice,
organized from the office of Commissioner of UN for Human Rights and the
Danish Institute of the Human Rights in Copenhagen from the 13th to 14th of
November 2003.
During these incidents, we have informed and requested the interference
of Amnesty and of all other International Institutions, and particularly on the
matters involving the translator Greek N. Vavacula, which, despite the fact that
he has no knowledge of Albanian language, is permitted by the Greek Court to
translate for Albanian parties from 1991 to 2000. The Thessalonica Court
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System actions are not in compliance with letter e, pg. 3 of article 6 of the
European Convention of Human Rights. In connection with this incident, the
People’s Advocate has requested from Ombudsman Greek to intervene in the
collection of information from the Judicial Court System of Thessalonica
(Circuit and Appellate Divisions). We need to know the exactly number of
times for which the Greek citizen that we referred to earlier, has been a
translator, and after this to look at the possibilities of reconsidering the
decisions based on a very regular process in conformity with Greek Legislations
and International Conventions.
Recently, we have started a relationship with the Greek Committee of
Helsinki, which we found to be a very active, independent organization for
defending human rights of the foreigners in Greece.
In the end, we can say that it is a pleasure working with all the above
organizations and we always welcome the opportunity to do so in the future.
VIII. National Conference “The Execution of Court Judgments
and Relation with Human Rights”.
Based on article 30, Law No. 8454, dated 02.04.1999 “On People’s
Advocate”, our institution together with other independent organizations has to
organize, at least once a year, national warnings for the condition of freedom
and human rights in the Albanian Republic. Carrying out this obligation on
December 19, 2003, in collaboration with Albanian Committee of Helsinki
(NGO), the National Conference for “The Execution of Court Judgments and
Relations with Human Rights” was organized. In preparation for this
conference, we worked diligently during the year 2003. We started by reviewing
all the complaints regarding the execution of court decisions for penal and civil
matters and all the problems that they presented by monitoring in three different
directions. Relying on scientific measures for formulating the questioners and
the number of plaintiffs and defendants, we interviewed around 100 clerks
around the country, a considerable number of inmates in correction facilities
and the arrested in court jails. At the same time, we interviewed around 300
citizens, all who had a problem with the Bailiff’s Office. The intention of this
monitoring was to see the problem from different points of view. First, from the
execution clerk, second from individuals whose well-being is at stake from
illegal actions or non-actions of the organs of public administration and third
from defendants found guilty.
The goal of the conferences was to raise the awareness of the state
institutions for carrying out the constitutional obligation for execution of the
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decisions of the courts, giving recommendations for a better legislation and
higher professional standards for the state employees in regard to this matter.
Conclusions of the conference were as follows:
1. As we all know, the execution of a court decision is one of the most
important elements of a justice system in a modern state. The organization of
this conference in connection with execution of court decisions as a
constitutional obligation for protection of human rights and individuals
legitimate interests, is taking place in a moment when this is a critical issue for
Albanian society and is, of course, a serious problem for its state. That is why
all Albanian institutions, which are connected to this matter, such as the
Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Public Order and
all institutions of state are interested and obligated to integrate for a conclusion
to this negative phenomena. That’s why the Prime Minister in his Order No.
98, dated 07.14.2003 requested the establishing of a working group to define the
court decisions, with participation of the institutions of State administration and
taking all necessary measures for the execution of these decisions. The Ministry
of Finance will lead this body with representatives from the Ministry of Justice,
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the State Advocate’s Office.
Having always in mind the requirements of the European Convention of
Human Rights and especially the importance that this convention gives to
execution of court decisions, including the timely execution, the dealing of this
issue has to be considered as an integral part of the rights of having a non-bias
judicial system, as article 6 of the Convention foresees. A negative example is
the first case from Albania, which the Strasburg Court has agreed to take to trial,
where the Albanian State is sued for non-execution of a decision from Tirana
Court.
2. It is common knowledge that the organ of execution of court decisions
is the Bailiff’s Office, which with professionalism and dedication has to
complete the legal obligation for realization of individual rights. However, the
Bailiff’s Office, in almost every concrete matter, has obstructions and pressure,
which is important to talk about. The first pressure, the one from the creditor, is
submission for execution, whom tired from a long stress period of court
adjournments, sometimes years long, often judgments and appeals in all justice
instances during each, he/she has lost the patience and expects the execution to
happen as soon as possible. On the other side, the Bailiff’s Office has to
overcome the debtor bulkiness to fulfill his obligation. The Bailiff’s officers are
often harassed or bribed. Sometimes they are prevented from executing the right
decision because of people’s acts or non-acting, without acknowledging the
57
court’s decision. Approximately 40-50 % of the decisions of the Civil Service
Commission that are in favor of the civil servants are not executed.
Unfortunately, these happen with the public administrative institutions because
they have no legal knowledge and do not consult with their legal department.
They refuse execution of court decisions and opt by a new court decision for
temporary suspension of its execution, with or without rights and often in the
same day that the Bailiff’s officer has reserved for the execution. Another
obstacle is the debtor’s change of residency, hiding of the goods or private
property with all kinds of actions that make a financially impossible situation
for fulfillment of this obligation. The smallest obstacle for the Bailiff’s Office
during the execution phase results in monthly postponements. This situation has
made Bailiff’s Office to start financially or penal proceedings. Sometimes the
Bailiff’s Office is to be found before some other unfortunate situations, for
example the one where the court order is contradicted with its decision.
3. Being transparent during the execution of the court decision and
informing the individual against whom the decision is given, is a very
important element, which implies the functioning and values of the Bailiff’s
Office, which are not at an expected level. 16.2 % of the interviewed public
thinks that the Bailiff’s Office is transparent. 57.84 % think they are somewhat
transparent and 21.6% think they are not transparent.
4. Corruption is one of the problems during the time of execution of the
court decisions. During the interview, 27% of people admitted existence of this
phenomenon to the Bailiff’s Office.
5. A very difficult situation found during this time is the non-implementation
of the court decisions from the organs and financial institutions with the
argument of missing funds. For years this acute problem remained unresolved,
not only legally but socially as well, followed by conflicts and drastically
lowering the hopes of performances by the Bailiff’s Office. In local
administration the situation is much more difficult. City Halls have executed
30% and municipalities only 20% of financial obligations to citizens based on
court decision. The debit created toward creditors is not small. For this abuse of
the rights and legal interest of the wining party, many administrative organs
have their legal responsibility. 250 million Albanian lek are planned from the
state budget for the execution of court decisions during 2004, around 100
million Albanian lek more than in 2003. This is a positive step forward in this
process.
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6. The dockets for execution of court decisions result with unlimited
postponement of the voluntarily execution of the decision. We have
noncompliance even when an obligation is very small, especially the support
obligations. From the complaint of the public, 69% of the interviewed said that
execution is postponed from one month to one year. 22.4% from 1-5 years and
3.9% 5 years and above report that their support obligation was never received.
Flagrant are the cases of inspecting of the docket during the process of
investigating the complaint, where was decided non execution of the court
decision for the reason of not founding or nonexistence of debtors property,
without verification and official confirmation from the taxes offices, from banks
of second level or other institutions where we can get the right information for
tangible and intangible property of debtor.
7. The situation of execution of court decisions against the private
companies is very problematic. Around 90.6 % of the interviewed admitted that
they have barred from execution of obligation against the private parties and
private companies. In most cases difficulty has come from missing income and
property of this party and in some cases missing information of the right address
of the debtors is problematic. It is an obligation for the court for their decisions
to clearly state the name and address of the debtors or the convicted party.
8. From the surveys we conducted with the Bailiff’s Office we were
informed that the relationship between the Bailiff’s Office and the state
administration and public is problematic. This situation has an extremely bad
impact, especially considering the fact that most times the organs are the
debtors. On the other hand, the relationship with the Police Department and
Attorney’s Office is in good standing.
9. The Peoples Advocate institution from the beginning of his existence and
the Helsinki Albanian Committee has considered the importance of execution of
court decisions. Often the citizens holding unexecuted court decisions complain
for this or that administrative organ, which does not recognize the court’s
decision by not executing it, are abusing openly the rights of the citizens granted
in article 143 of the Constitution and other legal acts. Beginning in 2001 the
Peoples Advocate has recommended to the Ministry of Finance and the
Ministry of Justice to issue rules and regulations as provided on the Decision of
the Council of Ministers No. 335, dated 2.6.1998 “On proceedings of execution
of court decision for obligations impacting the state budget”.
This
recommendation is included in all annual reports submitted to the Parliament.
At the same time, the information in the complaints of the Bailiff’s Office tells
59
that 95.8% interviewed admitted evidence as barrier contradicted between the
law and regulations of Ministry of Finance for missing the funds.
10. Other observations are missing direct, detailed rules for functioning of
the Bailiff’s Office, obligation coming from pg. 2 of article 10 of the Law “On
Organization and Functioning of the Service of the Bailiff’s Office”. This
discrepancy has resulted in formality in the dockets between the executors,
because we still have not decided which are the necessary acts for execution of
a final decision, the procedure to be able to continue execution of a matter from
another officer in the same office, how the relationship between supervisorexecutives will be built, and other problems, which are part of wide-ranging
practice.
Regarding the execution of penal final judgments based on the complaint
that we received we came to the conclusion that most of the abuse of rights
comes as the result of wrong execution of decisions and the condition of jails,
correctional facilities or detention centers. The complaints from the arrested or
inmates usually are in connection with:
a. The living conditions in all Albanian jails, correction facilities or
detention centers are intolerable.
b. The detained are held for long periods of time in the isolation rooms in
above conditions, because of the overpopulation of jails. To make matters
worse, after the final decision, this time is not counted a day and half correction
time.
c. The families of the detained that are mentally ill, for which the court
has ordered forced medical attention, complain that they continue to remain in
the jail system illegally and do not receive the needed medical attention or
medication in a timely manner.
d. The Supervising Commission, which will oversee the jail complaints,
has not been formed yet, but by law, it should have formed since 1999.
e. The gains from work by those in jail are not satisfactory. Pay rates
have not been adjusted in 1990.
For elimination of this miserable situation in correctional systems, the
People’s Advocate has made its recommendations, and has had constructive
debates with the Ministry of Justice. Time after time, the Albanian Helsinki
Committee has publicly shown and requested from the Ministry of Justice and
the Government new legal legislation for the compensation of the inmates.
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Based on the above
recommendations:
conclusions
the
Conference
drew
these
1. The actual situation connected with execution of final judgments does not
sustain the principles of the rule of law state, and the Republic of Albania
acknowledges especially the human rights and freedom, which are granted by
the Albanian Constitution and all other Conventions and other international
agreements. We require the right concept in connection with the necessary need
for execution in each and every matter and without resistance of court decisions
from every authority or administration created.
2. We must work as soon as possible for a better legislation and especially
the legal acts needed in execution of court decisions. In this matter we have to
always consider their faithfulness to the constitution, which the individuals, that
requesting the execution of court decision must not feel abused in respect with
administrative organs.
3. The Ministry of Finance should make the situation clear, in regard to the
fact that this organ has publicized rules together with the Ministry of Justice for
the proceedings of execution of court decisions, which are going to be paid from
the budget of this institution. This obligation results from the Prime Minister
Order No.355, date 2.06.1998, which is not executed, or based on the article
589 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the Ministry of Finance has to publicize
regulations for execution of the monetary obligations from the budget institution
on behalf of the treasure department. The role of Ministry of Finance for
protecting the treasury with the regulation cannot overcome the constitution
obligation for execution of court decisions. The regulation of Ministry of
Finance has to keep in mind criterion and proceedings, which have to be
respected from the particular budget institution, which cannot act as reviewer of
the court decisions on the subject of their legal basis. This is the only way the
transparence of this institution is going to be growing in this process, at the
same time eliminating maximum corruption.
4. The execution of the court decisions from 85 Communes, which are
declared with the Decision of the Council of Ministers as under the poverty
level, can happen only if the findings for this purpose are given from the
treasury separate from their standard budget expenses.
5. We have to work to raise the responsibility of every Bailiff’s officer,
lift up their loyalty for the work, dedicated respect for carrying out the law.
All these are going to indicate positive steps in forming good attitudes for this
office, the respect and trust from public opinion. The methods for realization
of this can varied, but the most important is reorganization of the work inside
of the Bailiff’s Office. Continuous training, seminars, special analysis of
work-studies and uniformity for the execution practice in county level or
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larger should be given priority. The biggest function is the Chief of the office,
which has to have the right authority, the spirit of action and, especially in
connection with the professional ability of the employees of this office.
6. During the execution of court decisions the Bailiff’s officer has to keep
in mind at the same time the requirements of the international conventions our
country has ratified, especially those on the protection of children’s rights
during the process of the execution of the judgment for support or visitation
rights of the parents. There have been more than a few incidents when the
Bailiff’s officers do not execute these decisions. In this situation is a necessity
alerting of all the competent organs for respecting the rights of individuals and
especially children’s rights, which have to be of a higher level by the state.
Execution of court judgments regarding domestic matters should require the
need and presence of social workers.
7. For a better motivation of the executor’s work, we recommend the
stimulation of pay raises for the employee’s that execute difficult judgments or
a certain number during the year. Ministry of Justice should draft the laws and
legal acts accordingly.
8. For a successful performance of the Bailiff’ officers will need to have
the necessary infrastructure, because 89.6 % think that we do not have it and
81.3% think that this absence lowers the speed and the quality of their work.
Also, working toward filling their needs with office space, storage rooms for
storing the materials, furniture, electronic devices, computers etc., should be
another priority in the future.
9. The Albanian courts should take care of the final judgments to be
completed with all the requirements connected to identifying the debtors or the
convicts and their rights to address for the purpose of execution.
10. In connection with the execution of the final penal decisions and
especially the transfer of the convicts from the detention centers to
correctional facilities, it is necessary to speed the process by respecting the
graphic timing ordered by the decision of the Council of Ministers. At the
same time, Law “On Execution of Penal Judgments” needs to be revised by
noticeably reflecting the times of transfer and for the convicts that have been
imprisoned in detention centers, this time to be calculated as 1 day at the
detention center equal 1 and ½ day for the correction facility or prison.
11. The Ministry of Justice should take all the necessary precautions for the
functioning of the Committee of Supervising the execution of penal judgments
and prepare the regulations regarding the work reimbursement based on the
new conditions.
12. The Ministry of Justice should take all precautions for handling the
psychiatric patients, who are illegally held at Detention Facilities or Prisons;
they should be in a special institution, separated from the correction facilities.
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13. The District Attorney’s offices should do a better job controlling the
execution of final decisions and put before the justice any employee of the
state, who impedes the execution of the court decisions.
* * *
The organization of this conference, participation of directors, high ranking
officials from different ministries, Bailiff’ officers from around the country,
speeches, problems discussed, suggestions for all these matters that this
conference considered are a good positive promise in connection with the
situation for the execution of court decisions.
According to the majority of participants, the conference achieved its
objectives for integrating all state authorities and institutions as well as the
Albanian Public Administration for upholding the constitution, the legal acts
and the recommendations of this conference.
The conclusions and recommendations that emerged during the conference
have been sent to the President of the Republic, the Presidency of Parliament,
the Parliament Committees for Constitutional and Legal Issues, of Human
Rights and Minorities Rights, of the Economic and Finance, General
Attorney’s Office, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Public
Order and the Ministry of Decentralization and Local Government.
We are optimistic that the above recommendations are going to be
considered seriously and fulfilled from all the competent institutions.
IX. Other activities of the People’s Advocate Institution during the
year 2003
Besides following up on the every day activities, for reviewing the
complaints of citizens, the People’s Advocate or his representatives, have
participated and contributed in other activities organized by state institutions
or private organizations. As we noted in our 2002 Report, it constitutes a
professional and civil commitment from our institution to do so. Because the
scale of these events can be the subject of separate publications, we are listing
only the thematic of them:
1. Seminar “On the Convention for Protection of Women’s Rights”
organized by Women’s Forum and the Inter-Country Committee for the
Cease of Blood Feud, February 2002.
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2. Seminar on the “Treatment of the Albanian Civil Servants” organized
by the Department of Public Administration in cooperation with
Worlds Bank, March 2003.
3. Attendance at the debate for the platform of elimination of results of
blood feud in north and northeast Albania, organized by “Fshati i
Paqes”, April 2003.
4. Seminar on “Training of Police Forces working with Passport
Proceedings” organized by the Ministry of Public Order and the
Presidency, June 2003.
5. Round table on “Reform of Judiciary – a Future Challenge” organized
by the High Counsel of Justice, July 2003.
6. Seminar on “Rights of Individuals for Addressing to the Constitutional
Court about Unfair Trial”, organized by Constitutional Court”, July
2003.
7. Seminar on “Problems connected to Law on Land”, organized by the
Committee of Tirana Region and Ministry of Agriculture and Food,
July 2003.
8. Seminar on “ Promotion of the Children’s Rights” organized by the
Center for Defending Children’s Rights in Albania, CRCA, September
2003.
9. Seminar on “Discipline Measures”, organized by the Department
of Public Administration at the Council of Ministers, September
2003.
10. Round table on “National Movement for Freeing Children and
Women Isolated from Blood Feud” organized by Central
Authorities NGO’s and Religion Institutions, September 2003.
11. Seminar on “Protecting the Environment”, organized by the
Training Institute of Public Administration, October 2003.
12. Round table “On the Legal Reform of the Correction Facilities”
organized by Council of Europe, October 2003.
13. Seminar “Matters of Decentralization of Institutions”, organized
by the Department of Public Administration, October 2003.
14. Seminar on “War against Corruption”, organized by the Training
Institute of Public Administration, November 2003.
15. Seminar on “Drafting and Implementation of Projects”,
organized by the Department of Public Administration,
November 2003.
16. Seminar on “Ratification of Conventions for Receiving Child
Support out of State”, organized by Social Service Office and the
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General Directory of the Bailiff’s Office in the Ministry of
Justice, November 2003.
17. Round table on “The New Contract of Albtelekom”, December
2003.
18. Seminar on “The Approval of the New Law on the Consumer”,
organized by the Ministry of Economy, December 2003.
19. Round table on “The New Prices of Electric Energy”, organized
by KESH, December 2003.
20. Military Convention - Ministry of Defense, December 2003.
21. National Conference on Judiciary, December 2003.
22. Participation on the inter-institutional working group for
preparation of national reports presented to international
institutions in cooperation with Ministry of Foreign Affairs
(periodically.)
23. Participation in the Anticorruption Monitor Group (periodically.)
Throughout these events the Peoples Advocate was given an opportunity to
promote the role, competence and the jurisdiction of the institution he
represents, as well as cooperation with public administration and civil society.
The vast problems discussed on those events have been very helpful to us to
defend our attitude toward different authorities. Being very active in the
public and social life is a priority of our office for the future too. We evaluate
the close collaboration with the state administration, judiciary and legislative
power and the civil society and struggle to remain a national body in safeguard
of the protection of human rights.
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CHAPTER THREE
Current activity of the People’s Advocate on complaints, requests
and notifications (cases), categorized according to Government
institutions.
1. Government (Council of Ministers)
Whilst exercising its main function in support of the fundamental
freedoms and rights of citizens in Albania, the People’s Advocate has
simultaneously informed, recommended and proposed to the Prime
Minister and all the ministers on main issues occurring during this
reporting period. Despite the form in which these opinions have been
expressed, we believe that in one way or the other they have influenced
the increase of the standards for better governance.
During 2003, we sent officially to the Council of Ministers,
headed by the Prime Minister Fatos Nano, the following
recommendations, proposals and notifications:
1. Recommendation to take measures in preventing cases of human
rights violations during accompanying, stopping, arresting and suffering
conviction of juveniles between age 14-18 (10.01.2003).
2. Recommendation to take measures in completing the legal basis,
which serves the modern function of the public services of water-sewages
(15.01.2003). We are informed that the Ministry of Territory and Tourism
is working in this respect.
3. Recommendation to take measures in enabling knowledge
increase and implementation of the Law No. 8950 dated 10.10.2002 “On
Civil Status” (15.04.2003). Prime Minister has issued an executive order
giving responsibility to the Ministry of Local Government and
Decentralization.
4. Request to secure the life of witness Z.K. (26.05.2003).
5. Proposal to the Council of Ministers to change the decision of
the Council of Ministers No. 64, dated 02.02.2001 “For the Integration of
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Military Grades in the State Police Grading System and Nomination of
Organic Functions, Derived from Them”. This proposal was initiated
based on the complaints of some police officers, who were given the new
grades during May 2003 (dated 29.05.2003).
Whilst studying Law No. 8643, dated 20.07.2000 “Grades in State
Police” and the decision of Council of Ministers No. 64, dated
02.02.2001, it results that there are irregularities and discordance between
them.
a) Paragraph 1 of this decision is not in full compliance with
paragraph 4 of article 26 of the Law “Grades in State Police”. In the Law,
“the function” is determined as the responsibility to cover or that has
covered, while in the decision “the function” is defined as the
responsibility that the police officer has at the moment this decision is in
power. Thus the decision limits unjustly the law and denies the right to
receive higher grades to those police forces of the state that had higher
grades before this decision came in power, but while unification of grades
can not utilized the new system.
b) Paragraph 2, along with paragraph 1, defines the organic
functions that are covered by the police forces according to the grades.
These functions should have been better evaluated and be given
higher grades. As examples, the function of the order inspector of the
police, who is a crucial element of the State Police structures, according
to the decision is classified as “Primary Agent” and “Assistant”, while it
should have been classified as the “First Assistant” or “Supervisor of
Assistants”. The patrol police, police guards of buildings and other
similar functions, which according to the decision are classified in the
grade of an “Agent”, independent of the years in this profession, should
be classified in the grade of “First Agent”. These changes will encourage
the police forces to be more motivated in their jobs. At the same time a
more objective evaluation can be given according to the functions,
considering the years of employment, qualifications and evaluation of
their performance, which are not the same for all the employees of the
same grade, thus showing differences even within the same grade.
To assume the rights of the complainants, we proposed to the
Council of Ministers to change the decision of Council of Ministers No.
64, dated 02.02.2001, on the above-mentioned points and apply it in
accordance with the law on the basis it was issued. The Ministry of
Public Order is reviewing the proposal and we are expecting a resolve of
this matter.
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6. Recommendation to declare absolute invalidity of the Order of
Prime Minister No. 226, dated 20.08.2002 “On the Communication with
Written and Electronic Media” (date 02.06.2003). This recommendation
initiated from the complaints of the police officer Qamil Hajdari in the
media who was dismissed for the grade given. We have provided the
arguments for the invalidity of this order as following:
a- Limitation to communicate with the media as a violation of the
fundamental rights of the individual, guaranteed by article 22, pg.1 of the
Constitution of the Republic of Albania where it is stated that the “Right
of expression is guaranteed”.
b- The above administrative act, which denies the fundamental right
of expression, is an overstepping of the constitutional legal competencies
of the Prime Minister, because on the basis of article 17 of the
Constitution, “Limitations of the rights and freedom envisioned in this
Constitution can be decided only by law for a public interest or for
protection of the rights of the others. Limitation should be in accordance
with the situation that has dictated it. These limitations should not violate
the core of the rights and freedom of people in any case and should not
surpass the limited defined in the European Convention “On the Human
Rights”.
c- Order No. 226, dated 20.08.2002 “On the Communication with
Written and Electronic Media” was issued based on letter “ç”, pg. 1 and
pg. 3 of article 102 of the Constitution. However it does not quote the
special law, which authorizes the Prime Minister to issue a by-law as
required by article 118 of our Constitution.
In these circumstances, this order is an invalid administrative act. As
such, on the basis of article 117, pg. 1 of the “Code of Administrative
Procedures in the Republic of Albania”, it does not produce legal
consequences, besides the fact if decreed or not.
We proposed to the Prime Minister, to declare the Order No. 226,
dated 20.08.2002 “On the Communication with Written and Electronic
Media” as absolutely invalid.
Our recommendation was left in silence for six months, but after
the complaints of several NGOs in the Constitutional Court, the Prime
Minister by Order No. 157, dated 12.11.2003, abrogated the abovementioned Order.
7. Information for negotiating the requests of representatives of exprisoners and politically persecuted people (03.06.2003). It is common
knowledge that the corresponding draft law is being discussed and is
expected for approval by the competent authority that is the Parliament.
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8. Information on implementation and need for improvement in the
legislation concerning social insurance (23.09.2003).
9. Request for collaboration on the National Conference for the
execution of irrevocable court decisions (date 30.09.2003). The Prime
Minister delegated the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Justice and
Ministry of State Blendi Klosi to collaborate. The conference took place
on 19.12.2003.
10. Recommendation to project adequate funds in the state budget
for 2004 and to conclude within 2005, for the execution of all court
decisions where the state is the debtor, according to the commitment of
the government program in July 2002 (date 15.10.2002). The Ministry of
Finance has informed that it has projected an amount of lek 250 million
in this year’s budget.
11. Recommendation in relation to the need to review the draft law
presented by the Ministry of Defense for amendments in Law No. 8087,
dated 13.03.1996 “For Supplementary Social Insurance of the Military in
the Armed Forces Ministry of Public Order and State Secret Service”
(date 19.11.2003).
12. Recommendation to revoke the paragraph of the questionnaire
“authorization of the producer” chapter three of the Decision of the
Council of Ministers No.1, dated 10.01.1996 “On Public Procurement”
(31.12.2003).
The Prime Minister is informed on a case-by-case basis and in
relation to the problems of interest for the government as discussed with
our collaborating partners during meeting in Albania as well as reflection
in reports or our visits outside the country.
During 2003, we have receive 105 complaints and requests filed
against the Council of Ministers and the administrative institutes under its
subordination, such as the Supervisory Group of Financial Fraud
Schemes, the Office of Tangible Assets Registration, and the
Commission for the Return and Compensation of Property to the Former
Owners, and the Institute for the Integration of Politically Persecuted
People.
a. Supervisory Group on Financial Freud Schemes, under the
Council of Ministers
One of the main themes while reviewing the complaints for 2003
deals with the activity of the Supervisory Group of Financial Freud
Schemes.
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The number of complaints received during this year is 7, while 2
are carried over from the previous year. 6 complaints have been
reviewed, while 3 complaints are under investigation.
Besides the fact that the number of the complaints during this year
has not been as high as in the previous year (15), it is important to
highlight that the problems are of the same nature.
Even during this year, the most acute issue in reviewing these cases
remains non-execution of irrevocable court verdicts, obligatory in
payment of set monetary amounts by the Supervisory Group to the
complainants. The new development in the public administration process
is the creation of the Parliamentary Commission for the review of the
activity of the Supervisory Group in relation to the administration process
of pyramid schemes, including the activity of the independent
administrators assigned for this purpose.
The problems arising in the reviewed complaints are the following:
1. Non-execution of court verdicts by the Supervisory Group,
decisions which obligate the payments to various subjects.
2. Delay in the process of monetary compensations to the creditors
of the pyramid schemes by the Supervisory Group.
3. The way in which the independent administrators have
administered the pyramid schemes and the status of the ongoing process
of transparency.
4. Non-payment of social contributions from the pyramid schemes
for the employees or from the existing independent administrators for the
contracted employees.
5. Non-inclusion in the administration of various properties by the
independent administrators of the former pyramid schemes, property
resulting as transformed in ownership to other individuals.
Some complaints deal with the issues of non-inclusion in the
creditors’ lists of former pyramid schemes. This pretence is raised on the
basis that all deadlines have passed as stated in the corresponding legal
acts. These deadlines would have enabled the ending of this problem.
The evidence highlighted in our previous reports in relation to the
transparency of the Supervisory Group, is also reflected more clearly in
the work undertaken by the Parliamentary Commission created for such
purpose. We observe that in the wholeness of its activity, this
Commission was successful in creating a clear picture to the general
public, in terms of the administration process of the former pyramid
schemes and the possible expected results.
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The communication between this Group and our institution has
been more correct than the previous years, however there are evidenced
delays in responses for specific matters.
As highlighted in the 2002 annual report, an acute issue in the
activity of this organ of the public administration remains non-completion
in full of the transparency process and non-assignment of concrete
deadlines in the process of compensating in monetary values the creditors
of the former pyramid schemes.
We have observed and continue to hold the same position that such
actions, independent of the political and social aspects of the evaluation,
do not support the image of the activity undertaken by the Supervisory
Group.
In relation to the transparency process, the cases reviewed by our
institution are intermingled with the court processes, filed against actions
taken by the Supervisory Group and the appointed administrators of the
former pyramid schemes. Main issue remains non-execution of executive
court orders, which enforce the Supervisory Group to liquidate the
financial obligations to various subjects.
Our recommendations continue not to be implemented or represent
partial unjustified implementation, although they state an evident
violation of court decisions execution. This was reflected also in the
National Conference, organized in December 2003, on the execution of
court decisions.
One of the most difficult consequences resulting from the existence
of pyramid schemes is the category of people that lost their houses by
depositing the money received from real estate sales in the pyramid
schemes. In the social aspect, it is to be commended the latest Decision of
the Council of Ministers No. 792, dated 26.11.2003, which orders the use
of the remaining funds captured from these schemes and build apartment
complexes for this category of people.
Another critical issue observed in the activity of the independent
administrators and the Supervisory Group is non-payment of social
insurance contributions for the employees that continued to work in the
unsold assets of these companies, even after they were taken under
administration. In the responses given in these cases, the official excuse is
classifying these expenses as liquidation in the conclusion of the
transparency process.
We judge that such an attitude is unjust and incorrect. Since the
start of employment relationship of these individuals, on the basis of
administration performed by the independent administrators and the
Supervisory Group on these entities, there is a direct relationship with the
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new employer, which is obliged by law to make payments of all
obligations towards employees, including the contribution for social
insurance.
Below is an example of a case reviewed:
Citizen Xh.M. along with a group of other citizens, in the
complaint addressed to our office, pretends as the following:
These citizens were creditors of the “Gjallica” company since
1997. Meanwhile they pretend that the apartments in which they are
actually living in Tirana, were properties of the above-mentioned
pyramid scheme, thus they claim that these apartments should belong
to them in the form of compensation.
The complainants also pretend that citizen P.SH. falsified the
documents claiming the properties mentioned (the apartments) are
under his name. They object this claim.
Besides the pretence, the complainants, among other things, clarify that
they have approached the Supervisory Group to make known their
complaint. They also filed a denunciation with the Tirana Prosecutor’s
Office. As for the above, they requested the intervention of the People’s
Advocate office to resolve their case.
With acceptance of this complaint to be taken into review by our
institution, we requested explanations in relation to its treatment by the
Supervisory Group and the Tirana Prosecutor’s Office.
The independent administrators of the ”Gjallica” company
addressed these issues in writing in the document No. 1, dated 14.01.2002
and document No. 100, dated 2.07.2002, to the General Prosecutor’s
Office and document No. 115, dated 3.08.2002, to the Tirana
Prosecutor’s Office.
In relation to the pretence that the apartments should be given as a
compensation to the complainants, as they are creditors to this company,
it has been clarified to them that on the basis of Law No. 8386, dated
30.07.1998, “On the ways and procedures of property sales to judicial
non-bank entities that have obtained loans from the general public”, each
property of the pyramid scheme companies shall be sold through public
auctions based on article 6, pg. 6 and 3, which favor the creditors that
have deposited capital in these companies.
Progressively and repeatedly we addressed this case to the Tirana
Prosecutor’s Office and the General Prosecutor’s Office, and we learnt
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that the respective penal case was filed in the court against citizen P.Sh.
accused of obtaining property through false documentation.
In these circumstances while the case is under the competence and
jurisdiction of the court, we decided to cease its review. The court will
prove and decide finally on the falsification of the property documents
and will pass the property under the possession of the independent
administrators as an asset of the “Gjallica” company, which evidently
will increase the benefits for the creditors.
b) Complaints against the Tangible Assets Registration
Office (ORTA)
During 2003 our Institution received 44 complaints with the
common denominator: delays in the registration of tangible assets, of the
yards of private property resulting in not being able to have proof of
property. Twenty-six complaints have been reviewed and 9 are resolved
in favor of the complainants.
It is important to highlight from the very beginning that ORTA and
our institution have collaborated and expressed mutual understanding of
our work. Among all the district offices it is worthy to mention the ones
of Tirana, Pogradec and Lushnja, which have taken immediate actions
upon our intervention in order to make the initial registration of tangible
assets, respectively for citizens F.T., Sh.J, E.L. and K.A. In none of the
reviewed cases, the employees of these offices have shown abusive
behavior or wrongly implemented the Law “On Registration of Tangible
Assets” and the Regulatory Framework for these Offices. Inaction for the
reviewed cases has come from failure to present inclusive documentation
by the complainants. The positive solution of these cases was due to the
presentation of complete files in a short time, which paved the way for
starting the initial registration. Other complaints were found biased due to
over placement of property one upon the other and lack of property proof
for yards. The complainants have been advised on a case-by-case basis to
address the court to resolve their conflicts. It is very difficult to convince
the citizens that each over placement in the mortgage registrar, each
registration of tangible assets claimed when proof of property is lacking,
or each de-registration of property is a conflict in itself and it is only the
court that can resolve the issue. These complaints cannot be resolved in
an administrative way. Still the citizens claim that the employees of
ORTA have taken corruptive actions. However this was not true for the
cases observed.
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One of the main encumbrances in reviewing these complaints,
consequentially bringing misunderstandings, is the unjustified delays in
responding to the issues by some of the ORTA district offices, which do
not respect the 30 days deadline, as stated in the People’s Advocate Law.
Another tight spot to draw attention to and already made public is
the hesitation to register property based on irrevocable court verdicts,
thus openly violating the rights and legitimate interests of the individuals.
The Central Office for Registration of Tangible Assets should
unify immediately the practices of the offices under its supervision in
compliance with pg. 3 of article 142 of the Constitution, which enforces
state organisms in the execution of irrevocable court verdicts. Any
objection to these court verdicts should be made only through legal
means by requesting review of the irrevocable verdicts, as foreseen in
article 494 of the Civil Code. Otherwise, the only alternative is to register
the property obtained by irrevocable court verdicts.
Another problem requiring close attention is the fact that more
transparency is required in the daily operation of these offices. There
should be official notifications delivered or the documents should be
exhibited as examples in board notifications in the facilities of these
offices. There should be more officers at the information desks in order to
better communicate with the citizens and handle their concerns in a fastpaced environment.
c) Complaints against the Commission for the Return and
Compensation of Property to the Former Owners (CRCPFO)
The number of complaints under this category has drastically been
reduced during 2003 in comparison to 2002. This is due to the fact that
the majority of former owners and their families are waiting for the
approval by the Parliament of changes in the legislation dealing with the
issue to better possibly compensate this category. A total of 27
complaints were received, out of which 21 have concluded and six are
passed for review in 2004. The majority of the complaints raise the claim
of delays in the examination of their cases to recognize and physically
return their tangible properties. The end outcome after proper verification
is that these claims were subjective due to the fact that the documents
they had filed with the respective commissions were not complete and
lacked crucial papers such as property plans, land marks which would
define and identify properly their claimed properties. Some complaints
were evaluated as correct and we are waiting for the commissions to
review them on the basis of our recommendations. A few complaints
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dealt with the disagreement with the decisions of the Commission of
Property, which had not returned claimed land plots free for construction.
As the solution of these cases is under the jurisdiction of the court where
the property is located, the complainants have been guided to follow legal
ways in resolving these claims.
It is worth evidencing that there are no complaints from previous
years for inaction of the local government to return physically those
properties already recognized by the Commission or properties of such
nature.
A problem in its own nature remains the return of the land from the
state farms. Beside other reasons dealing with the correctness of the
documentation from the ex-owners, in many cases the Commission of
Property and the Land Commission have previously divided these plots.
Due to this fact, along with the annulment of the acts to receive the land
as property, the arable land of the state farms has not been registered.
This is the case for the co-founders of the state farms in Vlora, Korca, and
Elbasan. The Land Commissions of these counties need to complete their
work.
A group of special complaints consist of those physical persons or
groups of citizens in some villages of Himara and Saranda that express
their dismay for the way in which the existing legislation is being
interpreted for this matter. Our institution has expressed its opinions and
made suggestions for the possible changes in this aspect of legislation.
However it is the Parliament that has the last say to offer a final and
balanced solution by approving the law that is under its review.
d) Institute for the Integration of the Persecuted (IIP)
A total of seven complaints were filed against IIP, out of which,
five are out of our jurisdiction, and two are under review. From the
complaints carried over from 2002, three complaints are out of our
jurisdiction and one is settled in favor of the complainant.
One of the main problems addressed to our office by this category
of the population is shelter. There exists a legal framework for the
homeless politically persecuted people who benefit free housing
(Decision of Council of Ministers No. 476, dated 10.10.1994 “On the
Housing Procedures for Former Politically Convicted and Persecuted
People by the Communist System”. Although a considerable amount of
requests have been made to the IIP from the persecuted people who
should benefit housing from the state, and although IIP has requested
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every year sheltering funds for this category of people, yet the state has
not allocated the required amounts in the state budget.
The most critical and emergent point raised in some of the received
complaints is renunciation of the compensation for the years suffered
under dictatorship regime. In May 2003, a representative body of the
former political prisoners’ associations requested a meeting with the
People’s Advocate where they laid two issues: first, they demanded the
intervention of the People’s Advocate to the police organs for more
tolerance in relation to the demonstrations organized by them, to exercise
their own rights; secondly, a consultation and possibly the intervention of
the People’s Advocate to the government, so that the latter would finally
take concrete actions in compensating for the years suffered in the
dictatorship’s prisons.
For the first request, the People’s Advocate suggested the proper
implementation of the law on free gathering, which required a better
involvement from both parties: the associations and the police forces.
After that, there has been no evidence of violence during these
demonstrations.
As for the second demand, the People’s Advocate had a meeting
with the Prime Minister Fatos Nano. The latter suggested that the
People’s Advocate should act as an intermediary with the persecuted
people, who in their turn, were represented in three groups. He requested
for a unification of demands and participation in the working groups
created via Premier Minister’s Order to define the possibilities to fulfill
these demands.
The persecuted accepted the intermediary role of the People’s
Advocate and expressed their commitment for the institutionalization of
the dialogue to find solid solution for the compensation within
constitutional boundaries and laws in force. During May-June 2003
several meetings took place in the People’s Advocate office with
representatives of the former political prisoners’ associations, government
and IIP.
The representatives of the three groups were able to unify their
requests in relation to compensation for their work and years spent in
prison during communist system. Their requests complied with the stand
of the People’s Advocate that the solution of their demands should
produce a bill as wholly a responsibility of the government. All parties
should design and negotiate a strategy, which guarantees a solution in
proper time of all the demands.
The working group assigned by Prime Minister Nano, in
September 2003 concluded the detailed verification of all the actions and
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inactions of state institutions and the possibilities for the compensation of
the politically persecuted people on the basis of drafting a law that would
bring the final solution to this problem.
It is common knowledge that unfortunately the country is
undergoing the phase where the will of the political parties is not yet
materialized in a solution. It is positive the fact that everything reached
and negotiated in the round tables served as an awareness base for the
concrete solution and financial terms of this problem, acceptable in
principle by all parties. Simultaneously, the People’s Advocate facilitated
the institutionalization of the debate, unification of the requests and
elimination of absurd confrontation, thus offering inclusion and
participation in concrete commitments.
2.
Ministry of Justice
During 2003 we reviewed a total of 306 requests related to
authorities under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice, and
concretely with the General Directory of Prisons and the General
Directory of Bailiff’s Offices.
Even during 2003 the collaboration with this ministry has been
qualitative and effective.
a. Complaints against the prisons and the penitentiary
administration
There were many complains coming in relation to the prisons and
the penitentiary administration. Prisons are still closed institutions and the
freedom of expression is limited, thus making it easier for the violation of
prisoners’ rights. As a result, our institution has provided a particular
attention to the complaints from these individuals.
During 2003, the personnel of the People’s Advocate has visited
almost all the prisons in service and the isolation rooms of the police
stations in the districts, where convicts with a court decision finally
disposed and detainees waiting to appear to the court, are kept.
Up to the end of 2003, there were 2057 prisoners kept in prison and
137 convicts kept in isolation rooms of the police stations. 1115 were
under investigation, as their verdicts were not yet announced. Thus a
total of 3200 persons were deprived of freedom, out of which 3000 were
by the end of 2002.
During the visits in these institutions, we met personally with 245
prisoners and/or detainees. In 136 cases, the complaints of the convicts
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were in a written form. A total of 379 persons complained, including
prisoners, their family members or prisons’ administrative personnel who
have brought to our attention their cases relating to the judicial
administration, prosecutors’ office and the prisons administration.
As a characteristic for the prisons during 2003, we can highlight
the organization of several inspections in the prisons, isolation rooms, and
psychiatric institutions. This fact shows that the public’s trust is
increasingly growing in the protection of the rights and freedom of
prisoners, detainees, mentally ill persons and others. During 2003
assistance was offered via telephone to make complains and verify their
cases. This means of communication has resulted as efficient. In 18 cases
(included in the total amount), the prisoners reported their complaints via
telephone lines, placed at their disposal. This indicates a greater openness
of the Albanian prisons and is a high achievement of the People’s
Advocate institution. Phone calls were received from prisoners kept in
Greece, as in the case of prisoners S. K. from Larisa prison in Greece.
136 prisoners presented their complaints in a written form.
Classified according to the prisons, the statistics are as the following:
1. Prison 313 Tirana
2. Prison 302 Tirana
3. Prison 325 Tirana
4. Lushnja Prison
5. Tepelena Prison
6. Burrel Prison
7. Vaqarr Prison
8. Penitentiary Prison
9. Rrogozhina Prison
10. Kruja Prison
11. Detention Cells
12. Prisons outside the country
16 complaints
13 complaints
03 complaints
08 complaints
10 complaints
23 complaints
19 complaints
02 complaints
02 complaints
03 complaints
27 complaints
10 complaints
The family members of the prisoners reported a total of 22
complaints, and the Directory of prisons or the police stations in districts
brought in 5 complaints. According to gender division, 126 complaints
came from men and 5 from women.
In relation to the status of completion, the complaints are described
as below:
From 136 received complaints, 127 complaints are resolved, while
20 are under investigation. 11 pending complaints from 2002 in the first
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months of 2003 all are completed, six in favor, three refused and two
under appropriate competence review.
In the resolved cases, 48 of them or 35% of the total are in favor of
the complainants, 55 of them or 40 % of the total are forwarded to the
competent organs, and 24 complaints or 18% of the total are considered
as groundless or refused as invalid, and nine cases are under review.
According to their nature, the complaints are classified as the
following:
1. Many of the prisoners complained that they are unjustly kept in
the isolation rooms of the police stations, when the court decisions have
been pronounced as final verdict long ago.
They claim to have been violated the right recognised by article
462 of the Code of Penal Procedure ordering immediate execution of the
judicial verdict, when pronounced as a final verdict. The number of
complaints of this nature during this reporting year is 17.
For this reason, the People’s Advocate institution undertook an
inspection and it resulted that a significant number of convicts is being
kept and continues to be kept unjustly in the isolation rooms of the police
stations in the districts (in 31. 12. 2003 there were 137 convicts with an
irrevocable verdict in isolation rooms) kept unjustly in these places. The
main cause for the convicts kept in these rooms is the lack of high
security prison capacity, as the court has ordered for their detention. By
the end of 2003, Peqin Prison, which functions in almost full capacity,
accommodated the majority of the prisoners with a final verdict.
For the concrete cases of convicts with presented complaints, we
have recommended that they were immediately sent to prisons and these
recommendations were accepted.
As previously highlighted, one of the main directions of our work
has been and will remain the final settlement of the issue of prisoners
kept unjustly in the isolation rooms.
In the ongoing meetings with the highest officials of the Ministry
of Public Order and Ministry of Justice, we have requested that measures
are taken to gradually pass the isolation rooms under jurisdiction of the
Ministry of Justice until final solution is given to this issue. In the April
2002 meeting, they acknowledged their commitment for the final solution
to this issue.
This problem was followed in a continuous manner exercising
pressure to the Prisons Administration till the government issued the
decision No. 327, dated 15.05.2003, to pass the detention system under
the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice. Our office is still tracking this
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process, as currently only the isolation rooms in Vlora have passed under
the appropriate jurisdiction.
We believe that there are other means to the solution of this
delicate problem. The overpopulation of prisons cannot be resolved by
building new prisons. More importance and priority should be given to
the preventive efforts to be undertaken by all the society and Albanian
government and secondly the prosecutors and courts should exercise a
fairer policy in implementation of alternative measures. We should be
more rational that not everything is resolved by jailing people. The
deprivation of freedom is an extreme measurement and should be given
and used only if other alternative measures do not apply due to the high
threat of the penal wrongdoing of its author.
2. Mentally ill prisoners kept unjustly in the prison’s hospital.
Even during 2003, there is a continuation of the problem of the
individuals for whom the court has taken medical measurement of
obligatory medication.
As reported during 2002, the People’s Advocate inspected the
hospital of the prisons to investigate the status of mentally ill for which
the court has taken medical measurement of obligatory medication, and
are kept unjustly in imprisonment conditions. From the inspection, it
resulted that these persons, although not convicted, are still kept with a
prisoner’s status. Another hindrance, for finally resolving this matter,
comes from the non-fulfillment with necessary acts and by-laws to
protect these individuals. The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of
Justice should issue these acts and by-laws.
For this purpose, we made the recommendation, dated
13.05.2002 for the augmentation of the requests in Law No. 8092, dated
03.02.1996 “On Mental Health” to issue regulations “On security
measures of persons that the court has not taken obligatory medical
treatment measures”. Our recommendation is addressed to the Ministry of
Justice, Ministry of Health and the former Prime Minister, Pandeli
Majko.
This law defines the responsibilities of the Minister of Justice and
the Minister of Health and Minister of Environment to approve the
regulations for the obligatory security of people, which have committed a
penal dead and are given a verdict from the court and who should suffer
their punishment in a psychiatric institution. Although six years have
passed since the time the law “On Mental Health” has been approved, this
set of regulations is not yet issued. Actually all the convicts with
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obligatory medical treatment, in complete violation with the law, are still
living in the prisons hospital or in some cases in the police stations. This
status speaks for failure to execute article 28 of the Constitution of the
Republic of Albania which states that each individual has the right to
human treatment and respect of dignity, and has left open avenues for
abuse with the legal obligations towards the rights of freedom of these
people, while aggravating their mental health.
In response to our recommendation the Ministry of Health claims
this problem resolved as Kruja hospital has passed under the jurisdiction
of the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry of Justice responded to our
recommendation stating its commitment to enable to functioning of Kruja
hospital and issue the guide as requested.
In reality, former Kruja hospital operates as a prison and not as a
mental institution, to accommodate the above-cited category of prisoners.
As the law forbids the placement of these persons in normal prisons, their
removal to this prison should not be considered as a solution.
During 2003 our institution has insisted on the issuance of the
appropriate guide and the proper placement of these people
We believe that the government has not lacked the will to solve
this problem. This conclusion is drawn from the commitment of the
Prime Minister, who during May 2003 ordered the creation of a working
group to make concrete proposals to the solution of this problem.
Recently, along with the Ministry of Justice we are co-authors of the
project proposing solutions to the Prime Minister. During January 2004,
part of the Elbasan psychiatric hospital is assigned for this placement and
a draft guide has been prepared.
This issue will continue to be our concern and priority even during
2004.
3. Use of force or other violations from the prison police.
Upon approval by the Parliament of the Law No. 9071, dated
22.05.2003 “For some changes in Law No. 8328, dated 16.04.1998 “On
the Rights and Treatment of Prisoners”, the People’s Advocate has the
right to visit without prior approval and make inspections in the prisons.
Following the implementation of this law, the People’s Advocate
organized an inspection in Burrel prison. This inspection was organized
due to the facts available at our institution that the prison police exercised
violence in this prison. It resulted that there were case of violence from
the police in this prison. Our evidence was made present the General
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Director of Prisons, Minister of Justice. The Head of the Parliament, Mr.
Servet Pellumbi was also informed.
Another case is the prisoner E.M., who via telephone complained
that the police of Tepelena prison exercised violence towards him. Upon
receiving this complaint we went immediately to the Tepelena prison and
started an investigation. With the collection of evidence it resulted that
violence was exercised. Thus we recommended to the Prosecutor’s Office
of Tepelena to initiate penal procedures for the police officers involved in
this act. The Prosecutor’s Office of Tepelena responded to our
recommendation by starting the case procedures.
A complaint for maltreatments from the prison police was filed in
our office also from the convicts A.G. and V. L. Their complaints were
verified within one day. Recommendations were made to take measures
against those claimed as guilty and to better organize the work towards
implementation of the law and international convents, which protect the
rights of prisoners. The approval of the right of the People’s Advocate to
pay visits and inspect prisons without prior authorization has increased
the possibility for more effective protection of the rights and freedom of
prisoners. The practice of inspections will continuously grow in the
future independent of the difficulties created by the Ministry of Justice
that prevents the commissioners to enter into prisons even with the
authorization of the People’s Advocate.
4. Prisoners’ complaints against courts’ decisions.
Even during 2003, a good number of complaints addressed to our
office came from convicts who object the court verdicts. In their
complaints, they claim that they are not guilty for the penal deeds
sentenced, as the court has treated unjustly the evidence against them.
There were 42 complaints during 2003.
Beside the fact that the People’s Advocate, on the basis of law has
no competence to review court verdicts, in all these cases, we suggested
the legal means to request their rights to petition near the High Court.
5. Some complainants claim that their rights, recognized by law
on amnesty during 1997 and in 2003, have been violated.
Three complaints were reported and in all these cases we had
meetings either with the prisoners or their family members. None of the
evidence proved that the amnesty was wrongly implemented.
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6. Famine strikes
In four cases that the prisons administration informed us on the
prisoners’ famine strikes, we intervened as intermediates between the
parties. In two cases the prisoners ceased the strike, as the requests for
which they were right, were fulfilled. Whereas, in cases when the strike
was used as a means of pressure to change court’s decision, we clarified
that their complaint was not under our jurisdiction and that this case can
not be solved with a famine strike, but by appealing to the highest
instances of judicial system.
7. Complaints for unreasonable transfers from one prison to
the other.
In three cases, prisoners have complained for unreasonable
transfers or have requested for transfers in different prisons. From our
verification it was found that in two cases, referring to convicts E.M. and
N.A., the transfer was in violation with the legal requirements. The
General Directory of Prisons deemed our request as just and approved the
required transfer near to their homes.
8. Complaints of prisoners extradited from Greece and
suffering their sentencing in Albanian prisons
By request of the Directory of Rrogozhina prison in 2002, to hold a
meeting with 16 prisoners claiming that they were violated the rights by
the decisions of Greek courts, a delegated group from the People’s
Advocate held individual meetings with each prisoner and heard carefully
their complaints. This type of meetings was also organized during 2003 in
the prisons of Rrogozhina, Vaqar and Burrel. During these meetings the
convicts, who had pass all the degrees of sentencing in Greece, pretended
that their conviction was undeserved.
We explained patiently and persistently that these decisions of
Greek courts are not under our jurisdiction, and the Albanian courts
cannot review them. Several unified decisions of the Supreme Court
prohibit other courts to review the verdicts given by Greek courts.
This problem is being followed in the aspect of case investigations
with our initiative, as in the case of the Greek so-called translator who did
not know or speak the Albanian language.
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9. Complaints coming from family members of Albanian
citizens suffering prison time in other countries
There were 8 complaints from family members, who claimed that
the prisons in Italy and Greece have exercised physical force to their
family members and also that they do not know the reasons why they are
kept in prisons.
As these requests are not under our jurisdiction to review and
solve, six of them were sent to the Consul Directory at the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Albania, which through the consul
offices in these countries can provide assistance based on Law No. 8372,
dated 09.07.1998 “On the Exercise of Consul Functions from the
Diplomatic or Consul Entities”.
In two cases, citizens E.D. and M.K. complaints were sent to the
French Mediator and the People’s Advocate of Greece.
To aid these Albanian convicts outside the country, our institution
has expressed its involvement by implementing the project of sending a
brochure in Albanian language, titled “Legal acts in assistance to
prisoners outside Albania” to the foreign prisons libraries. It is our
pleasure to inform that this brochure is printed and is being distributed in
1,850 copies in the prisons of Greece, 100 copies in the prisons of Great
Britain, 30 copies in the prisons of Slovenia and 50 copies in the prisons
of Denmark. We are also continuing the work to send to prisons in other
countries.
From the analysis of complaints and requests of the prisoners
inside the prisons and isolation rooms of the police stations, during 2004,
the People’s Advocate Office should aim to accomplish the following
main recommendations to the government, the Ministry of Justice that
supervises the General Directory of Prisons and the Ministry of Public
Order as the following:
1. Follow with priority the conclusion of the process of transferring
the detention rooms from the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Public Order
to that of Ministry of Justice.
2. Put in a mental institute, as the law requires, the people for
whom the court has ordered obligatory medication.
3. Based on the complaints of the convicts and review of the cases
when the law itself had become a cause for the violation of the prisoners’
rights, we have recommended the completion of the legal framework in
relation to the prisoners’ rights.
Thus we have sent to the Parliamentary Commission on Human
Rights the following recommendation:
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We have continuously received complaints from the convicts kept
in detention room who are not acknowledged this period of time as presentencing.
The cause for the violation of the detainees rights is article 7 of
Law No. 7941, dated 27.01.1995 “Penal Code in the Republic of
Albania”, which defines pre-sentencing as the days time spent in
detention and arrest in prison. If the arrest has not been dismissed, the
period of detention shall be considered from the date the person has been
stopped, till the court reaches its verdict.
For this reason, based on article 63 of the Albanian Constitution we
have proposed to a group of parliamentarians to undertake an initiative to
change the second and third paragraph of article 7, Law No. 7941, dated
31.05.1995, with this content: “Detention includes the days of stop and
arrest in detention rooms. If the arrest has not been interrupted, the period
of detention is considered the day the suspect was retained till the day the
court reaches its verdict. For the convicts with a final court verdict, who
were kept for various reason in detention, such period shall count as
prison time”.
From this disposition benefit all the convicts that were kept in
detention and are still detained as this law is empowered.
4. Observing that the majority of the convicts are not guaranteed
the rights to vote in the local government elections, our institution sent a
recommendation to the by-partisan commission for the completion of the
Law No. 8609, dated 08.05.2000 “Election Code in the Republic of
Albania”
In this recommendation we stated: “According to pg. 3, article 45 of the
Albanian Constitution the convicts suffering the sentence of freedom
deprivation have only the right “of voting”. In pg. 2, article 59 of Law
No. 8609, dated 08.05.2000 “On elections for local referendums” it is
stated: “Two days before the day of election, the head of the delegated
institution prepares the list of the voters in the respective unit where this
institution is located and presents it to the Central Commission of
Elections ”.
According to the practice of previous local government elections in
2000 from the stated definition of this disposition, the majority of the
convicts were deprived of the right to vote. This for the simple reason
that the law states that in the list of voters shall be included those convicts
who previously resided in the vicinities of the prison. In practice this
happens rarely due to the fact that in Tirana prisons are kept hundreds of
convicts who reside in other towns. According to the existing law, they
cannot be registered in the voters’ lists and as a result cannot vote.
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Observing that the law in article 59 pg. 2 has become a hindrance
to the convicts to exercise the right to vote, as recognized by the
Constitution in pg. 3 of article 45, we think that there is room for
improvement of the law No. 8609, dated 08.05.2000. Verbally the
chairmen of the by-partisan Commission informed that this
recommendation was just, but during drafting of the election law during
2003, “it was forgotten”. As a result during 12 October 2003 local
government elections, a part of the convicts did not vote.
5. At the same time we have resent to the Ministry of Justice the
following recommendations, for which we have received no response in
case they were accepted. In reality this Ministry has not yet taken the
concrete required steps to implement its afore-mentioned commitments:
a) Recommendation to fulfill the requests of Law No. 8328, dated
16.04.1998 “On the Rights and Treatment of Prisoners”.
From the review of the complaints and from the viewpoint of
articles 76 and 34 of Law No. 8328, dated 16.04.1998 “On the Rights and
Treatment of Prisoners” it results that the Council of Ministers should
have approved the Prisons’ Regulation and other by-laws should have
been issues within three months period since the law was in power, thus
since 1998. According to article 34 of this law (the last paragraph) the
work of the prisoners should be compensated according to the set criteria
in the special decision of the Council of Ministers.
Although 5 years have passed since the day this law is in power
such a Decision has not yet been issued. Actually all the prisoners
working in prisons should receive a symbolic compensation of 90 lek per
month and for each month of work benefit 4 days of prison time.
For these reasons we have recommended to initiate the drafting of
Decision of the Council of Ministers to set the criteria of compensation
for the work of the convicts and finally approve it.
b. Recommendation for the creation of necessary conditions for
better functioning of the Supervisory Commission for the execution of
prison decisions, according to chapter three of Law No. 8331, dated
21.04.1998 “On the Execution of Penal Decisions”
In chapter three of this law it is required the creation of the
Supervisory Commission for the execution of penal decisions for prison
time, as the advisory organ for the implementation of the Law “On the
Execution of Penal Decisions and Protection of the Rights of Prisoners”.
This commission is created near the Minister of Justice and
exercises its activity in all the country. The Commission has the
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responsibility, based on the complaints or notifications presented by the
prisoners, to recommend the immediate take of measurements and put an
end to the violations. According to article 60 of the above-cited law the
commission consists of nine members elected respectively: 1. President
of the Republic, Head of the Parliament and Prime Minister elect one
member each, an individual who holds no public office. 2. Ministers
covering health, food, construction and culture elect one member each,
who is an employee of these institutions, with the conditionality that they
are specialists in respective field. Ministry of Justice elects one member,
who holds no public office, but demonstrates the capability to be a judge.
3. The National Chamber of Attorneys appoints one member. The
chairman and his deputy for this commission are elected from the first
meeting of its members.
From review of the case it results that the creation of this
commission has remained just in paper. In response to our
recommendation dated 22.12.2003, the Minister of Justice informed that
the conditions are created near the General Directory of Prisons for the
normal functioning of the Supervisory Commission, and they are
preparing the decision for the compensation of the members of this
commission.
b. Complaints against the Bailiff's Offices
The biggest concern of the Albanian citizens remains the problem
of non-execution of court verdicts. This conclusion derives from the
amount of complaints in 151 cases. 80 were concluded, from which 27 or
33 % of the cases were solved positively, 53 have resulted as groundless
and 71 others continue to be reviewed.
The main scope of complaints relates to non-execution of final
judicial verdicts by the state-budget enterprises that are on the debtors’
side. The rights of those that have won the court cases (creditors)
continue to be violated, thus not completing the judicial processes, which
conclude with the execution of the rights gained through judicial means.
The rights and freedoms of the people should not only be viewed as the
rights and freedom of the individuals, but also as an integral obligation of
the state authorities. Article 6 of the European Convention of Human
Rights which stands for the rights of the people during a correct judicial
process, among other topics, assumes: “Each person has the rights for
his/her case to be reviewed fairly, publicly and within reasonable
timeframe from an independent and fair jury, created legally and which
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decides for the conflict created on human rights, obligations of civil
nature, and the worthiness of each accusation of penal nature filed against
individuals.”
This problem is carrying on from year to year increasing in this
manner the state obligations in considerable amounts. Although the raised
awareness of problem, even from our institution, through the National
Conference on the execution of judicial irrevocable decisions, and the
recommendations addressed to Ministries and Central Institutions case by
case, still there are no signs of near term solution. In many cases the
Bailiff’s Offices have fined the debtors who refuse to act in accordance
with court decision, but they justify their actions in expectation of the
annulment of decision by the court.
Many leaders of the public administration continue not to
understand, that pg. 3 of article 142 of the Constitution state authorities
obliged them to execute court decisions, not in a subjective way, but in an
obligatory dimension. Furthermore these negative practices, in many
cases are considered as fair thus being protected publicly.
It is not going to be far away the day when the European Court of
Human Rights, in relation to review of the complaints of Albanian
citizens, deposited at this institution, with the subject of non-execution of
court irrevocable decisions, will penalize the Albanian state in big
monetary amounts for its inaction, amount which in the end will have to
come from the tax-payers money of Albanians and will be a heavy burden
in the state forecasted budget, amounts which should be allocated in the
economic, education, health fields. A good number of these responsible
individuals, with their inactions show that they lack professionalism and
have a low level of accountability. This conclusion may sound grave,
however the facts are strong. There is no way to explain why the court
decisions of final verdict are not being executed from the budget
institutions for the small amounts. This problem has another part of the
coin and that is the fair evaluation of the problem from specific
institutions, which have voluntarily paid the obligations to the creditors.
A good example is the case of the Police Station of Devoll, which upon
receiving the notice from the Bailiff’s Office immediately and voluntarily
paid the money to citizen S.M. From the cases which surprisingly remain
unsolved it is worth mentioning the case of the Office for the Registration
of Intangible Assets in Kruja town that with all references in the
Constitution and the laws, with the verbal explanation and our
recommendations, in a stoic manner continue not to register the property
of citizen Sh.M, which she has gained through the court verdict. The
same goes for the General Directory of Customs, which for more than a
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year has accepted to execute a court verdict and a decision of the Civil
Service Commission to return in his former employment position the
citizen A.B.
From review of complaints on Bailiff’s Offices it is observed that
there have been delays in the execution of executive titles and incomplete
procedural actions of the bailiffs. This has resulted in their lack of
professionalism and the wrong implementation of the respective norms
for the mandatory execution as foreseen in the Civil Code. For each
observation we have informed the corresponding Bailiff’s office as well
as the General Directory of Bailiff’s Offices at the Ministry of Justice.
For the cases that have been resolved positively, due to our
recommendations, it is worth mentioning the one when the employee
Gj.B of the State Police was returned to his job. Simultaneously we
would like to highlight the immediate actions taken by the offices in the
district of Korca, Kruja, Tirana, which based on our suggestions,
obligated the amounts respectively to creditors P.D., V.S. and Sh.S.
In 2003, the People’s Advocate sent its recommendation to the
Minister of Justice and Minister of Public Order to take measures in
enabling the recognition and implementation of legal acts from the
Judicial Bailiff’s Services and the structures under the supervision of the
Ministry of Public Order in the children cases.
The main reason to undertake this awareness initiative as embodied
in our recommendations was the great number of complaints resulting in
plenty of evidence in two directions: firstly several employees of Bailiff’s
Offices and State Police were not oriented towards the protection of
children’s rights and secondly there was a lack of legal dispositions to
protect these rights. The results in the investigation of these practises
showed that the employess of Bailiff’s Office were not competent on the
legal procedures, lacked commitment, and did not respect the
adminsitrative procedures for subjects so complex and fragile. They also
did not have sufficient knowledge on the international acts ratified by our
Parliament which regulate and solve the judicial and ciliv relationship in
the case of children’s rights.
A meaningful example would be the ratification of the Convention
on Child’s Rights, signed ten years ago by the Albanian Parliament. This
Convenion, in all its by-laws provides the possibility for clear
interpretation and can serve as a guidance for judicial officers while
excercising their power in execution of judicial decisions concerning
children. Article 3 of this Convention states:
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”In all the decisions pertaining to children, either taken by public
or private institution for civil protection, court, administrative authorities
or legislative authorities, the highest concern shall be protecting
children’s interest..”
The Constitution of the Republic of Albania in article 54 states:
”The children... have the right of special protection by the state.”
The new Family Code in article 2 states:
”Parents, competent authorities and courts, in their decisions and
actions, should take as primary consideration the best interest for the
children.”
The above-cited quotations demonstrate that there is no
inefficiency in the legal framework, but the examples quoted speak for a
lack of understanding and non-execution of the law.
Below are some of the complaints followed by our institution:
1. Juvenile M.M., by Decision No.182, dated 18.07.2001 of the
Kukes District Court, was given to his mother as the primary guardian for
his eduction and growth. This decisions specifies also the right of the
father to meet with his son and his obligation to pay child support. It
results that the child is kept forcefully away from his mother, thus
violating the court decision and the mother’s rights. The father, being a
police officer in the State Police Forces, as such abusing with his power
and at the same time assisted by the negligence of the Chief of Bailiff’s
Office does not adhere to the court decision to give their son under the
mother’s protection. Since three years this child was isolated, denied to
meet with his mother. Also the mother is denied the right to assist the
child in his growth.
2. Juvenile A.B. in execution of the Shkodra Court decision is
given to her mother as the guardian parent for her growth and education.
However this child has been taken several times forcefully by the district
police in collaboration with the Bailiff’s Office representative. The
justification behind this action has been to facilitate meetings with her
father (who enjoys only the right to see her). In the majority of the cases,
as verbally testified by the police officers accompanying the girl, she
suffered from loss of consciousness and was psycologically traumatized
by such acitons. This situation was repeated several times and the father
of the juvenile has beaten the girl and her mother for the fact that the girl
did not want to meet with her father. He was sentenced to three months in
prison for such action. However the police forces continued to take the
girl forcefully, thus violating her best interest. During investigation of this
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case, it was observed that the girl went pshyciatric medical treatment and
closer to the week-end, knowing that the same story would repeat, she
had panic and anxiety attacks.
Similiar to this case, representatives of the Bailiff’s Offices along
with officers of the State Police continued to execute decisions, resulting
in abusive behaviour and violation of the judicial procedures.
3. In February 2003, juvenile B.F. was taken forcefully in the
school location from his father K.F. for the regular meeting set conform
to the respective Tirana District Court decision. He was isolated in the
underground floor of building 15 in the Students’ Campus, in a room
rented by his father’s girlfriend. For this reason, although he was a pupil
with excellent grades attending first grade (seven years old) he was
suspended with the motivation of class non-attendance. In a period of six
months his mother was not allowed to meet with him, although the court
had assigned her as the legal guardian parent. During the investigation of
this case by our office, it resulted that the child was exploited by his
father and the girlfriend oblidging him to go in the streets and sell
cigarettes till midnight in the sorroundings of the Students’ Campus.
When we met with the child, it was clear the fear, trauma and his
pshycological status burdened with physical beating and pshycological
pressure from the father’s girlfriend. While visiting the residence of this
family we requested information from the guard of the building and the
location of the child. He refused to speak the truth, becoming a partner in
crime, although an employee of the police forces. The same situation was
evidenced in the school that the child was attending. This whole story,
which is classified as a penal deed, was happening while in full
awareness of the representatives of the Bailiff’s Office and police officers
of Tirana Police Stations No. 1 and 3. This due to the fact that the mother
had several times notified and denounced the violence exercised on her
child by his father and the girlfriend.
However, in none of the cases, the competent authorities, neither
the representatives of the Bailiff’s Office or the police officers ended the
inhuman treatment given to this juvenile. The father had never paid child
support for his son.
With the persistance and involvement of our instition the three
above-cited cases were given solution. Unfortunately Former Ministers
Peci and Rama did not respond officially to our recommendations for
these cases.
Beside the above-mentioned examples, there were other complaints
filed with our institution dealing with the same subject, which nowadays
has become a phenomenon and not just sporadic cases. For this purpose
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we made recomendations to the General Directory of Bailiff’s Offices
conform pharagraph b, article 8 of the Law ”On Bailiff’s Office Services”
to take measures and issue appropriate regulations for the general
treatment in the execution of court decisions, by unifying practises which
deal with the childrens’ interests.
In Albania, a majority of parents do not pay child support when
oblidged by law. This due to the fact that either the bailiffs do not show
their serious committment or the irresponsibility of the parents, who take
advantage of the inefficiency of the state structures to take actions. We
believe that there is more room for collaboration with the Directory of
”Juveniles” within the Ministry of Justice and the General Directory of
Bailiff’s Offices, the structures of which are under the supervision of the
Ministry of Justice.
3. People’s Advocate and its relations with courts and judicial
power
The People'
s Advocate Institution is a rather new institution for the
Albanian society and culture, however, along with the courts, it is one of
the two most important institutions that protect the fundamental rights
and freedoms of the citizens.
In the nowadays situation it is imperative for the increase of the
efficiency and public trust in the judicial system. It is important to
mention that the assistance provided by our institution, which is
independent of the judicial system, plays an important role in this matter.
With reference to our information acquired through the literature
consulted, as well as through exchanging the legislation and experiences
with our colleagues from various countries, the Ombudsman'
s power in
relation to the judicial bodies varies from one country to the other. The
Swedish Parliamentary Ombudsman, where this institution has originated
and officially functions since 1809, has maximum authority.
The Constitution and the Law “On People'
s Advocate” have
resolved our relationships correctly. Our jurisdiction, in relation to the
judiciary system, is established in such a way that it does not affect, or
threatens the judges'independence in pronouncing the judicial verdicts.
Our several year of activity speaks for a common understanding
with the Judiciary concerning these issues and we believe that this
relationship will continue in the future, since our mutual concern to be
punctual in carrying out into effect the fundamental human rights.
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Our country, as a former communist country, is undergoing a
period of transition and still has several shortcomings and drawbacks in
the activity related to giving justice by the courts. These phenomena
result from reasons varying from the judges' incapacity to their
corruption.
The People'
s Advocate assists the courts in their work when it
notifies the Ministry of Justice or the High Council of Justice on
procedural violations or administrative violations of the courts. The
People’s Advocate assists also by asking the administration to implement
by all means all the judicial verdicts. It is in this way that the judiciary
authority is enhanced in relation to that branch of the executive, whose
attitudes have manifested and are still manifesting disregard for the
authority of the judicial verdicts, bringing about incalculable (noneconomic) detriments to the rule of law.
1. Complaints against Courts
During 2000, in six months operation of our institution, we have
processed 177 complaints comprising 22% of total complaints lodged.
There were 392 complaints or 17% of total complaints, reviewed during
2001. During 2002, there were 405 complaints, or 13% of all total
complaints addressed for review to our institution. While in 2003 there
were 306 complaints or 15.3% of total complaints. (In this total, it is not
included the number of complaints carried over from 2002)
The majority of them, 306 complaints, were against judicial decisions,
thus being out of our jurisdiction. We refused these complaints. 118
complaints as analyzed per their subjects were classified as following:
- Delays without legal reason for the judgment of various penal and
civil cases.
- Requests to be represented by the People’s Advocate as they have
lost in the other two degrees of court judgment.
- Necessary legal advice has not been provided as they are below the
poverty line and unable to pay for private defense attorneys.
- The deadlines to object final verdicts given by courts in absence
have passed and the court objecting review, thus requesting
restatement of complaints.
- Against court verdicts suspending work activity or the execution of
decisions by the District Bailiff’s Offices.
- Against subjective and partial decisions of the judges during trial
and request their suspension.
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- Against court verdicts of Greek courts in given heavy sentences
and without proper translation. Revocation of these verdicts.
- Against irrevocable verdicts and legal assistance is requested to
appeal the Supreme Court to overrule decisions.
- Against irrevocable court verdicts, claiming that the courts have
not applied the requirements for a fair trial and legal assistance is
requested to appeal to the Constitutional Court.
- Against irrevocable court verdicts claiming that all the legal means
have been used in Albania, thus and legal assistance is required to
appeal to Strasburg Court.
- Against court verdicts with heavy sentencing and they request the
People’s Advocate to request to the Appeal Court the application
of Amicus Curiae.
- Delays in sending the files from district’s court to the Appeal Court
or Supreme Court and vice versa.
- Family members of victims that the courts and/or specific judges
have kept partial stand while judging on the activity of the convicts
and have given soft sentences.
- Against specific judges in the district courts and appeal courts and
the start of disciplinary penal procedure for different violations
while exercising their duties and corruption.
It is positive the fact that during 2003 for all the complaints filed with our
institutions, 45 cases were solved in favor of the complainants.
a. Complaints against District Courts
Out of the total of 306 complaints filed during 2003, 235 cases
relate to district courts.
Mainly the requests and complaints against the district courts
reflect: delays in the trial of the cases by the judges, which they accuse
for showing favors for the other party, consequently requesting the
intervention of our institution; unfair and partial trials; verdicts and
decisions given in the absence of the defenders, thus not respecting the
right of notification of both parties; not giving copies of the court
verdicts; delays on sending the appropriate files for review by the Appeal
Court and Supreme Court or vice versa.
In the majority of the cases it results that the complainants were not right,
as the accused judges for delays have already presented the reasons for the
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postponements of court trials and have given careful “attention” so that it
cannot be proven their so-called violation from the legal point of view.
Following are some examples of cases that were solved in the favor of the
complainants:
1. Citizen I.M. from Tirana has filed a complaint against the
Kurbin District Court for delays without legal reasons to the penal trial of
his wife F.M. After investigation it resulted that the District Court, judge
B.Q. have been dismissed due to violations of duties. He was replaced
with another judge and the trial started in due course. Due to our
intervention the case was tried fast and there was given a verdict.
2. Citizen A.T. from Lac has filed a complaint against the Kruja
District Court for delays without legal reasons to the civil trial. After
investigation it resulted that the postponement of the sessions was
justifiable. Furthermore the complainant did not know that his case had
been accepted by the court and had been solved in his favor.
3. Citizen A.K. from Vlora has presented a complaint against
delays in trial of Gj.S. who was accused for killing voluntarily his wife
E.K. After investigation it resulted that the delays were due to not
showing up in court of witnesses, experts, defense attorney and others.
Due to our intervention the case was tried fast and there was given a
verdict.
4. Citizen L.M. from Tepelena has filed a complaint against the
Tepelena District Court for delays of the penal trial for his son. After
investigation it resulted that the delays were due to absence of judges
appointed by the Tepelena District Court. With the appointment of the
judges and the creation of the jury, the trial continued normally.
5. Citizen P.K. from Tirana has filed a complaint against the
Kurbin District Court for delays without legal reasons to the penal trial of
citizen V.S., accused for the penal act of kidnapping a child. After
investigation it resulted that by decision No. 38 dated 23.01.2003 of this
court, the trial was suspended, as the parties did not show up, although
notified on the date and time of starting the trial. Based on the law we
informed the complainant on the legal ways available to appeal against
the court verdict within the legal deadlines.
6. Citizen N.Z. has complained that his civil case has concluded
trial from the Tirana Appeal Court in March 2002 and the court has taken
an irrevocable decision. The complainant claims that after a year he was
notified of recourse of the decision from the other party in the Tirana
Supreme Court alluding that these actions are unjust and corruptive. After
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verification it resulted that the recourse has been already filed with the
Tirana Appeal Court within 30 days, however there were evidenced
delays in communicating with the involved parties in the trial.
7. Citizen B.M. from Fier has filed a complaint against the Fier
District Court claiming that it has given a soft sentence to the convict E.S.
who is accused for the killing of his son in collaboration with others.
Similar complaints have come from citizens B.A. from Leskovik,
Xh.B. and B.F. from Korca, L.K. from Saranda, and L.Gj. from Kurbin.
As these complaints expressed an intensive denouncement of cases when
the judges of the District and Appeal Courts have been corrupted, we
passed this information and photocopies of the written complaints to the
Ministry of Justice and the Inspector General of this Ministry.
In some instances the complaints focused on the partial judgment
of trials and lack of objectivity from the jury, thus requesting our
assistance and intervention in order to represent them in the trial of their
cases before the Appeal Court.
In some cases the complainant are unsatisfied by the prolongation
of the trials in the courts from one instance to the other, and are not
convinced when given the argument from our institution, particularly
when told that the court verdicts are not under our jurisdiction. They
insist that our instruction should intervene and evaluate the court verdicts
as they deem these verdicts as unjust and given from corrupted judges.
Some complainants show us various documents as proof of their
rights, however the courts have already considered these documents.
These increasing number of complaints show that the citizens have
low trust in the judicial system thus accusing judges directly for
corruption.
In relation to claims for delays in trial of penal cases, as
highlighted in the previous reports, it is deemed necessary the review of
the Penal Procedure Code to reduce the timeframes for the investigation
and trial of cases. For the mere fact, the existing deadlines leave room for
abusive behavior of specific judges in the penal procedure authorities and
the courts. It is crucial to investigate this problem thus giving reasonable
deadlines. The delays constitute a violation of the fundamental rights and
freedom of the individuals.
Another scenario is portrayed in the judgment of civil cases.
Referring to the dispositions of the Penal Procedure Code, which do not
foresee deadlines in trial of cases and during investigation of several
complaints and the causes for delays, we concluded that concrete actions
should be taken in cooperation with the Albanian Parliament to present
objective proposals and set trial deadlines for some specific civil cases.
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Another reason, which has caused the delays in the trials of penal
and civil cases, is the composition of juries with three judges. Often some
courts have consumed their judges and as such it is only the High Court
of Justice that can elect and delegate judges from other districts to
participate in the trial. This brings “justifiable” delays. However there
should be more cases tried by only one judge.
b. Complaints against Appeal Courts
During 2003, 41 complaints were reported in against the Appeal
Court. The majority of these complaints (31) mainly dealt with the
revoking or changing of decisions of the first-degree courts, which we
have refused to consider, as they are not under our jurisdiction. In 10
cases the complaints claimed violations of various procedures or those
copies of judicial decisions are not given, delays in sending required files
when the cases are dissolved and are sent for re-trial, unjust treatment
during the trial and other reasons.
Citizen A.T. from Tirana complained that the Tirana Appeal Court
did not provide him a copy of the final court verdict, as well as a
photocopy of the minutes of the hearing session in the trial of the civil
case from this court. After verifying this case it resulted that the main
reason for not receiving the required documents was the fact that the
court file was sent to the Tirana District Court. We intervened near this
court and the complainant received all the necessary documents.
c. Complaints against High Court
Obviously the High Court is independent of the Ministry of Justice,
however we classified it under this section due to the fact that the
concerns raised by citizens for this court are very similar to those raised
for lower courts.
During 2003, 30 complaints were reported in against the High
Court, from 44 in 2002. In 13 cases the complaints were filed against
court verdicts, claiming that court procedures were not respected during
trial of these cases.
While analyzing these complaints, it results that they stand for
delays in case trials, denial of participation of those judges who have
previously participated in the trial of the cases, requests for the People’s
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Advocate participation in trials, review of court verdicts, non-issuance of
copies of judicial decisions, recourse of court decisions and other reasons.
1. Citizen L.M. from Tirana claimed that even with the ending of
the trial of her case by the High Court, still she has not received a copy of
the decision. After verification of this case it resulted that the decision
was not signed by the people remaining in minority, as the reasoning of
the opposition opinion has not concluded. Due to our intervention it was
made possible to speed the actions and the complainant received finally a
copy of the decision.
2. Citizen P.B. from Tirana filed a complaint with the High Court
requesting the exclusion of judges of the High Court, members of the
civil college as they have participated in the trial of the civil case with
decision No. 1806 dated 31.03.2003 of this court. After verification of
this case it resulted that the request was just and the composition of the
jury was changed.
In relation to the complaints against the basis of decisions taken by
the High Court, we have clarified with the complainants that these
complaints are out of our jurisdiction. In the cases, when the
complainants raise claims for an irregular legal trial, based on article 42/2
and 134, paragraph g of the Constitution, we have advised them to
approach by request the Constitutional Court.
In some situations the complaints claim that unfair trial is given to
their cases and they were violated the fundamental rights and freedoms
from the Albanian public administration and the judicial organs of all
levels. We heard their complaints attentively and advised them, based on
article 6/1 of the European Convention of Human Rights, to approach the
Strasburg Court of Human Rights, keeping in mind that these requests
should be submitted within six months, after all legal means of
complaints, according to the Albanian legislation, have been consumed.
2. Amicus Curiae (Friend of the Court)
This function is not recognized by our legislation.
Amicus curiae, literally means, Friend of the Court, who is an
individual having a strong interest or points of view concerning the case
under trial, however is not a party in the trial. He could request the court'
s
permission to introduce a file, seemingly on behalf of a party concerned,
but in fact suggests a fundamental reason in compliance with his views.
The files of the Friend of the Court are usually introduced at the Court of
Appeal sessions to defend issues of wider public interest, for instance the
issues concerning the rights of women, children, and other.
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During the appeal sessions at the American Courts of Appeal, these
files could be presented only provided they are associated with a written
approval by all the parties involved, or the court'
s permission.
In Albania, with reference to our practice of examining the citizens'
complaints, we notice that this role could be adequately played with
regard to the cases under trial. Thus citizen J.S. complained against court
decision, which gave his nephew four years prison time for theft to his
uncle. After filing a case in the Durres Appeal Court, he requested the
assistance of the People’s Advocate, as the thief was his nephew and had
returned the amount of the stolen money that he was young and had been
very sick before. This complaint was reviewed carefully and we decided
to intervene based the Amicus Curiae competence to the Durres Appeal
Court, justifying that: “We believe that the Appeal Court treated this case
with justice and objectivity. However, on the basis of Amicus Curiae that
we want to play in this case, without causing any misinterpretation as an
intervention with the decision of the jury, we suggest that there is room
for review of the sentence given. The court should take into consideration
the young age of the convict E.S, his deep regret for the act he performed
since the start of the trial and during the case, the fact that he has not been
sentenced before, the stolen amount has been returned thus making full
compensation of the damage created, and the family relationship between
the people involved. The court should also consider what will be achieved
in terms of re-education of the convict if he is kept for four years in
prison, when he could have been house arrested for that; the overpopulation of our prisons, expenses in keeping a convict in prison, which
re covered by the tax-payers money. It would be in a better interest of the
society if he is freed, thus implementing article 59 of Penal Code, which
states: “due to the social danger of an individual and the circumstances in
which a penal act was made, and when the sentence is up to five years,
the court can order the defendant to be freed, thus by annulling
sentencing as long as during this period the individual does not commit
any other penal act.”
The Durres Appeal Court by Decision No. 163 dated 14.05.2003
decided to conclude finally and change the sentence given to the convict
E.S. to two years of house arrest.
3. Complaints against the Prosecutor’s Office
A. According to our Constitution, the Prosecution Office is not
under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice, however for ease of
analysis, we have included it under this section. During 2003, 250 various
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citizens have reported in 142 complaints or requests against the
Prosecution body. 31 complaints were submitted during 2000 and 100
during 2001, and 196 during 2002.
Out of 142 incoming complaints during 2003, we concluded 138.
Forty-six cases or 32.4% of them were settled in favor of the
complainants, fifty-eight were out of our jurisdiction, thirty-four were
groundless and four are under review.
During 2003, we reviewed twenty-one complaints carried over
from previous year. Concretely eight were settled in favor of the
complainants, ten were out of our jurisdiction and three were groundless.
Even during this year, the complaints and concerns of the citizens
were reviewed with high priority. For the complaints under our
jurisdiction, the People’s Advocate has reviewed them and has ordered
the start of the investigation process by taking the necessary actions such
as receiving the required declarations, reviewing existing documentation,
performing legal-medical examinations and scientific technical analysis
for respective fields of interest, or studying of investigative cases, which
the Prosecution office has suspended.
In many of the cases we visited the houses of the complainants and
the requestors, or took requisite actions, by collecting indispensable
clarifications from the Prosecution offices, for which the complainant has
raised the claim.
The People’s Advocate Office has pursued with high priority the
complaints of citizens or associations representing minority communities.
The complaint of the community of one hundred families of the
Lezha Island, the People’s Advocate recommended the initiation of the
investigation against citizen B.Gj. for the penal act of “destroy of
property during flooding”, “destroy of the irrigation system” and “land
confiscation” as foreseen in articles 153/2, 157 and 200 of the Penal
Code. The Prosecutor’s Office of Lezha, after our recommendation,
started the penal case. While reviewing the complaints we observe that
the scope of problems has close similarity to that of the previous year. We
have classified these complaints as the following”
1. For delays in investigation of the penal cases.
Here can be mentioned the cases of citizen M.M. from Tirana,
S.Gj. from Kavaja, S.C. from Shkodra and Ç.GJ. from Elbasan.
An evident case is the penal procedure of case No. 314 from the
Vlora Prosecutor’s Office, which deals with the drawing in the Otranto
channel on May 4, 2000 of seventeen Albanian citizens mainly from
Shkodra. The cause for initiating this case was the recommendation of the
People’s Advocate given since 2002. Although the family members had
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continuously filed their complaints with the highest authorities of the
government, including former General Persecutor, Mr. Arben Rakipi, still
a penal case had not started, even though the crime was a heavy burden
on the overall society. Upon start of investigation from the Shkodra
District Persecutor’s Office, the case is being further investigated by the
Vlora District Persecutor’s Office, which in its turn has unjustifiably
delayed the investigation for more than six months without taking
necessary actions in order to give justice and put to trial the responsible
individuals who were the authors of this illegal trafficking with
consequence the loss of lives of innocent citizens.
2. Non-completion of overall and objective investigations
Such are the cases of citizen S.H. from Dibra, D.H. from Berat,
M.A. from Puka, SH.H. from Kashar County, part of Tirana district.
It is worth mentioning the investigation case on the penal dead
against the Durres police officer Flamur Gjuzi, from the Prosecutor’s
Office of this district. The complainant F.B., damaged by this penal act,
evaluating the dismissal of the penal case as unjust, filed a complaint with
the Durres District Court. This court, in both cases, has accepted the
complaint and decided the annulment of the decision. Even after these
decisions, still the Prosecutor decided to cease trial of this case, an action
that obliged the General Prosecutor to order annulment of the decision
and start of the investigation.
3. For not taking actions, or not finding as valuable the
denunciation of citizens, such as the complaints coming from citizens
XH. S. from Lezha, E.A. from Vlora and others.
4. For not notifying or delays in notification for the manner in
which the denunciations have been settled or the conclusion of a case
been made, such as the complaint of citizen A.B. from Lushnja.
5. For stopping or taking under possession of property as court
evidence particularly of motor vehicles as in the cases of complaints of
citizens J.M. from Tirana, and Ç.GJ. from Elbasan.
Throughout the review of some complaints, we observed that
Prosecutor’s office, in many cases has acted hastily and unsubstantiated
in concluding the investigations, by offering as a solution the cease or
suspense of the investigation. The termination did not come as a result of
objective and overall investigation, subsequently we recommended to the
General Prosecutor or Head of Prosecutor in district offices to abrogate
the decisions.
Out of many examples during 2003, we can highlight the penal act
No. 106 during 2002 investigated by the Pogradec Prosecutor’s Office,
with the motivation “ violation of traffic regulations” resulting in the
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death of citizen Perlat Voshtina from Tirana. The wife of the victim
complained that the penal trial on the death of her husband during the
accident had ceased with the motivation that the person causing the
accident was the victim himself. Our investigation proved that the claims
of the wife were right, as the cause of the accident was the driver of the
other car involved in the accident. Upon re-opening of this case, based on
our recommendations, the case is being tried in the District Court, where
the defended is the other driver.
B. From the review of the complaints considered valid for the
observed violations, the People’s Advocate has presented the General
Prosecutor or the Head of Prosecutor in district offices with fifteen
recommendations, out of which eleven are accepted, three are refused and
one was withdrawn from our office. In general, as stated, the
recommendations of the People’s Advocate are accepted.
In general the recommendations of the People’s Advocate have
been accepted. According to their subjects, we have grouped them as the
following:
I. Recommendations to start an investigation
1. Recommendation to the Durres Prosecutor’s Office “to start
investigation for the police officer R.Xh. and others for the penal act of
arbitrary actions in collaboration”, as foreseen in article 250 and 25 of the
Penal Code. Upon start of investigation the case has been sent to the court
and is actually being tried.
2. Recommendation to the Tirana Prosecutor’s Office “to start
investigation for the police officer E.H. of the Police Station No.2 for the
penal act of arbitrary actions”, as foreseen in article 250 of the Penal
Code. Upon start of investigation the case has been sent to the court and
is actually being tried.
3. Recommendation to the Tirana Prosecutor’s Office “to start
investigation for the police officers A.D. and A. Ç. for the penal act of
arbitrary actions”, as foreseen in article 250 of the Penal Code. The case
is in the preliminary investigation phase.
4. Recommendation to the Tirana Prosecutor’s Office “to start
investigation for the police officer I.B. for the penal act of abuse with
authority” as foreseen in article 248 of the Penal Code. The Prosecutor
decided not to start the penal procedure act.
5. Recommendation to the Lezha Prosecutor’s Office “to start
investigation for the citizen I.B. for the penal act of destroying private
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property in flooding, destroying the irrigation system and confiscation of
land”, as foreseen in articles 153/2, 157 and 200 of the Penal Code.
Investigation has started.
6. Recommendation to the Vlora Prosecutor’s Office “to start
investigation for the missing citizen S.A. for the penal act of intentional
killing”, as foreseen in article 76 of the Penal Code. The Prosecutor’s
Office has started the penal trial and is taking the necessary investigative
measures.
7. Recommendation to the Tepelena Prosecutor’s Office “to start
investigation for the prison guards of Tepelena, for the penal act of abuse
with authority”, as foreseen in article 248 of the Penal Code. The
Prosecutor’s Office started the investigation and the guilty guards were
dismissed from their jobs.
II. Recommendation to annul the decisions for the cease of
penal acts.
1. Recommendation addressed to the Pogradec Prosecutor’s Office
“to annul the decision and cease the penal procedure No. 106 of year
2002, dealing with the penal act of violating the traffic regulations”, as
foreseen in article 290/1 of the Penal Code.
2. Recommendation addressed to the General Prosecutor’s Office
“to annul the decision and cease the penal procedure No. 60 of year 2003,
of Korça Prosecutor’s Office” dealing with the penal act of “violating the
traffic regulations”, resulting in the death of citizen F.A., as foreseen in
article 290/1 of the Penal Code. Our recommendation was accepted and
the General Prosecutor by decision No. 171 dated 20.08.2003 decided to
annul the decision and not start the penal procedure and re-opening of the
case.
3. Recommendation addressed to the Tirana Prosecutor’s Office
“to annul the decision and cease the penal procedure against the mayor of
Vora Town hall, for non-execution of the court decision to return to her
previous job the citizen V.H. Our recommendation was accepted and as a
result the decision was annulled and the citizen has started to work in her
previous position.
As observed, there are not a few the cases when various citizens
complaining for the “closing” of penal act cases for the “violation of
traffic regulation with heavy consequences”. From the study and analysis
of the complaints filed with our institution, we arrived in the conclusion
that the Prosecutor’s Offices often do not evaluate objectively the cases,
which start with the basis of the story, and precede with speedy
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investigation, without repeat and double checking of facts, lack
professional knowledge in the auto-technical field.
Partiality, drawn of incomplete and unfair conclusion in the legalmedical expertise acts, non-completing of all the actions, is the
consequences of groundless decisions taken by the judicial police and
approved by the Prosecutors. On the other hand, all the above, bring
delays in the investigation of penal acts thus causing social problems as in
the cases of the family members who are accusing and the convicts.
III. Recommendation for psychiatric expertise acts
1. Recommendation sent to the Bulqiza Prosecutor’s Office for the
speeding of the psychiatric expertise act on the convict S.M. Our
recommendation was accepted.
IV. Recommendation to take disciplinary actions against
prosecutors
1. Recommendation sent to the Elbasan Prosecutor’s Office “to
take disciplinary actions against prosecutors who had not executed the
court decisions for the immediate release from prison of convict H.P.”.
No disciplinary action was taken.
2. Recommendation sent to the General Prosecutor’s Office “to
take disciplinary actions against deputy prosecutor of Tirana Office,
H.L.”. We withdraw from this case.
3. Recommendation sent to the General Prosecutor’s Office “to
take disciplinary actions against the prosecutor of the penal case against
convict Sh.U. from Kruja with the motivation of partial investigation. Our
recommendation was not accepted.
4. Recommendation sent to the General Prosecutor’s Office “to
take disciplinary actions against the prosecutors I.M. and L.H for nonexecution of the High Court decision, to change the personal security
measures for the convict L.P. from unlimited prison arrest to obligatory
representation before the judicial police. The Fier Prosecutor’s Office has
not executed this decision for eleven days and only because of the
intervention of our institution, the person was released from the detention
room of the Fier Police Station. Based on our recommendation, the
General Prosecutor took disciplinary actions towards the prosecutors that
had violated the decision, by dismissing them.
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C. During the review of the cases presented for the maltreatment or
arbitrary actions of the police stations against citizens, the Prosecutor’s
Offices in two cases have decided to dismiss the cases when obvious
evidence was present that the police officers had violated the law. An
example is the afore-mention case of the police officer Flamur Gjuzi in
Durres and the exercise of violence from the police officers in the
Tepelena prison against convict E.M. The Prosecutor’s Offices of the
corresponding districts started the investigation due to our
recommendations, and dismissed again the case without completing the
fully the investigation. However, in comparison to previous year, the
number of these cases is reduced.
After the critical report of last year in relation to the Prosecutor’s
Office we have observed that the relationship of the People’s Advocate
office with these offices has increasingly improved.
The People’s Advocate has discuses the crucial issues with the
General Prosecutor. Mr. Sollaku. District Prosecutors have respected in a
more correct way our recommendations, however there are observed
cases when they hesitate to send or give for purpose of study the penal
files, in the cases of which their investigation has stopped, but there have
been complaints filed with our office.
The activity of the People’s Advocate, in the review of the
complaints of the citizens against the prosecutors has evidenced the
correct and objective execution of the Constitution, the main body that
guides our work, along with the penal procedures law. Our conclusion is
that only through collaboration by witnessing the real violations of the
fundamental rights and freedoms of the citizen who are defendants in the
penal procedure cases, we can better serve to the increase of
professionalism at the expected levels.
5. Ministry of Public Order
The acceptance and the review with priority and rigorousness of
the complaints and requests against the Ministry of Public Order and the
Police Forces is and will continue to be one of our main activities. This
not only for the fact that this organ of the public administration comprises
one of the strongest power exercising function of the government, but
also for the specifics of the Albanian Police, which beside the positive
results it has achieved, continues to have in its ranks ill-mannered
elements, unprofessional, not trained with the basic concepts of the rule
of law and respecting the human rights, or corrupted people and other
factors.
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Our institution received during 2003, a total of 240 complaints,
notifications or requests, addressed against the police forces. (This total
does not include the complaints carried over from previous year.) Ninetythree of these complaints were reported in from citizens of Tirana, and
147 from citizens of other districts. Thirty complaints were filed from
women and 210 from men. 221 complaints were concluded as the
following: 56 or 25% were settled in favor of the complainants, 64 were
out of our jurisdiction, and 101 were groundless. Sixty-three complaints
are carried over in 2004 for review.
The number of complaints under this category would have been
higher if we had accepted the complaints for the grades.
In the case when investigated cases have proven in law violations
we have made eleven recommendations to take disciplinary measures and
ten of them were accepted and one is under review. Based on our
recommendation there were given eighteen disciplinary measures to the
police employees that violated the law, of whom eleven were police
officers. Examples, of the measures taken, are three dismissals from the
State Police Forces, three suspensions from duty among whom one was
an officer and twelve other disciplinary measures.
The reviewed complaints, according to the concerns raised, are
classified as the following:
I. Complaints for the maltreatment of the citizens
These complaints become more important, because in cases when they
are true, they represents heavy infringements of article 25 of the
Constitution of the Republic of Albania, which states that “No one shall
surrender to torture, scolding or inhuman, humiliating, and criminal
treatment.” Meanwhile, they also represent severe infringements of article
3 of the European Convention of Human Rights. A great concern remains
the fact that, although the number of these cases is decreasing, in
comparison to last year, a severe case was registered which brought the
death of citizen G. Tahirllari due to the violence exercised against him by
some police officers of Korca police.
We received fifty-six complaints against the state police force, out of
which fifty were settled as the following: nine were evaluated as valid,
nineteen were out of our jurisdiction, twenty-two were invalid, and six
are under review.
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In the cases when we were able to find truth in the complaints of the
complainants for maltreatments from the police forces, we have made the
appropriate recommendations to the relevant instances. Only for the
maltreatment cases, we made two recommendations during this year to
the prosecutor’s offices to initiate the penal procedures, which were
accepted.
The following are brought as example cases for this section:
1. Public notification from some electronic and print media in
January 4 and 5, 2003 for the death of citizen G. Tahirllari due to the
violence exercised on him by some police officers of Korca. Based on
article 13 of the Law No. 8454, dated 04.02.1999 “On the People’s
Advocate”, our institution started with its own initiative the trial of this
case, taking also the approval from the family members of the victim.
According to the notification given in the media by some police officials,
District Prosecutor’s Office and Korca Hospital that citizen Tahirllari had
died due to alcohol consumption and not because of violence. From our
investigation it resulted that violence was exercised by the police officers
on the victim. Based on article 19, paragraph “ç” of the Law No. 8454,
dated04.02.1999 “On the People’s Advocate”, the People’s Advocate
decided to perform the legal-medical examination, thus the dead was
taken from the grave and his body was given the examination from a
group of experts of the Central Legal-Medial Examination Service Office
in Tirana. Based on our decision and the request of the Korça
Prosecutor’s Office, on 10.01.2003 the victim’s body was made by four
experts. In conclusion of their expertise, it was stated: “The determinant
cause of death of citizen G. Tahirllari was fracture of the skull damaging
the brain, as a result of beating with heavy arms (feasts, kicks etc) on the
face.” Immediately after the conclusion of the group of experts, the
Prosecutor’s Office ordered the arrest of six police officers: Lorenc Balliu
– officer of the judicial police forces, Dashnor Ganollo - inspector police
of the county, Albert Myftari, Sokol Gurishta, Robert Qyli and Ramazan
Ymeraj, police officers, who were accused respectively for the penal act
of killing, arbitrary actions and non-declaring the crime. After conclusion
of the investigation, the case was sent to the court and by irrevocable
court verdict these people were sentenced respectively to sixteen years,
three years, five months and the last three with four months in prison.
For this grave case, the Ministry of Public Order also took
disciplinary measure against the high officials of the Korça Police
Station, thus dismissing from their function the Directory of the District
Police Arben Dashi and the Chief of the Main Police Station Fatmir
Shehu, for not showing seriousness in relation to this grave case.
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Taking initiative from this case, we recommended to the Central
Legal-Medical Examination Service to issue appropriate regulations to
define that in cases there are deaths where the police officers are the main
cause of it, this Service Unit should be notified immediately and the
examination of such cases should be always made in the presence of one
doctor sent from this office. Our recommendation was welcomed and
accepted.
2. Complaint from citizen B.C. who claimed that on 09.02.2003
was maltreated by the police officers Ervin Hasrama, who was a
commander in the Police Station No.2 in Tirana.
After our verification of this complaint and the register in the
Police Station No.2 in Tirana, it resulted that citizen B.C. was
accompanied to this station from the police officers as he had caused a
conflict with other people. Mr. Hasrama declared in the minutes of the
case that he never exercised violence on the victim. The complainant and
witnesses A.B, E.K. and A.H. overthrew the denial of maltreatment and
confirmed that: Complainant B.C. was working as a D.J. in the “San
Paolo” discothèque. On 09.02.2003, around 12.30 there was a fight inside
the disco between two people and the complainant was trying to stop
them. Someone had called the police, which appeared in a few minutes.
The police officers accompanied to the police station the two fighters and
asked also for the D.J., who was not present at that moment. The
employees notified the owner A.B. and he came to the disco immediately.
The police officers requested him to bring to the police station the
employee B.C. to question him about the fight. The owner called B.C.
and together they went to the police station. The owner started to
communicate with one criminal police inspector and notified him that
B.C. was there. The inspector told him that they were going to question
him about the fight and that it would not take long. The owner waited for
B.C. for several hours till B.C. was released around 18:00. When B.C.
was released, the owner saw that there were signs of beating in the face of
the D.J., as puffiness and redness and both his ears were black. When
entering the car B.C. told the owner that he was beaten and showed other
signs in different parts of the body. The next day the owner learnt that the
person beating the D.J. was Ervin Hasrama, in the position of commander
of police forces. The witnesses A.B., E.K. and A.H also proved the
beating inside the police station and declared that B.C. entered to the
station with no signs of violence and came out with the above-described
signs.
The violence was proven also by the medial examination No. 141,
dated 13.02.2003.
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After verification of this case we concluded that officer E. Hasrama
had violated the fundamental rights and freedom of citizen B.C.,
protected and guaranteed by article 25 of the Constitution of the Republic
of Albania, article 3 of the European Convent on Human Rights, as well
as article 27, paragraph 2 of the Law No. 8553, dated 25.11.1999 “On the
State Police”. By his actions, this police officer has also consumed the
elements of penal act of taking arbitrary action, foreseen in article 250 of
the Penal Code.
For these reasons, we recommended to the Tirana Prosecutor’s
Office to start the penal case against officer Hasrama for the penal act of
taking arbitrary action, as foreseen in article 250 of the Penal Code. Our
recommendation was accepted, the penal procedure started and the file
passed to the Tirana District Court.
3. Citizen M.Ll. complained in his letter of 31.03.2003 that he was
accompanied to the Kamza Police Station from some police officers, as in
his vehicle service was found a stolen car, which he was repairing. He
was questioned in the police station by criminal police inspector, named
Alket. The complainant claims that Alket Dizdari, the last name of whom
we learnt during investigation, had hit him with a metal stick in different
parts of the body. He also claimed that police officer Ali Çerenishti had
kicked him several times with fists in the face. This last officer was
accusing the complainant that he was the owner of the stolen car.
After two hours the complainant was accompanied to the Tirana
Police Station No. 3. According to him even in this station he was
maltreated from the police officer Sadik Dika and another civil person.
On 12.06.2003 the complainant came to our institution and withdraws in
writing from his complaint filed against the police officers of this police
station, but not against Alket Dizdari and Ali Çerenishti.
On the basis of our decision, doctors of the Legal-Medical
Examination Service in Tirana examined the complainant. The
examination No. 299, dated 09.04.2003 showed that there was signs of
violence, cause by hard means and have reduced the physical ability of
the complainant to return to work till nine days of recovery. At the same
time the exam concluded that the violence was exercised about a week
ago from the day of the exam. This coincided with the time claimed by
the complainant.
The maltreatment was proved also from the testimony of witness
Rr.Ll. who declared that when he was taken by the police officer he had
no bruises, and when he returned the complainant face was swollen, as
well as parts of his body.
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The two accused police officers did not accept that they had
maltreated the complainant, however their pretences were overthrown
from the evidences.
In conclusion of the investigation of this case we evidenced that the
police officers had unlawfully exercised violence and comprised elements
of penal act in taking arbitrary actions as foreseen in article 250 of the
Penal Code. We recommended to the Tirana District Court to start a penal
case against the officer. Our recommendation was accepted and currently
the case is under investigation.
4. Complaint of citizen Nexhmije Dedolli, who wrote on
24.08.2003 that in the town of Klos some police officers of the Burrel
Police Station and some of the delta forces had maltreated her husband,
Mr. Behar Dedolli. According to her, the officers had taken him
forcefully from their house and had beaten him in front of the children
and his wife. The beating continued and he was sent in heavy conditions
to the Burrel hospital for treatment. Although the doctors wanted to keep
him in the hospital for treatment and signed his acceptance in document
No. 1683, still the officers sent this person in the isolation rooms of the
Burrel Police Station.
The complainant also wrote that when the two brothers of the
victim approached the police guard to learn about the fate of their brother,
they were taken by the police officers, beaten and isolated in the predetention rooms. The first victim, due to the strikes in his head, cannot
speak freely and is bumbling most of the time.
This complaint was taken very seriously and after its verification
on 27.08.2003, the People’s Advocate himself went to visit the victim and
saw the situation with all of them. The proofs of maltreatment were
evident in the bodies of each victim, but particularly in the body of Behar,
who had suffered two deep cuttings in the head, not to mention the
swallowing in different parts of the body.
It was concluded that the police officers had shown professional
incompetence, had not respected the rights of the people accompanied to
the police station and had used unnecessary force. We recommended to
the General Police Directory to verify this case and take appropriate
measures.
Our recommendations were accepted and the analysis of this case
from the General Police Directory resulted in accordance with our
statement. The Prosecutor’s Office had already started the penal
procedure on behalf of the Dedolli brothers for the penal act of “abuse
with authority” and the case was under investigation. We decided to wait
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for the decisions to take disciplinary measures against the police officers
implicated in this case.
II. Complaints against other unlawful actions of the police
forces
There were ninety-five complaints for arbitrary actions of the
police officers such as four for unlawful house inspections, bars or
restaurants; eight for unlawful physical checking and accompany; four for
corruptive actions; thirty-six for not following the cases; three for
unlawful fines; three for blocking of passports and thirty-seven for other
unlawful actions. As proof of these complaints, we can mention the
following:
1. The complaint of the Borje village council of Kukes town
claiming that the some police officers had violated the rights of the
village inhabitants, such as exercising violence, phycological terror, and
unlawful control of the houses.
We evaluated this case with seriousness and objectivity and
performed investigation by questioning the complainant, the accused
police officers and reviewed the documents in the court and the police
station. We concluded that the actions taken by the police such as the
control of the houses without warranty for those people in the village
whose members of the families escaped from the detention rooms of the
Kukes Police Station were based on the Law No. 8553, dated 25.11.1999
“On the State Police”. Also the questioning and accompanying in the
police station was done in conformity with the above law and the
dispositions of the Penal Code. All these actions were taken in order to
capture and arrest those people that had escaped the detention-rooms.
As for the physical control of the houses the police officers did not
abide by the legal rules by not preparing the necessary documents,
warranties, or investigation reports, as foreseen in paragraph 2 of article
43 of the Law “On State Police”.
To recover the dignity of the damaged people and to prevent such
abuses, we recommended to the Director of the Kukes State Police to
analyze with objectivity the observed such actions and take disciplinary
measures for the responsible people. The recommendation advised him
for these measures to be communicated in front of all police officers in
order to prevent future abuses.
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Our recommendation was accepted and based on the law the
disciplinary measures were taken for three police officers.
2. Complaint of citizen Q.Gj. from Kavaja claiming that on
09.06.2003, about 18.00 he was accompanied to the Kavaja Police Station
unjustly and kept beyond the lawful deadlines for more than three hours.
Then he was sent to the Rrogozhina Police Station and kept there for
more than ten hours.
From the verification of this complaint, concretely interrogating
some of the police officers, and reviewing the registration ledger of the
Kavaja and Rrogozhina Police Stations, we were able to prove the claims
of the citizen. The accompany to the police stations was made in
conformity with the law, as the individual had not shown obedience to the
police forces to go with them to the police station to control his vehicle.
As the complainant was kept for more than ten hours in the police
station in violation with article 45 of the Law No. 8553, dated 25.11.1999
“On the State Police”, we recommended to the Chief of the Kavaja Police
Station to analyze the law violations and take disciplinary measures for
the responsible people in the presence of other police officers. Our
recommendation was accepted.
3. Complaint of citizen A.Gj. living in Kavaja district claimed that
some months ago he had filed a case for serious life threatening of being
killed and offended by citizen B.B. He had filed the case with the
criminal police officer of Rrogozhina Police Station, Mr. Gramoz Dafku,
however this officer had not sent the file to the appropriate authorities
(the prosecutor’s office).
From our interrogation on 26.06.2003 the police officer Gramoz
Dafku did not accept that he had kept the file, but that he had only taken
from the complainant and some other witnesses’ simple declarations
about the conflict among each other. Whereas from the re-questioning of
this officer on 02.07.2003 he accepted that he did not sent the file to the
appropriate authorities, thus undermining the gravity of the situation.
From the verification of this complaint we concluded that the
criminal police officer, enjoying also the attributes of a judicial police
officer, by keeping the file of the complainant had violated openly the
dispositions of the Penal Procedure Code and more specifically articles
30, 293 and 294 which specify the functions, duties and the activity of the
judicial police.
Although his actions were grave, taking into consideration the fact
that he had been on the job for a period of only six months, we
recommended to the Chief of the Kavaja Police Station to send
immediately the file of the complainant to the prosecutor’s office. We
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recommended that to this officer is given the measure of “notifying
warning” in the presence of other officers so that such cases are prevented
in the future.
The recommendations were welcomed and put into practice.
4. Complaint form citizen N.M. claiming that the police officers of
the Fier Police station had shown no actions against citizen S.G., who had
threatened the complainant to kill and hurt him. S.G. was also armed. The
police took no measures to put the citizen S.G. under arrest of prove his
legal responsibility as the author of this penal act. From the verification
of this complaint it resulted that the complainant on 27.04.2003 was
threatened with killing and was hit with the back side of a revolver, which
the citizen S.G. kept without permission, thus causing bleeding and
bruises on the face.
The next morning the complainant went to the police and reported to the
criminal police officer Mr. Ilir Bajrami who also held the competences of
a judicial police officer. From that day till 22.05.2003 the report of the
complainant was kept in the safe box of this police officer without taking
any necessary procedural actions. The system was not kept on the move,
although the complainant had also sent a written complaint to the Chief of
the Criminal Police Mr. Ervin Hodaj and to the Chief of the Fier Police
Station.
We observed that officer Bajrami had not completed the necessary
procedures of taking the decision of legal-medical examination, taking
the declarations of other persons who had knowledge of the case, and
starting the search for the individual that had caused the penal act. After
collecting the required evidence, the Chief of the Criminal Police should
have reviewed them and sent them to the Prosecutor’s Office as the only
organ authorized to follow penal acts.
The results of incorrect execution of procedural regulations were
the non-performance of the legal-medical examination from the
respective specialist (really a crucial and unrepeatable action), and the
search for the individual that had caused the penal act.
Responsibility was laying also on Mr. Ervin Hodaj as the direct
chief of the inspector, who did not follow the procedures in the case of
the report filed with him. Concealing data or not notifying the court or the
prosecutor for the existence of a penal act, in accordance with the
deadlines and the ways foreseen in the Penal Procedure Code from the
judicial police officers, constitute a legal felony. It is also foreseen as
such in the Point 1 paragraph b of article 14, Law No. 8677, dated
02.11.2000 “On the Organization and Functioning of the Judicial Police”.
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After analysis of the case materials we concluded that the
complaint of citizen N.M. was right and the police officers Bajrami and
Hodaj had violated the dispositions of the Penal Procedure Code and
specifically articles 30, 293 and 294, which outline the functions, duties
and activities of the judicial police.
We recommended to the District Police Directory of Fier to send
the complaint immediately to the Prosecutor’s Office and to take
disciplinary measures for both officers. The recommendation was
accepted and officer Bajrami was given “warning with pre-notification”
and officer Hodaj was given “warning”. We notified also the General
Directory of State Police for this case.
5. Complaint of lawyer V.Gj. who was not allowed to meet with
his client by the Tirana District Police Office. After verifying this
complaint, it resulted true. The police office justified its action with the
fact that the lawyer had not authorization from the convict I.L. to defend
him. However this justification had no legal basis because the convict had
asked directly for his lawyer upon the arrest. This right of the convict is
based on paragraph 2 of the article 48 of the Penal Procedure Code,
which foresees the choice of the defense attorney by declaring him in
front of the court. The justification of the police had not logical basis
also, due to the fact that while being arrested the convict could not write
an authorization without the presence of the notary. This action of the
police was in violation with paragraph “e” of article 2, of the Law No.
9109, dated 17.07.2003 “On the Lawyers’ Profession in the Republic of
Albania” which defines that the lawyer has the right to give legal
assistance while a person is being stopped, arrested, accompanied, during
investigation, or judicial trial of the people under a penal act.
As this action of the police was unlawful, we intervened with the
officials of the Tirana Police Office to respect the rights of the convicts
and the lawyer to meet with them. After our intervention this case was
solved and the lawyer was able to meet with his client. We judged not to
ask for any disciplinary actions in this case, but the case should serve as
an example for the future.
6. While investigating the cases of maltreatment of the Albanian
citizen from the police of neighboring countries, we observed that the
police officers with the duty in the Albanian borders were not
implementing the duties specified in the Joint Regulation issued by the
General Prosecutor’s Officer No. 1210, dated 23.07.2001 and the
Ministry of Public Order No. 2037, dated 23.07.2001, “For keeping
minutes on the denunciation of people maltreated abroad”. This
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Regulation was issued after the recommendation given by the People’s
Advocate office.
We made two recommendations for the concrete case with the
police officers in the Kapshtica border checkpoint. The first was sent to
the General Directory of State Police to order the police officials in the
districts that have border checkpoints to review the Joint Regulation and
train their employees. The second was sent to the Police Directory of
Korca District to analyze the case evident in the Kapshtica border for the
maltreatment of three Albanian citizens from Elbasan on 15.09.2003 and
to take measures for the non-performance of duties from the police
officers,
The recommendations were welcomed and accepted. Based on
them disciplinary measures were taken for four police officers: one was
dismissed and the three others were suspended. After this incident the
police officers assigned in borders checkpoints started to follow more
closely the procedures and keep the required records for all the cases of
maltreatment of Albanian citizens from the neighboring countries police,
thus sending also the files to the respective Prosecutor’s Offices.
III. Complaints for dismissal from work of employees of the
Ministry of Public Order and the State Police
Thirty officers and policemen have acquainted our institution, with
cases of unfair dismissals from work. In some cases the motivations or
the legal reasons for the diminutions were not communicated, or these
employees were not given the chance to give explanations as required by
the respective procedures when such disciplinary actions are taken. As
examples of the positive resolve in favor of the complainant, we are
mentioning the following cases:
1. The complaint of police officer Q.H. member of the police
forces of Tirana Police Station No. 3. He wrote that he was given the
minimal grade of “agent”, while he had accumulated 35 years serving in
the police forces, professional experience and good performance
evaluation. Judging that this was unfair to him he had talked with his
chiefs and had expressed his unhappiness in the media, “The Albanian
Newspaper” and NEWS 24 TV station. The following day of the
publication of his article he was called by his chiefs and was
communicated the order of suspension till the case was cleared with the
motivation that he had violated the Decision of the Prime Minister and
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Minister of Public Order “On the Communication with Media”. Later he
was dismissed from the police forces.
After analysis of the documentation it resulted that the complainant
was dismissed from the police forces by the order of the Director of the
Tirana District Police No. 5053/1 protocol, dated 16.05.2003, with the
motivation “For public rebellion act or intention for rebellion as on
08.05.2003 in defiance to the Decision of the Prime Minister and Minister
of Public Order “On Communication with Media” had given an interview
in the media questioning the police grades, thus violating paragraph four,
point 7, of this the rule 12 of the Disciplinary Regulation of the State
Police.
From analysis of other documents related to this case, the proposal
of the chief of the station, the explanatory noted and the proposal for
dismissal, it resulted that the motivation was concerned only with the
violation of the Decision No. 226 of the Prime Minister “On
Communication with Electronic and Written Media” and the Decision of
the Minister of Public Order No. 1661, dated 08.04.2002 “On
Communication with Media” and not for public rebellion, as described in
the dismissal motivation.
Studying the legal base and the documentation for the dismissal
from the State Police forces, it resulted that:
a) The Decision of the Director of Tirana District Police No.
5053/1 prot., dt. 16.05.2003 and the Decision of the Regional Nomination
Council No. 34 dated 15.05.2003, as far as the motivation for dismissal is
concerned, were not in accordance with what was requested by the
immediate chiefs of the complainant in their records for the above-cited
case. The suspension of this police officer with the motivation for
violation of the Decision of the Prime Minister and the Decision of the
Minister of Public Order were already made public from the Ministry of
Public Order during the News Evening edition on the National TV
Station on 08.05.2003. According to article 81, point 2 of the Law No.
8485, dated 12.05.1999 on “Code of Administrative Procedures in the
Republic of Albania” the facts which are already made public become
evidence and there is no need to verify them.
b) The declaration of the complainant in the media is not foreseen
as a violation and cause for dismissal in any of the articles of the law No.
8553, dated 25.11.1999 “On the State Police” and the Regulation of
Discipline in the State Police Forces.
Taking into consideration the existing facts and defending the
rights of the complainant, we recommended to the Director of the Tirana
District Police to revoke the decision No. 5053/1, dated 16.05.2003 “For
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the dismissal from the State Police Forces of the police officer Q.H.” and
re-assign him in his previous position.
As our recommendation was not being considered, thus we
approached the Primer, who ordered that the police officer be returned to
the previous position.
2. Citizen R.Sh., a former police officer of the Directory of Durres
District Police, complained that by the decision of the Director of the
Durres District Police, No. 291 prot., dated 12.06.2003, he was dismissed
from the State Police forces with the motivation of “Not having
completed high school”. The complainant claimed that his dismissal was
not right and that he had completed not only high school but also had
graduated from the Police Academy. During his work, he had achieved
high results against criminality, had been compensated and commended
for his work and had never been scolded or taken any disciplinary note.
In order to prove that he had completed high school he filed a case
with the Fier District Court. Upon completion of the trial and in the
presence of the third parties, the representative of the Patos High School,
the court concluded in its decision No. 990, dated 16.06.2003: Legal
certification that R.Sh. has completed the studies in the high school and
had received a degree as a mechanical during 1987-1992 period”. Also
the court decided to make the appropriate correction in the decisions
taken respectively in the exact number of 704 instead of 25. A copy of the
irrevocable court verdict, dated 02.07.2003, the complainant had attached
to the written complaint.
The main concern in this case is the fact that by the abovementioned judicial decision, the motivation for the dismissal of the
complainant was overthrown. The irrevocable court decisions define legal
consequences as set in the laws and according to article 142/3 of the
Constitution they stand for a constitutional obligation to be recognized by
the state authorities.
Upon study of the order for the exclusion of the complainant and
our verification, it resulted that, in the current case, the police had
violated the procedure for the release of the complainant as foreseen in
the Personnel Guide of the State Police Forces, specifically in article 15,
paragraph 2 and 22, point E/b, as it was not proposed to the director by
the nominative regional council for the dismissal of the police officer.
According to these dispositions, the appointment and the dismissal of
police officers is made only by the Director of the County Police
Directory, when the nominative regional council prior has already
approved the decision.
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The necessity of the proposal from the nominative regional council
is foreseen in article 25, paragraph 1 and 3 of the Personnel Guide of
the State Police Forces, which states that the act drafted by the
nominative regional council is defined as a “proposal” and the act of
appointment or dismissal describes the legal basis for the proposal. Thus
in this case the form of the act for the dismissal was not in accordance
with the above-cited dispositions.
From the verification it also resulted that the complainant had achieved
high performance in his duty, in fighting crime and was several times
rewarded materially and morally. During his work, he had never received
a reprimand or any form of disciplinary action.
In order to restore his legal rights, we recommended to the Director of the
Durres District Police to revoke the decision No. 291 dated 12.06.2003,
for the dismissal from the State Police Forces with the motivation “Lack
of High School Diploma” and give him back his job.
Our recommendation was welcomed and the complainant returned to his
previous position.
IV. Non-execution of final court verdicts and non-payment of
the substitute employees.
This is a common problem and present almost with all the
Albanian public administrative authorities. Thus there were plenty of
complaints under this category. During 2003, there were eighteen
complaints for the non-execution of court decisions to return to previous
positions and non-payment of the monetary obligations for suspension, as
well as five complaints for non-payment of employees released as
reservists. As positive solutions to such complaints, the following cases
are quoted:
1. Complaint of citizen I.M., former police officer in the Tirana
State Police Station. He wrote that he was dismissed unjustly from the
police forces by decision No. 2928/1, dated 25.04.2002, given by the
Director of this Station. The complainant had filed a court case with the
Tirana District Court, which by decision No. 3506, dated. 17.09.2002 had
overthrown the decision of the Director and obliged the employer to pay
in full amount the damage caused to the employee. The court decision
was of an irrevocable form and its execution was mandatory. Although
the complainant had tried for several months to encourage its execution,
yet the Police Directory had taken no action.
We requested explanations from the Police Directory on the legal
basis for the non-execution of the court decision and were informed that
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the reason for that was the fact that the Director had said “I can not sign
for those police officers that want to take money while using their police
uniform, as the code of ethics prohibits me from doing that.” However,
the decision of dismissal is an administrative act. Based on article 324 of
the Code of Civil Procedure the administrative disagreements, based on
the cases raised from the interested parties, are tried by the judicial police.
Simultaneously, the right of the complainant to file a court case and
revoke the decision of dismissal is foreseen in article 32, paragraph 5 of
the Law No. 8553, dated 25.11.1999 “On the State Police”.
The Director of the District Police, based on this law has the right
and competence to dismiss police officers from their duties, when a legal
basis exists, but he has not rights not to execute court verdicts, which
revoke his decisions. The claims of the police officer to receive payments
should have been objected during the case trial. Although the Police
Directory had such the opportunity to object during the trial, they never
showed up in any of the five sessions of this trial.
The focus of this complaint on our side was the fact that based on
article 142, paragraph 3 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania the
execution of court decisions is a constitutional obligation to be performed
by any state authorities.
In order to restore the constitutional and legal rights of the
complainant we recommended to the Directory of this Police District Unit
to execute the decision of the Tirana District Court and bring back to
work the police officer. Our recommendation was accepted and the
complainant is back in his previous position.
2. The complaint of the citizen R. T., in the profession of construction
engineer, whom with Order of the Minister of Public Order No. 2111, dated
09.16.1998, was laid off. He took legal action against the Ministry in the Court
of Tirana, which in its Decision No. 258, dated 02.04.1999, accepted by the
Appeal Court of Tirana, decided against the Order of the Minister of Internal
Affairs. With its Decision No. 3647, dated 9.25.2002, the District Court of
Tirana has obligated the Ministry of Public Order to pay to the complainant the
salary for the period of time from the moment of lay off and all non-execution
period. The Court decision had exhausted the appeals and the order for
execution was issued. The complainant pretended that he had requested from
the Bailiff’s Office in Tirana to execute this decision; however this was not
made possible because of the Ministry refusal to cooperate. To make possible a
solution to this situation we requested an explanation from the Ministry of
Public Order. The Department of Human Resources of the Ministry of Public
Order answered this request on 09.22.2003 and informed us that: “The Human
Resources thinks that returning to his previous employment is difficult because
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of his educational background. The State Police and National Guard do not have
an opening for his background. One possibility for his employment is to take the
examination based on the law “On the Status of Civil Servant” for open
positions declared from the Economy Department”.
The answer of the Human Recourses Department, from the legal standpoint is
not acceptable, because it contradicts the law. The execution of court decisions
is a constitutional obligation for the state institutions. In addition, in this
particular matter he does not have to take the exam for employment because we
are not before a new employment relationship, despite the fact that we do not
have a new employment position, the complainant has to be returned to his prior
position even if it is not available at this time. We recommended the Minister of
Public Order the execution of the court decisions, as which we cited above in
favor of the complainant RT. Based on our recommendation the Legal
Department of the Ministry of Public Order in their answer, dated 11.17.2003
said that
“In regard of the financial obligation coming from these decisions, with Order
No. 65/2R, dated 12.11.2003 the Ministry has vested the Budget and Financial
Department to solve the case. As for the part of the decision that voids Order of
Minister No. 2111, dated 09.16.1998, which ordered the return of the
complainant to his previous employment position, was not acknowledged.
Their reasoned as follows: “The decision No. 258, dated 02.05.1999 of the
District Court of Tirana, approved by the Appeal Court of Tirana with Decision
No. 829, dated 8.6.1999, has decided only in regard of the financial obligations
of the Ministry of Public Order toward the citizen R.T. Both the above decisions
did not say anything about returning to previous employment of the plaintiff and
as a conclusion this request does not have legal basis”. At the same time, to
justify its decision this department cited two decisions of the Civil Panel of
Supreme Court No.156, dated 02.21.2002 and the Decision of the Joint Panels
of the Supreme Court No. 31, dated 04.14.2003 which said that “returning to
previous employment is a request that the can not be resolute any longer from
the courts”. In its answer the Directory mentioned the fact they had no
knowledge of the legal proceedings.
The reasoning of the Legal Department and the Legal Representation has no
legal basis, because they are not complying with the above decisions for the
reasons below:
a) With Decision No. 258, dated 02.05.1999 of the District Court of Tirana,
upheld by the Appeal Court of Tirana with its Decision No. 829, dated
06.08.1999 it is decided, first, “The annulment of the Order of the Ministry of
Public Order No. 2111, dated 09.16.1998” and later financial obligation. It is
true that the courts in there decisions do not say anything regarding the return of
the plaintiff in the previous job but the courts have decided the annulment of the
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above Order, where it was based the lay off of the plaintiff. Since it was decided
the annulment of this Order, this means the return of the plaintiff to his previous
job. If it would have been different, as the Legal Department and Legal
Representation pretended that the courts should have consider the plaintiff’s
claim for returning in his previous job without merits.
b) The Decisions of the Supreme Court are considered as legal precedents
for the judiciary, for the similar legal matters in the future and they have not
have effect for the decisions given in the past. Thus we can say that they have
no judicial effect toward the execution of court decisions, which have exhausted
the appeal before the Supreme Court has decided in the same matter.
c) Regarding the arguments of Ministry of Public Order that they did not
have knowledge of the trial sessions, they have no merits because notifying of
the Ministry of the Public Order during trial sessions was proven from the Court
and that trial sessions were continued in absence, in conformity with the Code
of Civil Procedure dispositions. The obligation of the Ministry of Public Order
to execute the court decision emanates from article 142, pg. 3 of the Albanian
Constitution, which says: “The State Organs must execute judicial decisions”.
To make possible the upholding of the constitutional rights and civil rights
for the abused citizen, we send a repeated request to the Ministry of Public
Order for the execution of the court’s decision cited above. This
recommendation was sent lately and we are waiting for a reply.
3. We received complaints from mid-level and high-level specialists of the
police force, who were left as substitutes of the Ministry of Public Order and of
the State Police. In the complaints, they write about not getting paid during the
period thee were substitutes from the above structures. Despite their efforts to
solve these problems in administrative ways with the Ministry, they concerns
were not responded by the authorities.
From the verification we made at several departments of the Ministry of
Public Order, resulted that 42 mid-level and high-level specialists were
substitutes and they have not received any payment for that period. As an
argument of non-compensation of the above-employees, the Legal Department
and Finance Department at the Ministry of Public Order referred to the article
23 of Law No. 8643, dated 7.20.2000 “On the Ranking in the State Police”,
where is predicted that statutory only for higher ranking; only they have to get
paid and no other. Referring to this disposition we found that:
1. The members of higher rank of the State Police, when needed by the
duty interest, can be considered in disposition of the Ministry of
Public Order. Consideration and time is defined with Decision of the
Council of Ministers.
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2. The numbers of the high ranks officials left in disposition cannot be
more than 2 grades and no longer than 12 months.
From reviewing the case and the aforementioned article we
concluded as follows:
• First, from the interpretation we understood there is a limit in the
number and for the time of staying in disposition that does not predict
and does not limit the dispositions of other employees of the Police.
Based on the unwritten rules of law, something that is not illegal by
law is legal.
• Second, if it was illegal the placement of the employees of the police
force or other ranking officials in disposition, why it was done and
where was based that decision from the appropriate institution?
• Third, we cannot ignore the regulation 12, pg. 6 of the Discipline
Manual of the State Police, where it is contemplated “suspension
from the position or the office”. Based on this disposition, the
employee of the police force that is suspended for disciplinary actions
is going to be treated with equal compensation, as a working
employee. We interpreted the above regulations that the employees
that are subject to a disciplinary action are getting compensated and
did not agree to be left without compensation the others, which are in
disposition from their work through no fault of their own.
• Fourth, based on the dispositions of the Civil Code, the employees of
the Sate Police left in disposition, have the legal right to request from
the courts of his/her financial loss. But the solution is going to raise
the financial obligations of the Ministry of Public Order and the legal
and execution fees.
For making it possible to resolve complainants’ rights we
recommended that the Ministry of Public Order take all necessary steps
needed for reimbursements of the employees in disposition. Our
recommendation is done lately and we are waiting for a positive answer
from the proper authority.
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V. The complaints in regard to becoming, or giving up Albanian
Citizenship.
With the office of the People’s Advocate were filed five
complaints, which relate to the proceedings for citizenship. In most of the
matters it was concluded that it is a bureaucratic delay from the Region
Police of Tirana and the employees of the citizenship departments, which
are assigned to work not only with citizenship matters but with the
issuance of passports as well. From our investigation, resulted that these
employees gave priority the issuance of passports then the citizenship
matters and requests. The offices were not properly displaying the
information starting from the official hours of business, pamphlets with
immediate information regarding the procedures. The communication of
its employees, the explanation to the citizens, it was far from professional
manners and not in compliance with Order of the Minister of Foreign
Affairs and the Minster of Public Order No. 4252 and No. 3553, dated
11.27.2001.
The employees of the Region police that work for these departments
resulted not to be trained for performing their tasks.
For the above reason, in collaboration with the Presidency and the
Ministry of Public Order, was organized a seminar for training of the
employees of the Passport Offices and employees around the country
attended the seminar. A package of legal acts was distributed to all the
attendees to help them in performing their duties.
VI. The reaction of the People’s Advocate toward the incidents of
abuse of Albanian citizens from the police of neighboring
countries.
During the months of September-October 2003, the Albanian Media
mobilized the opinion of the Albanian public for the physical torture
incidents toward Albanian citizens from the Greek Police. Based on Law
No. 13, dated 02.04.2003, “On People’s Advocate”, our institution, with
its initiative, started the proceeding of the investigations of these
incidents. Our office had meetings with victims, during which, we
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interviewed and collected evidence, which pointed to the barbarian force
used toward them from the Greek Police.
From this encounter we can point out that:
1. The physical abuse of the citizens L.H., M.H. and Rr.P.,
residents of Elbasan, who were returning to Albania, were stopped by the
employees of Greek Police with army uniformed and face masks. The
police inspected them and searched their baggage. During the control
they took from citizen Rr.P. 100 Euro and ordered them to lay face down.
As soon as they lay down, one of the police began to kick them, in
different parts of the body, with his feet and a piece of wood. As a result,
the citizen L.H. had strong pain all over his body and especially in the
ribs and he could not walk. The other citizens were in pain as well. After
the abuse the Greek Police transported them to the border point of
Kapshtice, in Greek territory.
Because citizen L.H. was not able to walk, the others had to carry
him until he entered the Albanian territory. As soon as they entered
Albania, they took a cab toward city of Elbsan. During the travel L.H.
was in strong pain and swelling of the stomach, and others had strong
pains in their bodies. As soon as they arrived in Elbasan, they were
admitted to the Emergency Room of the Elbasan Hospital. From the
examination in the emergency room, the doctors found that citizen L.H.
had a rapture spleen and internal bleeding. Because his medical condition
was worsening, they decided to perform an operation during which they
took the spleen out and cleaned the blood in the abdomen.
Other incidents of the mistreatment of Albanian citizens from the
Greek Police that we have investigated are:
2. Killing with firearm from Greek Police in Kostur of the 18th year
old V.B. from Has on 9.23.2003.
3. Maltreatment and tearing apart of the passport and legal visa of
citizen A.T. from Gramsh at the VKK Greek Police, Kapshtice on
10.6.2003.
4. Maltreatment of citizens L.Sh. from Pogradec, D.B. from Devoll
and S.H. from Cerrik et al.
From all these incidents, we have accumulated the needed
materials and send to the Greek Ombudsman for continuation of the
investigation. In the meantime, we have requested from him to intervene
to the State Greek Authorities and Greek Police to stop the xenophobic
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feelings and racism against Albanians supported by extremist groups in
Greece.
The above actions of Greek Police are in violation of the European
Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman Treatments or
Degrading Treatments and Punishments or other international documents
including the Greek legislation. As a result, we have suggested to the
Greek homologue to send a recommendation to the Police and Greek
Army that their forces be trained regarding the issues of Human Rights.
At the same time, we suggested to the Greek Justice authorities to be
objective in investigations and trial proceedings toward the Greek Police
that use physical force or kill Albanians. We have stressed that we
consider life and dignity of the Albanians equal to the life and dignity of
every Greek or European Citizen.
For protection of the human rights of Albanian Citizens from the
illegal activities of the neighboring countries, we continuously distribute
information to higher European authorities for protection of human rights
like the Commissioner of Human Rights in the European Union Mr.
Alvaro Gil-Robles, the representative of the European Committee for
Prevention of Torture and Inhuman Treatments or Degrading Treatments
Mr. Fabrice Kellens, the representative of Amnesty International, Ms.
Melanie Anderson etc. Besides the information, we have requested them
to use their authority toward the states of the countries that abuse human
rights and especially those of the Albanian citizens with the intention that
this occurrence not continues in the future.
VII. Recommendation for prevention of torture and other
maltreatment forms and violations of law by the police forces
In the annual report of 2002, we made some recommendations, the
implementation of which would prevent torture and other maltreatment
forms and violations of law by the police forces. Although we sent them
to the Ministry of Public Order, we still see, that even after a year, the
majority of them have not been implemented. Thus we can mention:
1. No measures have been taken to secure the right of doctor
consultation for people deprived of freedom, since the beginning of this
status. This right should also allow them to be visited by a doctor of their
own choice.
To achieve this, it is important that:
• All the medical examinations for the persons deprived of
freedom should take place not in a hearing distance of the
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police, unless the doctor requests so. In special cases, also,
away from the view of the police forces, when these persons
are visited by the doctor.
• The doctor should write the results of the examination, as
any other declaration of a visited person, and the person
deprived of freedom and his defense attorney should be
informed.
• 2. The persons deprived of freedom are not given
informative materials to make them aware of their rights.
These materials should also be translated into foreign
languages. Above all, the interested parties should be invited
to sign a declaration that they have been informed on their
rights.
3. It is not yet issued the guide (Ethics Code) for the interrogation
from the police. This code, among others, should address the following
topics: systematically acquaint the convicts with the identities of the
present person while interrogation occurred (name and/or title); the
allowed duration of one interrogation session; the periods of breaks
among sessions and the break during interrogations; the place or places
where the interrogation is taking place; if the convict will be asked to
stand during interrogation; and that it is forbidden to interrogate
individuals under the influence of drugs, alcohol, medications or mental
shock. This code should also foresee the inclusion of the beginning and
ending of an interrogation session, the identity of all the persons present
during this session and any request formulated by the convict during
interrogation. The situation, particularly with unprotected persons (such
as juveniles, the sick, disabled or mentally-ill) should become an object
of specific guarantees.
4. The above rights are not executed for individuals kept by police
for administrative reasons. In some cases, we have evidenced that “the
escort to the police station” is used as a justification also for the
individuals that the police suspects of committing a penal offense. Thus
the escorting is used for the clarification of administrative action and
aiming at interrogating and investigating for penal offense. After the
escorting, the arrest or detention procedures start for these individuals. In
some other cases we have evidence that the police take actions to research
and collect data in an illegal way, thus violating pg. 2 of article 32 of the
Constitution of the Republic of Albania. In certain cases, these data are
taken by use of physical force.
5. The police authorities have not issued the circular to clarify that
the time for detention of an individual, for administrative or judicial
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reasons, should be calculated within the set time frame, from the moment
the person appears before the magistrate, which according to article 28 of
the Constitution, is not more than 48 hours. From the verification of
certain cases, it is evidenced that the time of detention or arrest starts after
that of escorting, which in some cases has passed the legal time limit.
6. High officials and cadres of the Police do not exercise
continuous control on the registration ledgers for the individuals being
kept in police stations, with the aim that they are not manipulated or are
filled correctly. We have evidenced some cases that the notes in these
ledgers do not coincide with the exact time of the detention in the police
station of these individuals, or in certain cases they are not registered at
all.
7. Still it has not changed the concept that the persons escorted to
the police should be kept in escort rooms and not in detention rooms
being cuffed or locked, as in some cases. Also there are no special rooms
for juveniles and women. These rooms should be in good and appropriate
hygienic-sanitary conditions and equipped with tables and chairs.
8. The conditions in the rooms of pre-detention in the police
stations, for keeping the convicts and arrested, still have no changes, so:
• To respect strictly the foreseen criteria related to the minimal
space per individual; and
• To separate the adults from the juveniles and pay special
attention to the latter in terms of health and education.
9. Still it has not become a reality to transfer the pre-detention
rooms and its personnel from the supervision of the Ministry of Public
Order, to that of Justice. This would effectively put in practice all the
defined dispositions of “The Guide for the security and treatment of the
prisoners”, approved by Decision of the Council of Ministers No. 96,
dated 09.03.2000.
Besides the execution of the above recommendations, the Police
should work more towards the implementation of their main institutional
duties, foreseen in article 3 of Law No. 8553, dated 25.11.1999 “On the
State Police”, and in particular those for the protection of human rights
and freedoms of the individuals. For the realization of this job, it is
necessary:
1. To give more priority to the education and professional
formation in continuity to the police forces at all grades and categories. In
these programs, an important role and place should be given to the
education of respecting the rights and freedoms of the individuals. The
cultural and professional level, the acquaintance and respect of human
rights, the communicating ability, should be the criteria for the
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recruitment, maintenance, selection and promotion of the police forces at
all levels.
2. The political and technical authorities’ at all high instances
should approach more often with clear and reinforcing messages that they
strictly denounce all the maltreatments by the police. This should be
repeated regularly from the officials of the police forces. This in
particular should be emphasized to the police forces, in charge of the
interrogation of the individuals deprived of freedom.
3. In all the institutions and buildings of the Police must be expose
pamphlets and posters prepared in collaboration with our institution,
which should address the respect of human rights and prevention of force
from employees of the Police. They should be a constant reminder for
these employees and will help them in performing their duties in
compliance with law.
4. The collaboration of the Ministry of Public Order or the General
State Police Directory with the Peoples Advocate’s Office in the scope of
work to protect the rights and freedoms of the individuals has been a
positive experience, as was mentioned in the 2003 report and hoping to
be improved in the feature.
VIII. Recommendation and propositions regarding the legislative
branch.
During the process of answering the complaints of different types
we initiate that many officially authorized regulations were in violations
of the Constitution and abuse the rights of the public administration
employees and especially the employees of the State Police. Some of our
findings are:
1. The recommendation to the Ministry of Public Order for
extension of the time for filing of complaints regarding grades from
police employees. During the process of merging of Military grades with
State Police grades from the committee in charge have been subjective
positioning and consideration. The large number of complaints that we
received from employees of the police of different grades, most of which
were positively resolved from the Committee of Reviewing the
Complaints, directed from the Deputy Minister of Public Order, Mr.
Thoma Jana, supports this fact. Based on the information received from
the committee in its protocol correspondence No. 251/1, dated
12.11.2003, resulted that this commission had reviewed 1373 total
complaints, from which 1216 were resolved positively. This committee
has reviewed 649 complaints of the employees of the Police middle and
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higher ranks, from which 384 where resolved positively. At the same
time, we were informed that this committee is still receiving complaints
for which the statute of limitations is expired. Until the end of the year
2003, this office was in receipt of some 887 complaints with the expired
statue of limitation and these complaints are not reviewed. This takes
away the possibilities of this complainant to file a claim in our office or in
the courts, because this office already has taken the position that it is
going to review the complaints only after the Committee of Reviewing of
Complaints has given its decision.
From following and reviewing this problem, we came to the
conclusion that many employees of the police do not complain because
they are fearful from the time of grades distribution and the illegal
behavior of the authorities of the Ministry of Public Order toward the
employee Q. H. who had the courage to publicly criticize the injustice
done to him from this Ministry.
The delay in filing the complaints came at the same time and for
the reason of ignorance of law from the employees of the department of
grades, in particular the right of complaint and statute of limitations. This
happened because of the neglect communication between the highranking officials of the Headquarters of the Police Force with their
effectives around the country, who did not circulate these legal acts to
them.
Considering all the wrongdoing that was brought to the attention of
the Committee of Reviewing the Complaints, the factors stated above,
and the fact that the right of complaint and its statute of limitations was
decreed by Order of the Ministry of Public Order No. 1484, dated
6.18.2001, pg. 14 and in the Operational Order No.1172, dated 4.04.2003,
pg. 8 of the Director of the State Police, we judged that the statute of
limitations had to be extended from competent authorities.
Thus, we recommended to the Minster of Public Order to change
the aforementioned Orders and extend the deadline of accepting the
complaints about ranks until 31.12.2004. At the same time, we
recommended priority on reviewing the complaints from the Committee
for reviewing of the complaints, and answering to every complainant, for
the reason that they created the opportunity to file a complaint with the
People’s Advocate Office or in the court. The Minister of Public Order
responded to us on 1.16.2004: “Regarding to your recommendation, for
extension of the statute of limitations for the complaints on ranks and
deliberation for the complaints that the statute of limitations has run, we
are considering possibilities and measurements for preparation and
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proposal of the legal statues which can make possible the extension of the
statute of limitations for the complaints of this nature.
2. The recommendation directed to the Minister of Public Order for
amending of Order No. 1661, dated 04.08.2002 “On the Communication
with Media”. During the reviewing of the complaints from ex-employee
of the State Police, Q. H., member of the Police Commissariat No. 3 in
Tirana, who was fired for non compliance with the Order of Minister of
Public Order “On the Communication with Media” we concluded that:
The Order of the Minister of Public Order No. 1661, dated
04.08.2002 had become a reason for abuse of rights for police employees
because:
a) It contains limitation of one of the human rights granted by
article 22, pg. 1 of the Albanian Constitution, where it is said that “The
freedom of speech is guaranteed”. Every person has the right to speak
freely on every thing that he/she consider unjust. In the concrete matter,
the employee had made public a complaint that had no connection with
the nature of his work in the police force but regarding his status at work
and compensation.
The above administrative act, which limits the fundamental rights
of freedom of speech, is decreed by abusing powers vested by law to the
Minister of Public Order, because the article 17 of the Constitution
“Limitation of the rights and freedoms provided for in this constitution
may be established only by law, in public interest or for the protection of
the rights of others. A limitation shall be in proportion to the situation that
has dictated it. These limitations may not infringe the essence of the
rights and freedom and in no case may exceed the limitation provided for
in the European Convention on Human Rights”.
The content of the Order No. 1661, dated 04.08.2002 does not
comply with the legal motive in which it is based “in the interest of
raising the transparence of the Ministry of Public Order with the Media
and Public” because first, in neither of articles that this order is based, it
is limited the right of the employee of the police to communicate with
media for his personal problems and second, this order does not benefit
the raises of the transparence of the Minister of Public Order with the
Media and public but otherwise.
In order to reestablish the violated constitutional right of the free
speech, we proposed the Ministry of Public Order to change the Order
No. 1661, dated 04.08.2002 “On the Communication with Media” for the
reason that its content violates the fundamental human rights. We have
yet to receive his official answer, but after revoking of the order of the
same object of the Prime Minister, the admittance of our recommendation
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is only a formal act, because the order of the Prime Minister now is an
absolute invalid administrative act.
3. The proposal directed to the Prime Minister No. 552, dated
27.11.1999, “On the financial or economic treatment of the families of
police killed or wounded in action”. The reason for this recommendation
was to exceed the effects of the above order of the Prime Minister before
the year 1999 and enable the employees killed or wounded during 19911998 to benefit from this regulation. Regarding this problem, a year ago,
we have sent a recommendation and reflected it in our report for the year
2002. In the beginning, that was a positive reaction from the government,
which requested from the Ministry of Public Order to study the problem
and submit its suggestions. Based on this, the Ministry of Public Order
submitted the proposal for review of the decision of the Council of
Ministers and Former Minister Rama promised to the Parliament that the
government is going to change the decision soon. But apart from this
promise, the problem did not have any concrete advancement. Since the
government for the year 2004 has raised the budget for the Ministry of
Public Order and Police 10% more than the year 2003, we hope that this
problem will find a solution this year.
6. Ministry of Defense
In 2003, there were 106 claims and requests made against and to
the Ministry of Defense, 93 of which have been disposed. Adding 48
claims disposed in 2002, in 2003 there have been disposed 141 claims in
total. In 2004 there are 13 claims pending.
According to claims that have been disposed in 2003, 45 claims or
32.4% of them had a positive outcome. This is an important indicator of
the efficiency of our work and the cooperative efforts with the Ministry of
Defense. 53 claims or 37.3% were beyond our authority and 43 or 31.3%
were groundless claims.
In 2003, most of the claims were brought by officers and the
remainder by under-officers and civil servants. Soldiers of military or
under-military units made no claims. In spite of the above, we met with
soldiers of the sea district of Vlore. It resulted that soldiers did not have
complaints that were within the realm of the authority of the People’s
Advocate.
Looking at the numbers given above, we could say that the work
with the complaints that had to do with the Ministry of Defense has been
successful. This conclusion is not based only on the figures. It is a
pleasure to report that the Ministry of Defense is one of the departments
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of our Public Administration where we always, from the inception of our
activity in 2000, have found willing partners to cooperate institutionally,
with good intentions to appropriately solve the concerns and complaints
of the officers.
The good cooperation with the Ministry of Defense is realized
through direct contacts with the leaders and specialists of the respective
Directories charged to deal with the concerns and complaints of the
soldiers, including the Directory of Managing Human Resources,
Department of Veterans, Legal Department, etc. thus increasing the level
of the responsibility of all structures of the Ministry of Defense, to
carefully address concerns and to respect legal rights of the officers.
This understanding and cooperation with the Ministry of Defense is
considered as an achievement to our objectives to defend human rights,
aiming at spreading this experience in other institutions. That has
evidenced by the well reception, heeding and acceptance of
Recommendations made by the People’s Advocate.
After dealing with the main concerns presented in the complaints
brought by military subjects, it became clear that the complaints of the
officers or former officers who were considering leaving their careers or
who have left their career as part of the reform in the Armed Forces from
1992 until the present, are of a considerable number.
These people complain that not only their pension is lower than the
pension of their colleagues who retired after 1993, even though they were
equal in their duties, but also for not being recognized the additional pay
over the pension for the number of years they have served in the army at
a time when officers retired after 1993 benefit from this legal right.
Complaints of such nature are brought not only by certain
individuals, but also by the National Committee of Veterans of the
LANC-it, or other associations and groups of former officers.
The People’s Advocate, having considered such complaints as
appropriate and legitimate, on November 29, 2003, recommended to the
Prime Minister Mr. Fatos Nano, discussion and submission to the
Parliament of the draft law “For some changes and amendments in the
Law No. 8087, dated March 13, 1996”, “For supplemental social benefits
of officers of the Armed Forces, Ministry of Public Order and National
Information Service of the Republic of Albania.” This draft law is frozen
at the Cabinet of Ministers for lack of funds.
It’s worth mentioning the fact that, few of those subjects object to
being in reserve because for this in support of the reforms in the Armed
Forces they have become conscientious. But, their complaints have to do
with violations of the rights promulgated under the Law No. 8087, dated
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March 13, 1996 and amendments thereof. Structures of the Ministry of
Defense and military commands have not always acted correctly, right
and on time to make sure that those officers, after they interrupted their
careers benefit from the law.
Generalizing those instances, we have concluded that during the
application of the reforms, in the way it has been acted, there have been
violations of their rights. Their complaints have come to us during the
year 2003, and have been an important part of our work.
Specifically, after our investigation into these complaints, it was
determined that the Ministry of Defense, after it had laid out criteria for
the reforms, such as age, professionalism and commitment, has started
the procedure to interrupt the relation of the career of the active officers
who plan to leave.
But these procedures have not always been followed in conformity
with the law and act promulgated under, but it was acted in such a way
that allowed the violation of their rights, because the officers mentioned
above were left “active officers” but without being compensated for
several months.
To deal with the situation, the Council of Ministers enacted
Decision No. 590, dated August 28, 2003 “To increase the compensation
of officers,” thus solving complaints of Sh.B. from Elbasan, F.L. from
Fier, Th.T. from Tirana, Z.K. from Puka, P.Gj. from Rreshen, etc.
Even though in 2003, our Institution has had no complaints from
officers relating with the non-privatization of buildings given by Ministry
of Defense to live in, we have continually followed the draft decision to
be submitted to the Council of Ministers, dealing with the changes in the
Decision of the Council of Ministers No. 379, dated June 26, 1995
regarding “Converting into homes, buildings that were abandoned during
the restructuring of the Army and the Ministry of Public Order.” Our
recommendation sent to the Ministry of Defense for the necessity to make
some changes in the above cited decision, attempting to ease the
privatization procedures of the buildings, not foreseeing the need of first
getting the permission of the mayors for converting them into houses has
been followed in practice. We are pleased to express that the Ministry of
Defense not only accepted our recommendation, but it carefully prepared
the respective draft decision with the necessary changes which is to be
submitted to the Council of Ministers for approval within the month of
February 2004.
Aside from the complaints mentioned above, in 2003 various
officers have submitted their complaints with our Institution, which are
grouped as follows:
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- For release or baseless discharge from work:
Complaint of Y. D. from Durres, Former General until 1997. He
has complained not only for his unfair discharge from the duty, but also
for groundless degrading. The verification for this complaint found that
his complaint was legitimate not only because there was no proof that he
has violated any laws or military regulations, but also because even
though in July 1997 upon his request he was discharged with a
Presidential decree, leaving his title “General”, in September 1998 with a
second presidential decree the title “General” was removed. Therefore, it
is negotiated and it has been recommended that the Ministry of Defense
take measures to undo the violation of the right, to propose a draft law
(status) for specific benefits for the complainant and some former officers
of higher rank who have similar complaints.
- Complaint by P.Y. from Tirana, with title “Major” and former
Professor at the Army Academy “Skenderbej” for going into reserves and
discharged from duty in an unlawful manner. The solution of the
complaint has been promised, to employ him in a job within the civil
function of the Command of Doctrines and Preparation, along with the
reorganization of the administrative structure of that Academy.
- Request to benefit the supplementary pension for the category of
former officers in reserve and who are politically persecuted, from some
members of the National Association of the Officers in Reserve.
- Officers who have committed the duty of inspectors at the MCR,
which became part of the Ministry of Local Government and
Decentralization.
- Officers with urgent need for housing, as is the case for the
officers Mr.R. Laska from Berati, or Mr. Fredi Shema from Saranda.
- Complaint of the civil servants, who were fired as a result of
reforms, or when the line of work had been passed to another Ministry,
mainly to the Ministry of Local Government and Decentralization;
Complaints of the former employees of the Military Typography;
complaint of a group of civil servants of the Military House of Korce, or
the Military Hospital in Tirana.
The Ministry of Defense, to minimize the social and economic
ramifications stemming from unemployment of those officers, has
submitted respective draft law and orders. On this basis, the government
has enacted the Decision of the Council of Ministers No. 678, dated
October 16, 2003 “For treatment of employees that become unemployed
from the reforms in the Military Central University Hospital.”
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Also, Ministry of Defense has submitted to the Parliamentary
Commission, the draft law “For a special treatment of the employees who
have worked in some enterprises of the military industry.”
On the other hand, it is worth mentioning that from the general
number of complaints brought up in 2003, approximately 42% of them
deal with the status of the war veteran.
Thus for 2003 veterans have brought up 48 complaints, 20 of
which were resolved in their favor, 16 complaints were not within our
authority, 8 were groundless and 4 are pending. The subject of the
complaints has been to recognize the status of veteran, or the status of
hero, or for additional benefits stemming from the Decision of the
Council of Ministers No. 190, dated March 5, 1995, for veterans who
during the war were imprisoned in the Nazi camps in Albania and abroad.
From the beginning, we noticed that the Ministry of Defense has
valued the veterans by submitting the necessary draft laws to the Council
of Ministers and the government has issued respective decisions as
follows:
Decision of the Council of Ministers No. 217, dated 10.04.2003
“For increasing the compensation level of the veterans of the LANC-it of
Albanian people.”
Decision of the Council of Ministers No. 393, dated June 12, 2003
“For an amendment in the Decision of the Council of Ministers No. 151,
dated April 25, 2003 “For the Status of the National Hero.”
From adjudication of some complaints for this category (Veterans
of War) it was noted that the evidence presented by them to the National
Commission of the Veteran Status, was presented after the time had
expired or the documents that were presented late were presented based
on the court order restating the time limit.
Under those circumstances, to solve this situation, we cooperated
with the Department of the Veterans in the Ministry of Defense where we
were well received and found sufficient pre-disposition. From the
cooperation, we learned that at that Department, the number of the
complaints submitted was greater than the ones submitted with our
Institution. Specifically, there were 208 individuals nationally, 67
individuals were from Tirana, 24 from Kolonja, 21 from Shkodra, 14
from Vlora, 6 from Kavaja, 11 from Mat, 6 from Korca, 10 from
Gjirokastra and 25 individuals from Durres.
The above mentioned individuals presented their complaints after
the expiration of the time limit set by Decision of the Council of
Ministers No. 29, dated January 28, 2002 “For some amendments and
changes in the Decision No. 190, dated May 3, 1995 of the Council of
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Ministers” for application of the Law No. 7874, dated November 17,
1994 “For the Status of the Veteran of the War Against Fascism and
National Freedom of Albanian people” thus after July 30, 2002.
With the good intention to restore the rights of this category of
people who were over 70 years old, with minimal economic and financial
condition to make a living, and to give them a moral and material
satisfaction, the People’s Advocate recommended to the Ministry of
Defense, taking the initiative to draft a decision of the government, to set
a new time limit to present evidence to the National Commission of the
Veteran Status of War. The recommendation is under review and our
Institution is still waiting for an official response.
As a conclusion, all our work with those subjects has served
positively towards achieving the main objective of the work of our
Institution, to protect human rights, directly impacting the well
administration of the power and well governing in the Armed Forces.
One of the priorities of the work of the Institution of the People’s
Advocate for 2004, will be organizing open days with groups of experts
in various military units connected with the Command of the Ground
Forces, Air and Sea Forces, aiming at attracting complaints from underofficers and soldiers of the Armed Forces, close cooperation with various
departments in the Ministry of Defense and other military structures for
the just application of the law and the fair resolution of the complaints
and requests of officers.
7. Ministry of the Local Government and Decentralization
During 2003 our Institution has followed up on 36 complaints with
this Ministry, of which 14 were carried forward from 2002. From this
number of complaints, 25 have been disposed and 11 are pending. From
the 25 complaints disposed, 7 of them have been beyond our jurisdiction,
6 complaints were groundless, 9 were resolved in favor of complainants
and 3 were disposed based on the judicial instruction, through which
complainants have solved their problems. Also during this year we have
adjudicated complaints dealing with the service offered by the Office of
Civil Status, service, which is under the authority of this Ministry.
The subject of the complaints mainly deal with not getting assistance
from the state in cases of natural disasters and major forces, including
fire, explosives or floods, building collapses, land slides, damages caused
by earthquakes etc. This year complaints and concerns are the same as
those presented in previous reports, especially those dealing with nonresolution of complaints for lack of budgetary funds. In the Directory of
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Emergencies in this Ministry there have been other additional complaints,
brought directly by citizens and have not been addressed because of the
lack of funds, which should be given by the reserve fund of the Council
of Ministers.
Thus complainants seek application of the Decision of Council of
Ministers No. 206, dated March 26, 1998 “On the criteria of participation
of the state to cover for damages in unfortunate cases” and the Decision
of Council of Ministers No. 708, dated December 1, 2000 “On some
changes in the Decision No. 206, dated March 26, 1998 of the Council of
Ministers ‘For criteria of participation of the state to cover damages in
unfortunate cases”. For those complaints, the responses are standard that
once the funds have been secure their complaints will be considered.
However, this has caused the complaints to be carried from previous
years. The consideration of complaints has revealed that complaints are
legitimate and they are the result of legal acts and regulations themselves,
and their resolution in favor of complainants appears to be impossible for
the lack of financial means.
For complaints dealing with the assistance from the state for damages,
the Ministry of Local Government and Decentralization informed us that
before 1998 there had been a number of requests, which according to the
evidence presented merit to benefit from the state. Many other instances
occurred during 2002-2003, especially the ones dealing with the recent
floods in the northern and southern region of the country, damages of the
museum homes in the city of Gjirokatsra, or long amortized buildings,
but with historic value, from which, the lack of special funds results in a
risk of collapsing and thus losing the cultural values are already added to
this number. We have been informed that for this city museum the
government has earmarked for the coming year more funds, which will
make possible restoration of the cultural values of this city.
Considering that funds for assistance are given from the reserve fund
of the Council of Ministers, with specific orders of the government the
state could give partial or full financial assistance in accordance with
article 1 of the Decision of Council of Ministers No. 206, dated March
26, 1998, it is necessary that recognizing liabilities from the previous
years for those instances to foresee the methods of solutions step by step
starting from the draft budget which is approved at the beginning of each
year. Our close institutional follow up of this Ministry, is aimed
specifically at stimulating initiatives to create strategic plans to secure
funds.
Nevertheless, we think that specific structures of this Ministry in
cooperation with organs of the local government should not remain
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passive by only collecting/filing complaints. They should not only notify
the complainant for each instance, but also they should look for other
alternative ways available other than what the complainant has utilized to
resolve his complaint that naturally should not have to wait for several
years.
While adjudicating complaints, it has been observed that the
administrative procedures are being prolonged and this fact is evident in
all structures. This phenomenon is a result of negligence, and it also
comes from the non-familiarity with the law and the time limits set by the
administrative procedures.
The new law governing the operation of the Service of Civil Status
fixed many issues that were accumulated during the years.
One of the issues that were followed closely by the People’s Advocate
was the one that stemmed from a complaint regarding the Office of Civil
Status of Kavaje, according to whose records people who were known to
be deceased show as alive. We learned that such was the case in other
counties for example Elbasan, but it was inexplicable that those facts
were known and attested by the staff of the Office of Civil Status.
Thus, the office of the People’s Advocate drafted a second
recommendation in connection with the application of provision 51 of the
new act, which charges Offices of Civil Status to follow judicial
procedures to make possible the de-registration of people who de facto
are deceased but de jure are alive. We say the second recommendation,
because our first recommendation dated September 11, 2002 was
accepted by adding this provision into the law. Article 51 of Law No.
8950, dated October 10, 2002 “On Civil Status”, was known but it was
not applied by the staff of the Office of Civil Status. Under those
circumstances, considering this issue, because national elections were to
be held in October 2003, as very important and the reality as needed to be
fixed immediately, we suggested to the Minister of the Local Government
taking measures to apply the law; first, its recognition by the staff of the
Office of Civil Status and second, drafting regulations to make possible in
an administrative way for those organs to file lawsuits with the respective
courts, to make possible de-registration from the registers of the civil
status of all individuals who were deceased but show as still alive.
Besides other factors, in this recommendation it was evidenced the
fact that the election lists of elections held in the last 12 years were
continually contested and it avoided problems associated with benefits in
the social insurance from the third parties who would abuse with those
instances. This recommendation was accepted from Minister Blushi who
requested our cooperation. We think that the challenge for 2004 for the
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Ministry of Local Government and Decentralization is computerization of
the Offices of Social Status and equipping all Albanian citizens with
identity cards.
Another phenomenon that has been reflected in the complaints
filed with our office is that of the interference of some Mayors with the
work of the Office of Social Status which are physically located in the
Mayor’s offices but which legally have no judicial dependence on the
Mayor. A negative example is the one involving the Mayor of Sukth who
in violation of article 38 of the Constitution as well as subparagraph 1 of
article 12 of Law No. 8950, dated October 10, 2002 “On Social Status”,
unfairly would not allow registration of citizen C.B. and his family with
the Office of the Social Status Sukth, motivated from political reasons
because citizen C.B. was a member of the Democratic Party, and not
allowing him to register he was trying to eliminate him as a possible
nominee for Mayor. With the institutional interference of the People’s
Advocate this issue was positively resolved.
Complaints against Local Governmental Organs (Communes,
City Halls and Prefectures)
During year 2003, we have received 287 complaints, the scope of
which dealt with the above subjects.
a. Complaints against Communes
From 61complaints reviewed for the Communes, 21 were carried
over from 2002 and 18 are still pending. Out of 43 reviewed during 2003,
10 were in favor, 20 were out of jurisdiction and 13 were groundless.
They are mainly with a similar scope, as those followed for the
Prefectures. But for the communes, we can highlight some issues, which
are worth mentioning. As their resolving takes place in the communities,
in which the infrastructure still is not in the desired standards, the
appearing complaints are of various forms, such as lack of potable water,
or for irrigation, construction of new roads; complaints for not gaining
assistance such as families with problems, non-gaining of social
assistance, non-consideration of requests of the inhabitants for the status
of the homeless, and many other complaints, which are related to the law
for right of information. From the lack of knowledge of the law, the
communes not only do not take into consideration and solve problems,
but do not respond to the complainants, thus making people wander
around the doors of their local administration for a long time. Obligations
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that spring from this law either are not recognized or not implemented for
unjustified reasons. The Code of Administrative Procedures is a law not
well known, thus the obligations coming from this law for these organs
are not implemented during administrative proceedings. It is notable that
administrative acts or the levels of administrative complaint are not
known. There are cases when the heads of the communes take actions
that overpass their competences. In some cases they take over also the
competences of judicial power. It is also observed from the review of
complaints that the rights of the employees at the commune are not
acknowledged and the professional level of the administrative actions that
are taken by the leaders leave much to be desired. This happens because
in the organic structures of the Commune there is no position for a
lawyer, necessary for the awareness and execution of judicial opinion
during exercising administrative powers from the commune. Hence, from
the lack of knowledge of the legal acts that regulate these relationships of
work, the leaves from job are made in an abusive way. Additionally, we
expect more abusive leaves from work for political motives.
While reviewing the complaints with communes, we have observed
negligence and hindrance from their officials, which is reflected in
inactivity or not responding to requests or recommendations from our
office. The commune officials find themselves protected by law because
according to the law in force, they hold a four-year term and often abuse
the power vested by law for personal gains, knowing that 2003 is the end
of their term.
From the broad scope of complaints with Communes, it is observed
that there are also problems that come with the non-execution of
decisions of Commissions of Restoring and Compensating Properties,
hence violating the constitutional principle for the protection and
guarantee of private property. In many cases we have detected noncompliance with the requirements of Law No. 8652, dated 31.07.2000
“On the Organization and Functioning of the Local Government”.
The case of 26 families of Libonik village of Korca, who
complained of non-execution of a judicial decision of 1994, which
recognized the right to these villagers for the liquidation of a monetary
obligation, which we reported in the 2002 report, results unsolved by the
Council of Korca district, ignoring the constitutional obligation for the
obligatory execution of judicial decisions from all the Albanian state
organs.
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b. Complaint against City Halls
During the year 2003, in the Institution of the People’s Advocate
has arrived 143 complaints against City Halls. 56 complaints were carried
over from 2002. 126 were reviewed and 76 are still pending. Of 126
completed cases, 25 were solved in favor, 70 were out of jurisdiction and
31 were groundless. The scope of the issues is the same as the one
presented in the last Annual Report and the majority of these complaints
are carried from last year, because for the issue of housing there is still no
strategy to solve this problem. Hence, it is evident that the complaint of
homeless from the collapse of pyramid schemes, for which there has been
a lack of transparence, they were never informed on the achievements and
actually when their problem can be solved. Even for this year, there are
unsolved complaints of the category of homeless from Tirana, Durres,
etc., who have agreement acts with local power and according to legal
criteria are included in the category to be treated with priority. The
requests and our suggestions for the solution of the housing problem is
the development of a national strategy with clear objectives for the way
this problem will be solved, for the category that must be taken care of
and secure the conditions for the achievement of tangible results, such as
the obtaining of funds for this reason. The problem of housing is a social
and imperative objective to be solved. But from not solving in a timely
manner this problem, the number of homeless and the possibilities to
solve it grows year by year. From many of the received complaints during
this year in the Institution of the People’s Advocate, it is clear that in all
the City Halls, even if the people would get the status of homeless, there
is a lack of transparency in decision-making for the order in which the
citizens should be treated, and who have a lot to say about these delays.
In this direction, the efforts for a better transparency must be increased
from the organs of local government, to let the taxpayers and electors
know about their work for the solution of this major problem, as well as
the respective strategies. These organs, as they exercise their activity
based on the principle of autonomy and self-governance must increase the
collaboration with the community to listen to their opinions, for the
alternatives and the timing for the solution. The Law No. 8030 “On the
contribution of state for the homeless families” and other legal acts,
charges the Local Government and the National Housing Entity with the
execution of the decision. For all this process the citizens are completely
uninformed, and are delayed endlessly. This lack of awareness of the
citizens has become a push point for the City Hall of Tirana in creating an
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information office for this purpose, an initiative, which is congratulated
as an indicator of good governance.
In the complaints reviewed in relation to the issue of housing, we
would like to make evident the fact that the City Halls do not make use of
legal means for administratively processing the complaints. They hesitate
to issue administrative orders. The City Hall shows to its citizens the
judicial way, while according to the Code of Administrative Procedures
and the Law No. 8652, dated 31.07.2000 “On the Organization and the
Functioning of the Local Government”, the City Halls have the right to
undertake such proceedings, under review and decide on the
administrative complaints.
We were involved in solving the case of the Roma minority – a
complaint from the Roam Union of Albania “Amaro Drom” – regarding
some critical social issues of 120 families of this community.
Concretely, the representatives from this group of minority
explained to us that during the remodeling of the Lana duct, they were
asked to remove their tents or cubicles from that part of the canal. This
caused a very grave social problem, leaving them homeless. This Union
requested to the People’s Advocate to intervene to the competent
authorities to take care of the housing, registration in the civil state
offices, education and other concerns they were facing in every day life.
Under those circumstances, we requested to Tirana City Hall,
Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, Ministry of Territory Regulation
and Tourism and Ministry of Local Government and Decentralization to
take necessary actions to solve these social issues in conformity with
national and international laws. Also, we suggested to those institutions to
cooperate with other institutions, especially those that administer military
buildings (actually not in use), factories or other facilities, to house those
people temporarily and gain time for a definitive solution. The abovementioned institutions expressed their willingness to work together on
finding ways to help the Roma minority but we would like underlined the
Tirana City hall and Ministry of Local Government and Decentralization
for taking concrete steps on the above-mentioned issues.
One of the main principles of functioning of the local government
is their continuity, as defined by pg. 5 of article 4 of Law No. 8652, dated
31.07.2000 “On the Organization and the Functioning of the Local
Government”. The changing of the Heads of City Halls and City Hall
Councils has resulted in mal-functioning of the local governmental
bodies.
For example, the Head of Gjirokastra City Hall ordered the
Housing Entity to not execute an administrative act issued by the
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previous City Hall, thus violating the rights of citizen R.B. from
Gjirokasta and demanding the other institution, the Regional Branch of
Housing Entity, not to take necessary measures, even though the latter is
not under its hierarchy.
Other problems encountered during the reviewing of this category
of complaints are those relating to the non-execution of Law No. 8549,
dated 11.11.1999 “On Status of Civil Servant”, which it happened not to
be known in many districts. Because of Labor Code covers certain
categories of employees and the above-mentioned law cover others, many
dismissal decisions from jobs have been groundless and abusive. We
would like to mention in this report the complaint of citizen E.M., a
former employee of the Tirana City Hall, who, even though the
Commission of Civil Service and the Tirana Court decided to return him
to his previous job, both decisions have not been implemented by the City
Hall, which pretended that there were structural changes at the City Hall
that have delayed the execution of decisions.
c. Complaints against Prefectures
There were 16 complaints against prefectures during 2003 and 8 carried
over from 2002. Out of these, 13 were reviewed and 11 are under
consideration. Out of the reviewed complaints, 3 were solved in favor, 7
were out of jurisdiction and 3 were groundless.
From review of these, there are evidenced problems that mainly
deal with dismissal from job, non-execution of judicial decisions or of
decisions of Commission of Civil Service, with non-execution of the Law
No. 8503, dated 30.6.1999 “On the Right to Information over the Official
Documents”, as well as the problems that have come from actions or non
actions of Land Commissions. It is evident that many violations of the
citizens’ rights have come from non-execution of administrative
procedures in various proceedings that these bodies handle for the
solution of problems with community, and in relation with their
employees.
During this year in our institution were addressed many complaints
from employees of different Prefectures. From reviewing them, it is
evident that some prefects are unclear in the treatment of their employees,
who in some cases regulates their working relationship through the Labor
Code and in some other cases with the Law “On the Civil Servant’s
Status”. In all these cases, the procedures that should be followed and that
guarantee their rights are avoided.
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We would like to single out the complaint of citizen A.L. from
Korca, for which we made a recommendation and we are considering the
case, or the complaint of citizen N.A from Gjirokastra, for which we
recommended to the Commission of Civil Service to execute the
decision.
From the review of the complaints, it is clear since the organs of
local government at all levels, there are cases of bad administration of
funds, no respecting of the chronological distribution of these funds, nonallocation of assistance or funds for compensation from the state,
especially Prefectures in the northern part of the country, lack of
transparency and above all, lack of strategy or concrete alternatives in
short and long-term plans for the solution of these acute social problems
for the citizens.
It is important to highlight for the local governmental bodies the
scope of non-execution of judicial decisions, which is evident at all levels
and brought to attention also in the 2002 Annual Report. There are wrong
and unlawful stands as far as the judicial decisions, because there are still
officials that take over the review of the basis of these issues and try to
interpret the judicial decisions. Often the non-execution is justified with
lack of funds, but the existence of this cause as a hindrance for the nonexecution of the judicial decisions not only does not solve the problems,
but also make them increase in number, thus carrying no obligations year
after year.
From what we discussed above, we concluded that it should
increase the control on the administration and the activity of the local
governmental bodies at all its levels, so that the people can gain trust in
the manner of governance, and above all the controlling chains of the
central governance and the respective directories in the Council of
Ministers are strengthened.
The biggest role must be played by the Prefectures, which should
control the legal basis of the activity of the local governmental bodies.
Another important factor is the increase in the level of professionalism of
the employees so that they can gain better knowledge of the legal acts
that deal with better administration, such as the Code of Administrative
Procedures and the Law “On the Right to Information on the Official
Documents”. Also the role of the lawyers in these instances should
increase, opening new positions for them.
8. The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (MoLSA)
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The number of complaints reviewed by our institution reached 229,
in relation to the MoLSA and the institutions under its supervision, such
as the Institute of Social State Insurance (ISSI), the State Social Service,
and their subsidiaries in districts. Out of 229, 18 complaints were for the
ministry itself. The scope of these complaints is similar to that of the
previous year. In the following, we are presenting specific problems
according to their subject.
It is evident in the review of the complaints related to social service
that the possibilities of our country to secure the health and the welfare of
its population are compromised by the poor infrastructure, large
demographic movement, temporary lack of internal and regional stability,
low technical capacities of the respective structures. The restructuring and
reformation of the basic social services should be considered as a priority
element in the reduction of poverty.
During the annual meeting of the government for 2003 it was
emphasized that the role of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs
should be increased in order to assure people protection and security. This
ministry should not limit its task on the distribution of financial
assistance, but should focus on the expanding of the job market and
consider it as a priority. In other words, the indicator of the ministry
performance should not be the amount of reforms or legal acts adopted,
but how is the increase of the rate of employment for each district.
Precisely, the rate of the increase of employment and not the actual
situation should bring an impact on the level of poverty because of the
connection between the benefits or non-benefits of social welfare or
increase or decrease on the social insurance funds.
a. Institute of Social State Insurance
During 2003, the complaints addressed against the ISSI were 183.
From these complaints 125 were concluded and 58 are still in review.
It is clear that the scope of complaints is very similar to that of
previous years 2000-2002. Hence, the citizens complain for the level of
compensation of their retirement pension, disability pension, family
pension, non-gaining of disabled status, non-gaining of increases above
pension, lack of documentation and other issues.
Even though during 2002 there were changes in the legislation,
ameliorating the pension benefits of a certain category of beneficiaries,
we keep receiving complaints from citizens. As a result, we think that the
legislation needs further amendments.
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Recently, we have received complaints against the content of Law
No. 7703, dated 11.05.1993 “On Social Insurance in the Republic of
Albania” and other legal acts issued in compliance with this law.
During examination of these cases, we have encountered many
problems relating to the content of the above-mentioned law. The themes
of the complaints have been described in general in the previous reports
but we will give details about the complaints we received in 2003.
1. Citizens complaint about the content of article 59 of the abovementioned law and Order No.1, dated 24.12.2002 “On the calculation and
indexing of pensions.”
Article 59 of the above-mentioned law foresees: “…After 1996, the
evaluated criteria for calculating pensions should be based on the salaries
for which contributions have been paid since 1994 until the end of the job
relation”. While pg. 1 of the above-mentioned order foresees that: “For
persons that the right to pension started before 1.1.1997 and after, the
average criteria for calculating pensions should be based on the salaries
for which contributions have been paid since 1994 until the end of the job
relation. These salaries should be indexed according to the criteria set by
decisions of the Council of Ministers”.
In regard to this matter, we have pointed out the fact that the law
foresees that after 1996 the criteria for calculating pensions should be
based on the salaries for which contributions have been paid since 1994
until the end of the job relation.
Second, the above-mentioned order of the Administrative Council
has the same regulation, except it added the word “average criteria”
instead of the “evaluated criteria”. The word “average” either doesn’t
make sense or is used to justify the calculating of the evaluated criteria,
including months or years that no contribution was made.
Continuing our reasoning, article 58 of the above-mentioned law
foresees: “The legal relations between an individual and ISSI are
established at the time of the insurance which include all the periods:
- During which contributions have been paid;
- During which the Social Insurance has paid the premium
including the period for benefiting the partial pension of
disabled.
- Other periods declared as such by the Council of Ministers by
paying the contribution to the Social Insurance fund from the
state budget”.
Therefore, no legal relation exists between an individual and the
ISSI unless a contribution is made. The above-mentioned law has used
the word “evaluated criteria” and not “average criteria”, thus excluding
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the periods where no contribution is paid. As a result, the pg. 1 of the
above mentioned order is not in compliance with the content of the law
on the Social Insurance in the Republic of Albania.
2. Another problem raised from the complaints is the nonreflecting in the above-mentioned order of the requirement of article 59
of the above-mentioned law (the underlined sentence): “The evaluated
criteria for calculating pensions should be based on the salaries for which
contributions have been paid for three consecutive years during the last
ten years of the job relation.
The experts we contacted think that because the law included the
above regulation, they did not see a need to repeat it in the Order. Their
reasoning might be right if we were before the situation that the law has
been repeated with exactly the same regulation but that is not the case as
we explained above.
3. Apart from these problems, another requires attention: does law
vest the Administrative Council to issue such Orders?
Referring to articles 72, 73 and 74 of the above-mentioned law, no
disposition gives this body the authority to issue such acts. Article 74
defines the competences of the Administrative Council and only letter “e”
embodies it with the power of approving the statutes proposed by the
General Director in relation to the financial matters. “Statute” is a
different legal act from “Order” thus in conclusion the Administrative
Council does not have the power to issue Orders. Signing of this act by
the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs does not make it legitimate
because in doing so, he acts as the Head of the Executive Council thus
violating his powers.
As a result, according to article 116, letter “b” of the Code of
Administrative Procedures the above-mentioned Order is invalid:
“Administrative acts are absolute invalid as it follows:
- When an administrative body issues the act by exceeding its
competences”.
Not only has such an act been issued but also financial
consequences, such as benefits for retirement, are being produced.
According to article 117, pg. 1 of the Administrative Procedures Code
“The absolute null administrative acts do not produce legal effects,
regardless of the fact that they are declared invalid or not”. In regard to
this case we have recommended to the Ministry of Labor and Social
Affairs to take necessary measures to repair the situation. This ministry
has agreed on our recommendation and has established a working group
headed by Deputy Vice Minister to examine the legislation relating to
social insurance and proposes changes and amendments accordingly.
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4. Another concern in regard to the above-mentioned Order, as
well as above-mentioned law on social insurance, is the using of the
“index” for defining the range of benefits. Thus, according to article 61 of
the above-mentioned law on the social insurance: “The retirement and
disability benefits should be indexed every year according to the changes
of product prices considered basic for a minimum life style.
Here appears another problem, in regard to the degree of benefits:
in all the decisions of the Council of Minister since 1993 the word
“increase” is used to define the changes of the retirement benefits, while
the above-mentioned law does not contain such a statement. We have
made this concern present to state authorities and Parliament since the
2000 report.
5. Another problem seems to be the ratio between the minimum
and maximum retirement benefits. While article 10 of the abovementioned law on social insurance defines it in the scale 1:2, the actual
rate of the minimum and maximum contribution is 1:5. Evidently, there is
a contradiction between the above-mentioned law and decisions of the
Council of Ministers. Considering the time when the law was approved,
in 1993, the rate 1:2 seemed justifiable taking into consideration the
economic orientation of our country right after the fall of the dictatorship.
Now we have to follow the principles of market-oriented economy. In
other words, the higher the contribution is, the more retirement benefits
people make.
Another principle is the solidarity applied on the above-mentioned
law in connection to the principle of contribution. What does this
principle mean? It implies the distribution of the contribution from one
person to another in case of a sickness or temporary disability.
A question is raised: Does this principle influence the amount of
the benefits from the social insurance referring to the rates we cited above
regarding the minimum and maximum retirement benefits? The answer is
yes. On the other hand, what should the scale be? We think that the ratio
should depend on the principle of the contribution.
Some of the complaints were in regard to the content of article 88
of the above-mentioned law, which considers the retirement benefits
before 1993 as steady, except the change because of the index of product
prices.
The category of people that receive these kinds of benefits find
themselves discriminated against law. The strategies formulated by ISSI
aim to flatten the situation, but we think this requires an immediate
solution by taking concrete steps in changing the law and other acts
relating to social insurance issues.
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Based on the powers vested by law on the People’s Advocate, we
addressed these issues to the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs and
recommended the changes and amendments of the legislation on social
insurance issues and notified the Council of Ministers also.
We have been notified by this Ministry that the Former Minister,
Mrs. Valentina Leskaj created a working group to study the legislation,
draft the necessary changes and submit them to the competent authority.
In this respect, a project law has been drafted, dealing mostly with
problems posed by article 59, 61 and 88 of the law on social insurance.
In the following are presented some concluded cases during 2003,
which have resulted as positively solved.
1. Citizen F.T. habitant of Peqin complained for being hauled from
the Regional Directory of the Social Insurance of Elbasan and Social
Insurance Institute in Tirana in getting his retirement pension. We
investigated the case and found that the citizen was right. We intervened
to the Regional Directory of the Social Insurance of Elbasan and the
citizen was able to receive the retirement benefits.
2. Citizen DH.K., habitant of Tirana complained about not
receiving the benefits emerged from the status of veteran of war (LANC).
This was a concern for all this category of people, veterans of the Second
World War. We addressed to the competent authorities and we received
responses from the Institute of Social Insurance, Ministry of Finance and
Ministry of Defense. They confirm that there were 1700 veterans around
the country that have not received the status of veteran of war because of
lack of funds. But according to the Institute of Social Insurance these
funds were released by the state budget since December 2003 and
consequently, all the Regional Directories have started to make the
payments. As a result, 600 veterans were paid and for the rest the
authorities are working to find a solution.
3. Citizen V.N., habitant of Korca complained for not receiving the
additional payment of his pension from the Regional Directory of Social
Insurance of Korca. After our intervention, it resulted that the citizen was
retired on September 1, 1998 thus benefiting the category II of the
retirement pension and I and II category has not earned the 4% additional
raise. The Law No. 8776, dated 26.04.2001 changed article 33 of Law
No. 7703, dated 11.05.1993 “On Social Insurance in the Republic of
Albania”, thus enabling these categories of people to get the above
benefits. As a result, the above citizen benefited the additional increase
and the case was solved in favor.
In conclusion, from the review of issues and from collaboration
with the structures of social insurance, in a commemorative aspect, the
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number of complaints continuously increases. Keeping in mind also the
2001 Annual Report we reported 118 complaints against this organ,
whereas in 2002 there were 174 complaints and requests and the number
was increased to 183 complaints and requests in 2003.
The collaboration with the local and central administration of
social insurance has been efficient, observing an increasing responsibility
towards citizens and the Institution of the People’s Advocate.
b. Social Welfare
The complaints related to this subject and addressed to the
Institution of the People’s Advocate during 2003 are 28. Out of these, 16
are settled and 12 are still in process of review.
Mainly these complaints regarded to the claims for the measure of
the benefit of welfare, termination of welfare, and non-benefit from the
right to custodianship.
Within this scope of conclusions, we are presenting some typical
complaints in this respect:
1. Citizen L.P. inhabitant of Tirana is addressed to the People’s
Advocate to inform him about the requirements to be accepted to the
Elderly House in Tirana.
Our office, after receiving the necessary information from the
Social State Service in Tirana, provided him with the requested
information. He was told also, that after collecting all the necessary
documentation from the Social State Service, the Central Commission,
which meets monthly, examines the case and decides in favor or not.
In this case, the People’s Advocate’s task was to orient and inform
the citizen where to request his rights.
2. The Albanian National Institute of the Orphans sent a complaint
to the People’s Advocate regarding the problems in the orphanage “Zyber
Hallulli”.
The experts from our office met on several occasions with the
employees of the institution and sent our requests for comments,
explications and documentation to the Ministry of Labor and Social
Affairs. Based on the response from the Ministry of Labor and Social
Affairs, we reach the conclusions as below:
- Regarding the daily bonus for personal expenses, in the amount
of 500 leke, that the children profit according to Decision No. 402, dated
22.08.2002 “On the define of the financial quotes awarded by state to the
people that don’t have income and live in the public institutions of
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welfare”, the director of orphanage explained that there were insufficient
funds. Actually this problem has been resolved and children received the
due money for the last 10 months of this year in total, in spite of the delay
of the availability of the funds.
- Regarding the relations between the director-staff-children, Social
State Service confirmed that not everything has gone well in that
institution, because a lot of things depend on the internal organization of
the institution and the way they build the relations. There were no
complaints against the director at the Social Sate Service during the last
five years. Also, there was no discussion on the subject during the annual
analysis of the institution. General Secretary of the Ministry in his
response affirms: We have considered carefully the remarks of two
educators and we have asked the new director to consider them and find a
solution. The Ministry has taken into consideration those remarks and
suggestions and has proposed measures to change the situation”.
- Last, the Social State Services concludes:
“The Social State Service assessed the problems regarding the
institution and organized a complex control in collaboration with the
Directory of Control at the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs at the
orphanage. Tasks have to be completed and administrative measures were
taken, including the removal of the director”.
As a result, our office took the necessary steps to investigate and
verify the complaints. We have to emphasize that several problems have
been solved and others are to be completed by the competent organ.
In the last year’s annual report, dealing with legislation on the
welfare, we reached the conclusion that welfare benefits for custodianship
must not be connected to the scheme of welfare. Hence, in 2002 we
recommended to the General Directory for Welfare and Social Assistance
to abrogate paragraph 9, of Order No. 2132, dated 23. 09.1998 of this
Directory, because it is contrary to the law for the implementation of
which it was issued.
The recommendation is taken into consideration and according to
the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, a project-law has been drafted
in 2002, which considered the changes we recommended. This projectlaw has been sent to the government, which approved and sent it to the
Parliament.
As we have presented in the 2002 rapport, the Decision No. 113,
dated 31.03.2002 “On the Financial Assistance”, has cut the financial
assistance to many citizens that have received it for years.
Our office, regardless of the fact that this year, we have not make
any recommendations or proposals for changing and amending the
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legislation on the financial assistance, emphasizes the importance of
changing the above decision in order to avoid the subjective attitudes of
the assistance and social care organs.
Based on the analysis of the work of the government for the year
2003, the state policies to reduce poverty and to protect the poor,
especially in rural areas, haven’t been effective, thus many families live
with few living resources or in complete poverty.
Also, it was highlighted that the reform has been for the legal part,
legislation and the implementation of laws is far behind the realization.
9. Ministry of Territory Regulation and Tourism
(MoTRT)
a. Various Complaints against this Ministry
For this ministry, the institution of the People’s Advocate during 2003,
has envisaged 32 complaints Out of these, 4 were carried from 2002, 5
are solved in favor of the complainants, 23 were groundless, and 4 are
under review.
The scope of the complaints has mainly focused on the
expropriations for public interests and problems that have come during
this process, non-benefit of compensations or complaints against the
amount of compensations and non-execution of judicial decisions. This
scope is similar to the one presented in last year’s annual report.
There are complaints related to the procedures of the privatization
of the houses from the side of National Housing Entity and its district
branches.
We would like to mention the complaint of citizen H.G. from Tirana,
which was resolved after the intervention of our institution to the
National Housing Entity, which executed the decision of the municipality
council regarding the housing of the mentioned citizen.
Also we would mention the complaints related to the non execution
of the Law No. 8503, dated 30.06.1999 “On the Right to Information over
the Official Documents”, which in all the cases after our institutional
intervention are solved in favor of complainants.
Complaints of citizens that are related to non-execution of Decision
of Council of Ministers No. 85, dated 2.03.1994 “On putting at disposal
free areas for the sheltering of the families that will be removed from
Bovilla Basin and those that were built without permission in the
surrounding of Tirana”, as well as the article 142/3 of the Constitution of
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the Republic of Albania, were presented also during the last year’s report.
During the review of this problem, after our recommendations, we think
that the case is on the way to being solved. With Decree No. 92, dated
27.06.2003 of the Prime Minister, a Special Commission on
Expropriation was established to monitor the procedures of expropriation
of real estate for construction of the Bovilla Basin. Believing in this
commitment, we think that the solution of this problem will be right and
legal.
During the review of complaints against this ministry for 2003, are
evidenced other issues, which spring mainly with the relationship of
works and the scope during implementation or non-implementation of
dispositions of the Labour Code.
Also during this year in this ministry, are evidenced violations of
article 142/3 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania, for nonexecution of judicial decisions. The main obstacle in almost every case is
the lack of funds, but it is not explained which department handles it so
that a solution is given to the problem.
Another case that deserves attention is the complaint of the
company “Verria”, Shpk, residing in Kavaje, regarding the average cost
of constructing lek/m2 for the district of Kavaja as the highest of the
country based on the Decree No. 3, dated 16.10.2002 of the Council of
Ministers, “On the approval of the average cost of construction of
apartments from the National Housing Entity of the values in the free
market and the coefficient “k”…”. After the institutional intervention of
our institution, the above decision was considered a mistake and another
decree was approved; Decree No.1, dated 8.05.2003, which resolved once
and for all the problem, rose by the above company.
Our office has followed many complaints regarding sheltering,
especially those of the citizens that found themselves homeless after the
pyramid schemes fell. As a result, the Decision No. 792, dated
26.11.2003 “On the use of funds of the former foundations for the
construction of apartments for the creditors that lost their homes during
the fall of pyramid schemes” was adopted. According to this decision, a
fund of 240.000.000 leke was granted for use for the above purpose.
Many families have solved housing problem thus reducing the number of
complaints to our institution.
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b. Complaints against illegal constructions
After working 4 years on the issue of illegal constructions, we have
noticed that this problem remains the same, an indicator of the
insufficient work made by the appropriate public body.
The urban planning, along with the people’s free movement, after
an experience of more than 10 years, was issued as one of the priorities of
the country development, to face the challenges of progressive
development in many directions.
In difference to the topics of last year relating to illegal
construction, we evidenced that nowadays is passed the phase of
prevention of new illegal constructions, and are in the phase of full
identification and the destruction form the Construction Police.
During 2003, for this problem, we reviewed 117 complaints, from
which 11 dealt with activity of the Construction Police. There is pretty
much the same numbers as last year, showing that the problem persists.
From these complaints, until the end of 2003, 64 complaints were
settled and 53 complaints are still under review.
For the reviewed cases, it has resulted that: 7 cases are solved in
favor, 10 cases are groundless, whereas 47 are out of our jurisdiction.
There was abundance of cases when action has been partial and not
in abidance with respective administrative decisions, or has been
unlawful from the side of the Construction Police. Actually, as seen in the
presented complaints, the majority of the problems with the illegal
constructions comes from previous years and is related to the inactivity of
the decision-making organs and executive according to the cases.
An indicator, evidenced also in the previous report, is the obvious
reduction of illegal construction particularly from individuals, a
phenomenon that was widely spread in the beginning of the 90s in all the
main districts of the country. The problem this year has more to do with
defining a deadline from the Construction Police regarding the execution
of its decisions for the deconstruction off illegal constructions.
We have issued a recommendation addressed to all the
Construction Police branches and the General Directory of the
Construction Police, where we have interpreted the content of article 23
of the Law “On the Administrative Offences” and the article 84 of Law
No. 8405, dated 17.09.1998 “On Urban Development”, which have been
misunderstood from the above bodies.
The Construction Police has not acted in accordance with
requirements of article 23 of the Law ”On Administrative Offences”.
Because of lack of technical supplies to destroy the illegal constructions,
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the execution of the decisions is made impossible by the Construction
Police, which has to implement the decisions within a year from tha date
of receiving them from the relevant body entity.
We have sustained our opinion on several occasions with
representatives of the Construction Police regarding a year deadline,
provided in article 23 of the above-mentioned law.
Another arguable moment is the way of understanding and
implmenting the execution of the adminstrative decree within a year,
according to the article 23.
We have instructed as below:
Law No. 8405, dated 17.09.1998 ”On Urban Development”, has
defined that the violation and acting against the requirements of this law,
constitutes an administrative offense in the field of urban development.
Apart from the obligations that these articles contain, such as
decisions from KRRT or the Construction Police for suspending or
destruction of the illegal constructions, article 81 foresees a fine,
accordingly with the level of the violation.
On the other side, article 23 foreeses that the sentence for
administrative offences should not be executed after a year passes from
the date of issuing.
We have to highlight, based on the content of relevant laws and the
doctrine related, that the decisions of KRRT and the Police Construction
on the destruction of the illegal constructions should not be included in
the category of administrative sentence; they are administrative measures
against the offender.
We back our conclusion on the interpretation of the Law No.
60670, dated 25.12.1979 ”On Administrative Offences”, which contains
two kinds of sentences: - a) fine and b) imprisonment up to 30 days
(when the law charges the tribunal to examine the case).
According to article 4 of this law, these two main sentences might
be associated with preventive administrative measures provided by law.
As a result, the decision of KRRT is not an administrative
punishment but a preventive administrative measure taken, because the
destruction of illegal construction means the ending of the situation.
Also, the Code of Administrative Procedures, in articles 129-133,
regarding the execution of the administrative acts, doesn’t include a
deadline for the execution of the decision; just the opposite, the code uses
the term “immidiate execution”.
In regard to the administrative sentences, we can refer to the
definition made by article 84 of Law No. 8405, dated 17.09.1998 “On
Urban Development”, which provides:
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“Fines, renumerations and the cost of deconstruction, foreseen by
this law, should be paid by the offender within 5 days from the date of
notification from the Construction Police, or the date of entered into force
of the court decision...”
As a conclusion, the interepretation of article 23 from the KRRT
and Construction Police is erroneus and doesn’t correspond to the laws
requirements.
The only problem, which hasn’t been treated by the practice until
now, is specifying the expenses of the destruction and charging the
offender with, which constitutes an administrative offence not being
applied by the Construction Police, for which, the deadline 1 year
foreesen in the article 23 may be applied.
As a result, we have recommended to the KRRT and the
Construction Police to put to an end to the incorrect application of 1 year
deadline of the article 23 of the law ”On the Administrative Offenses”
and to start the application of the article 84 of the law on ”Urban
Development”, regarding the charge of the deconstruction over to the
offender.
Another problem that appeared this year is non-implementation of
the projects approved in the license for construction from the
constructors. Even though our office has been invested to resolve these
cases as soon as possible, in several occasions we were unable to act
because we have been told by the Construction Police branches, as well
as by the offices of urban developement at the municipalities, that the
projects had been appoved during the construction, a fact being opposed
by the petitioners. We have considered bringing experts who should
clarify the situation in place, but we are aware of the difficuties to
implement this step, because of the lack of specialists and funds.
The number of issues unsettled during 2003 is around 44 %. The
main reason for this is the lack of readiness from the organ of the
Construction Police, and the KRRT of the city halls, to provide response
and clarifications for issues presented.
We have observed in most cases that our recommendations have
been ignored, or the competent authorities have been acting very slowly
and not complying with the requirements of article 22 of the law “On
People’s Advocate” to make public annunciations. Thus out of 9
recommendations we have sent, more than half have been taken into
consideration and measures have been implemented, the rest are still
pending and no official response has been sent to our institution.
The most difficult and problematic in respecting the legal
obligations are the City Hall of Tirane, Durres, Vlore (KRRT), whereas
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for the Construction Police are the branches of Tirane, Durres, Vlore, and
the General Directory of the Construction Police.
It is observed as a “game” of official documents between the
KRRT and the city halls with the branch offices of the Construction
Police in relation to respective decision-making for various constructions
evidenced as unlawful.
We have officially contacted in a continuous way the
representatives of the above-mentioned city halls and officials of the
branches of the Construction Police and the central office.
At the same time, we are aware of the difficulties that the
Construction Police face for the execution of various decisions, coming
from a lack of personnel, means, and the changes in the managing
structures. But this does not justify the continuous inactivity for the
problems and issues, for which our institution has, for more than two
years, been involved to review and investigate them and for those that
result with a negligence for many complaints against this body. In some
cases we intervened with recommendations for the explanation of
defining the process of decision-making, recommendations, which aim at
a final solution of the cases and the regaining of the violated rights of the
individuals.
While the Construction Police branches have responded very
positively to our recommendations for taking administrative measures for
the employees that have delayed or not resolved the problems on time,
the city halls (KRRT) are lacking understanding and cooperation with our
institution.
In our opinion, not providing citizens with copies of the official
documents from the Construction Police and the secretaries of KRRT, in
accordance with dispositions of the law “On the Right to Information
over the Official Documents”, is connected with profits and abusive
behaviors from the employees of the above-mentioned bodies. In a
considerable amount of cases, the lack of information has caused the
violation of the rights of individuals.
We have had complaints regarding the destruction from the
Construction Police, in violation of the relevant laws, of the legal
buildings; those cases being under investigation because of not
responding on time by the competent bodies.
New developments have been made toward the urbanization of the
dwelling areas. It is a well-known decision of the KRRTRSH, which
suspends awarding licenses for construction in the center of the cities as
far as the partial studies haven’t been carried out. This decision has had
positive effects, such as the case of the international bid, announced by
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the Tirana City Hall for the urban study of the Tirana center, which has
been finalized with the winning project.
Because the scope of problems remains the same, often the
complaints are made because the partial or complete urban studies either
are missing or belong to a previous time where the urban development
was backward.
Another positive step is the last decision of the KRRTRSH on the
deconstruction of all the illegal construction all along the coastline. We
have noticed though that the procedures for the execution of this decision
haven’t been transparent and as a result, no solution has bee found.
Even though many illegal constructions have been destroyed since
the issuing of this decision, many others stand and no information is
provided whether those should be destroyed or legalized.
The Ministry of Territory Regulation and Tourism hasn’t replied
one of the complaints relating to the above matter.
The process of the legalization of the illegal constructions seems to
be the dark side of this matter. We have observed that the process of
implementation has been inefficient without concrete results thus
impeding the Construction Police to do its job when relevant. Also, we
think that the procedures of the legalization of the illegal constructions,
expected to have a wide implementation, should be completed with other
legal acts, which should help in making the process easy to understand
and fully executable.
During the investigation of the cases presented to our office in
2003 and the previous years, there is no single case of the application of
article 6 of the law “On the Construction Police”, which attributes to the
construction police the right to suspend the execution of the decision and
notify the KRRTRSH on the decisions taken by the Territory Regulation
Council, when violation of laws has occurred.
The government has considered the matters discussed above in its
annual meeting this year thus underlining the need of an extensive reform
in the urban sector by drafting a project-law on the urban issues.
Another priority in the annual meeting of the government was the
reform of the city halls police, starting from the transfer of the functions
of the construction police and switching to an urban state inspectorate.
This development is expected to fill the gap of the controlling functions
of the quality of the constructions and fulfilling of some essential
parameters provided by existing legislation that have been escaped to the
state control.
The legalization has taken a priority by drafting a project-law
within March 2004.
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During this year, as in the previous one, regarding the cases that
fall into this category, we have focused our work in direct contacts,
without seeing the need for sending a written recommendation or
proposal to the appropriate body.
Below we are giving some reviewed cases, from our office:
1. Complaint of citizen D.R. from Durres
Citizen D.R complained about an illegal construction (extension),
near her apartment by citizen A.Z.
She has addressed several bodies, including the construction police
of Durres, but she hasn’t found a solution to her complaint.
People’s Advocate has intervened to the competent bodies. We
have requested explications on several occasions from the office of
construction police of Durres and have met with officials many times.
Finally, according to the document No. 501/1, dated 23.05.2003 of
Durres branch we are informed that with the Executive Decree No. 4,
dated 20.01.2003, the construction police of Durres thus destroying the
illegal construction of citizen A.Z have executed the decision of KRRT of
the Durres City Hall.
This is one of the cases, which has been solved by direct
intervention to the construction police without issuing a recommendation
by our office.
2. Complaint of citizen I.K. from Tirana
Citizen I.K complained against the construction police, Tirana branch
and the Municipality of Tirana regarding an official document he hasn’t
been able to obtain.
After several requests addressed to the above authorities to obtain an
official document, citizen I.K. came to our institution. The Municipality
of Tirana, in their letter says that they will consider the request at a later
time because the archives are being reorganized.
We contacted the officials from the construction police of Tirana as
well on several occasions but there was inactivity from them to comply
with their legal obligation of providing the citizen in question with the
official document. The problem was solved only after we contacted the
head of the construction police, Tirana branch.
Besides the direct mediation, in this case we exercised the right that
the People’s Advocate is vested by the law “On the Right to Information
over the Official Documents”, which nominates the People’s Advocate as
a guardian for the implementation of the law.
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3. Complaint of citizen H.B. from Tirana
The complaint presented by this citizen has to do with a construction built
by citizen Y.B., next to his house and not meeting the requirements of
urban constructions thus damaging the dwelling of H.B. The competent
authorities were contacted by H.B. and no measures were taken.
Initially, we requested explanations from the construction police,
Tirana branch. In their response they said that they had suspended the
construction of Y.B. and sent the necessary documentation to the KRRT
at the Tirana City Hall for action.
The Directory of Legal Urban Development at Tirana City Hall, in
its response, clarified that Y.B. had submitted a request to the Directory
of Legalization and Expropriation to legalize the construction in question.
At the same time this Directory explained that they had notified the
construction police, Tirana branch to suspend the construction until the
KRRT at the Tirana City Hall should decide on the case.
On the other side, the construction police reaffirmed that they have
exhausted all the necessary procedures relating to the case.
Nevertheless, waiting for a decision from the KRRT at the Tirana
City Hall, this institution has dragged the solution of the case, a fact that
has been pointed out at the meetings we have had with the construction
police, Tirana branch.
We have continuously contacted the Directory of Legalization and
Expropriation at the Tirana City Hall to get information on the case but
they have been slow in finding an administrative solution, thus exceeding
the entire deadline provided by laws. More than a year and a half has
passed since Y.B. has submitted his request for the legalization of his
construction; in the meantime no document of the Tirana City Hall
mentioned the initiating of an administrative action, requested by the
construction police, Tirana branch, which is legitimated to take the case
to the competent authorities.
However, in the last meeting with the Director of the Directory of
Legalization and Expropriation we were informed that the dossier of Y.B.
was in the hands of the Technical Council, which after deciding upon the
case should send it to the KRRT at the Tirana City Hall for final decision.
Also, we have remarked that Y.B. hasn’t shown further interest in
solving the case thus not responding to the notifications sent by the
Directory of Legalization and Expropriation and causing the delay of
making a decision.
As a conclusion, the delay in solving this case by the Tirana City Hall
has caused the violation of the property rights of citizen H.B.
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Based on the above, we have recommended that the case should be
considered by the Tirana City Hall in regards to the legalization of the
construction of the Y.B. and the construction police could take further
steps. Regarding our recommendation the competent authorities have
given no official response
4. Compliant of citizen I.R. from Vlora
This complaint is in regard to the inactivity of the construction
police, Vlora branch, on the demolition of an illegal construction built on
a property that used to belong to “Vefa” company, now the property of
I.R.
Regardless of the fact that I.R. bought the property in conformity with
laws in force, he is concerned because the administrator of “Vefa”
company hasn’t delivered the building to him. In addition an illegal
construction was built on a part of this property, thus occupying 162m2.
Regarding this problem, the administrators of “Vefa” company
have addressed to the construction police of Vlora, which has issued a
decree to demolish the construction, but hasn’t acted accordingly.
The Supervising Group at the Council of Ministers, with its
Document No. 467, dated 5.09.2001, has asked the construction police of
Vlora to demolish the illegal construction, because the citizen I.R. bought
it in an auction. After several meetings with the Head of the Construction
Police, Vlora branch with no actions taken, the Supervising Group at the
Council of Ministers addressed again to the construction police, Vlora
branch, with another document, requesting the demolition of the illegal
construction. The construction police, Vlora branch, haven’t taken any
administrative measures and the administrator of “Vefa” company is
forced to address the issue to the General Directory of the Construction
Police in Tirana.
In the explanations of the construction police of Vlora it says that
with Decision No. 245, dated 9.04.2002 they decided on the demolition
of the illegal construction built by citizen Dh.K. According to this
document, they were unable to execute the decision because of the
breakdown of the demolition equipment. We have been persistent in
trying to find a solution to this case at the General Directory of the
Construction Police in Tirana and as a result, we have been notified that
on 28.03.2003, the construction police of Vlora demolished the illegal
construction, thus put an end to the request of citizen I.R.
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c. Complaints against Water Pipeline and Drainage
During 2003 we had 4 complaints, (less than the previous year)
which deal with water pipeline and drainage.
In all of the complaints the consummators expressed their concerns
regarding the procedures followed by anonymous societies of the Water
pipeline during the installation of the apparatus for measuring the
consumed water. The complainants did not agree to pay a symbolic fee
for the installation, insisting that those charges fall on the water pipeline
company.
The People’s Advocate contacted some groups of consummators
and tried to explain to them that the symbolic fee that the consummators
should pay for the installation of the apparatus for measuring the
consumed water is based on the laws and legal acts in force in the field of
public services. The consummators should be aware of their contribution
for maintaining the public services. They have rights but they should not
forget their obligations too.
Also, considering the complaints from groups of elderly that have
very low income, we negotiated with the water pipeline services, which
agreed to prepare a list of these categories of people and grant them lower
prices for the services provided.
The Ministry of Territory Regulation and Tourism notified us that
the Council of Ministers should adopt a decision by July 2004 to
ameliorate the legal acts on the water pipeline services.
10. Ministry of Economy (MoE)
There were only 2 complaints against the MoE during 2003.
During the examination of those cases, we saw a need to change the
appropriate legislation and change the work methods of the public
administration in order to better serve the needs of the citizens.
1. We received a complaint from the “Infosoft Systems” company,
which we found grounded, and have made the necessary
recommendations. The representative of the “Infosoft System” company
complained about the latest changes of the Decree No. 1, dated 1.01.1996
“On Public Procurement”, which amongst documents required for
auctioning, requires a form named “Authorization of the Producer”. This
document is not in compliance with the international commercial
relations, because referring to the content of pg. 3, the foreign companies
should authorize only one local company to contract on their behalf for
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their products. This requirement contradicts the content of law “On the
Competition”, free market principles and the international practice of
doing business. Thus the international companies could not accept this
regulation, while in other countries, they can contract with several local
companies.
First we asked for explications from the Ministry of Economy and
the Agency of the Public Procurement.
In the response we received from the Agency of the Public
Procurement it says:
The standards documents required to bid in an auction have been
approved by the Council of Ministers with its Decree No. 3, dated
10.07.2003 “On some amendments to the Decree of Council of Ministers
No. 1, dated 1.01.1996 “On Public Procurement”.
These legal acts and the documents in question have been drafted
with the cooperation of the group of experts from proper authorities.
Also, in the framework of the World Bank project “On the Reform on the
Public Administration”, a contract with ILI Company is compiled on the
standards documents required in an auction which were submitted to the
group of experts from the Agency of the Public Procurement and other
central procurement entities.
The Ministry of Economy has replied that they have acted in
conformity with laws and other legal acts in force regarding the
procedures of procurement.
In the two responses we couldn’t find legal arguments for
sustaining the above-mentioned form, but procedural arguments referring
to the decree of Council of Ministers, which allows such form to be
included in the documents of auctioning.
Moreover, pg. 5 of the form says: “no other company besides
(name and address of the contractor) is authorized to offer, negotiate or
contract for our goods”.
This declaration should be coming from the producer of the goods,
which should be the object of the auctioning.
The way this paragraph is formulated, it seems like the legislator is
intending to have the exclusive representative of a company in an
auctioning procedure.
In the actual case, the form contains a proposal or request to a
possible contract in the future for certain goods that can be offered by
other subjects too.
On the other side, we have judged that the declaration of the origin
of goods is not going to harm the procedures of auctioning; on the
contrary, this will bring controlled and quality goods to the consumers.
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As it is defined in article 7 of the Standards Documents of Auctioning
(origin of goods), there are no limits in the procedures of auctioning
except those stipulated in any Resolute of General Assembly of the
United Nations.
In our opinion, there is a conflict between the request of defining
the origin of goods and the authorization to sign a contract and deliver
goods that should be concluded between the auctioning party and the
producer of goods. There are no definitions, which prohibit the open
competition, according to the legislation in force, the law “On Public
Procurement”, and “On the Competition”.
The content of pg. 5, mentioned above, is a limitation to the
broader participation in the auctioning process.
Our office reached the conclusion that the complaint of “Infosoft
Systems” is legitimized because the above-mentioned form violates the
principles of the competition in a free market.
As a result, we suggested that the Council of Ministers revoke the
paragraph requesting the form “Authorization of Producer” included in
chapter three of the Decree of Council of Ministers No. 1, dated 1.1.1996
“On Public Procurement”, changed with Decree No. 3, dated 10.07.2003
“On some Amendments on the Council of Ministers Decree No. 1, dated
1.01.1996 “On Public Procurement”. We haven’t received an official
response from the Council of Ministers yet.
2. The Independent Syndicate of the Transport Workers
complained to our institution as below:
The maritime chanter “Durres-Gdanks” had 56% shares owned by
Polish company “Gdanska Stoczina Remontova Im.J. Pilsduskiego”,
which sold them to the Turkish company “Kurrum International”.
The employees of the company did not agree with the transferring
of shares to the Turkish company for the reasons as follows:
The Polish company “Gdansk” was a debtor toward the Institute
for Social Insurance, because they haven’t paid the employees insurance
benefits since the starting of its activity. Also this company owed the
state for non-payment of electricity, taxes etc.
We requested to the Ministry of Economy the relevant
documentations and we were told that in the contract that two companies
closed for transferring of the shares from Gdansk and Kurrum
International, it is stated that together with shares all the rights and
obligations will be transferred to the Turkish company, including the late
payments for the employees benefits and others.
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What is of interest to us is the non-payment of the retirement funds
to the Institute of Social Insurance; 6 of the employees have retired.
During our investigation we found that the Polish company
‘Gdansk”, actually “Kurrum” Durres, since 1996 owed to the Institute of
Social Insurance the amount of 99.292.778 leke, and the interest for the
delay totaling 276.734.744 leke. As we can see the interest is too elevated
compared to the initial amount.
Institute of the Social Insurance, taking into consideration the high
debt of the “Gdansk” company, out of it 44% fall on the state, was
considering drafting a project-law to free the interest from the initial
debts.
The law was adopted by the Parliament and as regards many
companies become free from paying the delayed interests to the Institute
of Social Insurance.
The Ministry of Economy and Ministry of Labor and Social
Affairs, in the role of mediators, drafted a project-agreement, according
to which the ISI and “Kurrum International” acknowledged the obligation
of paying the owed amount and the terms of payment. Thus a solution
was achieved for the former employees that had retired.
11. Ministry of Agriculture and Food (MoAF)
During 2003 for the MoAF and the institutions that focus on
agricultural issues and food, we received 58 complaints or requests,
compared to 79 from 2002.
a. Complaints on the fishing and water culture.
We have received three complaints against this Ministry for not
providing citizens with licenses to carry economic activity. Two of them
regard the professional fishing, preserving, development and exploitation
of the relevant ecological system. The complaint related to the “Miqte e
Ramsarit” company, headquarter in Divjake, Lushnja District, has been
solved in a positive way thus providing them with license from this
Ministry; the other two are being taken into consideration.
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b. Complaint for issue of the Law “On the Land”
The complaints that focus on the activity of the commissions for rural
land distribution, in execution of Law No. 7501, dated 19.7.1991 “On the
Land”, at the village, city hall or district level, have had a decrease
compared to the previous years. From 64 complaints in 2002, there have
been 49 complaints of this nature during 2003; 24 cases are settled and 23
are in process of review.
The majority of these complaints share the same concerns. For each
complaint that has been evaluated as right, we have sent
recommendations to the Land Commissions at all levels, for distributing
the rural land and putting to justice the damaged rights. Unfortunately,
the recommendations are not implemented, although the complaints from
the Land Commissions of some communes are standard: “there is no land
left, it has been distributed”, “we are not aware of the complaint”, “we
have sent the complaint to the superior commission”, etc.
We should mention the delay in solving the complaints of citizen
D.Gj., H.D., and many others from the Land Commissions of Lac City
Hall, Mamurras City Hall and Rrashbull Commune of Durres.
Another group of complaints belong to families in rural areas of
Shkodra District. Thus in Boric i Vogel, problems for dividing the land
are becoming very sharp and all the competent authorities are aware of.
The Land Commission of Shkodra Region decided to send the case to the
Land Commission of Commune to be finalized in may 2002. No steps
were undertaken and no information was provided. In the village Gur i
Zi, 16 families are very concerned about not being completed with the
rural land. Initially, they were given 45.000m2 in use within the territory
of Radio-Shkodra. After loosing the case in court, they have no land and
nobody is helping them to find a solution. The same situation appears in
the village Shkjeze, Shkoder District. Since 1993, there is an ongoing
conflict for the borders of rural land between this village and the village
of Bushat. The Land Commission of the Region of Shkodra is inactive as
in the two previous cases, even though Decision No. 230, dated
22.07.1991 “On Establishing of Land Commission”, charges this
commission with the responsibility to solve problems of this kind.
Another separate group of complaints regards the lands of Former
Agricultural Enterprises. In the district of Korca, Vlora and Elbasan,
more than a year ago, there has been a full or partial suspension of the
acts for distribution of land belonging to the Agricultural Enterprises. No
commission, including the one at the government has been able to find a
solution. In the case of the distribution of the land belonging to the Korce
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Agricultural Enterprise, Former Prime Minister, Mr. Skender Gjinushi,
with Document No. 1765, dated 6.06.2002, addressed to the Prefect of
Korca Region to establish a working group to review and define the
practice followed on the distribution of land causing conflicts and
problems thus separating those that can be solved in a administrative way
from those that required the court intervention.
Whereas, in application to the Decree of the Prime Minister, No. 154,
dated 23.10.2001, a supervising group, headed by the Department of
Administrative Internal Control was established to define problems
resulting during the activity of the Commission for the Distribution of
Lands, Former Commission on the Restitution and Compensation of
Properties to Former Owners and the Office of the Tangible Estate in
Korce, regarding the distribution of the 209 ha land belonged to
Agricultural Enterprise of Korca. This commission, after taking the
opinion of the group of experts nominated by the Korca Prefecture,
verified all the acts issued by the previous land commissions and the
activity of the above-mentioned commissions, and proposed the
suspension of their activity relating to the lands of agricultural
enterprises, and allocated a 90 day deadline for completing the
documentations by the co-founders and other tasks to be completed
according to the legislation in force. The deadline has passed and nobody
is taking any steps to start complying with the above-assignments. Our
institution should address the necessary recommendations and
suggestions about starting immediately the functioning of the
Commission for the Distribution of Lands, Former Commission on the
Restitution and Compensation of Properties to Former Owners and the
Office of the Tangible Estate in Korce to solve definitely the problem of
the lands of former agricultural enterprises In Korca district.
The same object has the complaint of a group of habitants of Rrajce
village in the Librazhd district. They have claims about the distribution of
land in the Qafe Thane zone, in the border between Elbasan and Librazhd
districts. Despite the intervention from our office and the dense
correspondences with the land commissions in the respective commune,
the Land Commission of Elbasan Region, the Directory of Management
of Lands at the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, the problem exists at
the same amplitude. In the last notice from the above directory, we were
informed that the procedures are suspended, based on the Decree of
Prime Minister No. 265, dated 1.10.2002 “On the defining and
suspension of the procedures of transferring or renting the state property,
agricultural land, forest and pasture lands”.
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Although our endeavors to help the people, whose property rights
emerging from the law “On Land” have been violated, we haven’t been
very successful. We hope that after the October election of the local
authorities, the head of those bodies that are at the same time the head of
the land commissions should put all their efforts and devotion into
finding a quick solution. We have received encouraging responses from
the head of the communes Gjorice (Bulqize) and Golem (Kavaje).
c. Complaint against former agricultural cooperatives
There is only one complaint from citizen K.N. habitant of
Gjirokater, who is seeking a contribution to her husband for working as
an animal doctor in the Sofratike cooperative until 1987, when he retired.
This case is under review.
d. Problems relating to forestry
There were 4 complaints against the Forestry Service Directory.
Three were considered in favor and the fourth was groundless.
The complaints of citizens M.B. and B.Xh. against the Forestry Service
Directory of Devoll and Lushnja districts, regard to no delivery of the
forest surfaces that they were given with decisions of the Former
Commission on the Restitution and Compensation of Properties to
Former Owners. We made possible the physical restitution of the forest
property. Another complaint from citizen F.B. was solved in favor. F.B.
complained against the Commission of the Professional Licenses at the
General Directory of Forest-Pastures for not granting him a license for
the purpose of conducting studies, projection and exploration of the
forests.
These are important indicators of the understanding and good
relationship between the People’s Advocate and the General Directory of
Forests-Pastures during the year 2003.
e. Problems relating to food quality
There was only one complaint, relating to the veterinary control
during the killing of animals for public sale, in some cities. This problem
seems of interest to our office and is currently under consideration.
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f. Complaints against the District Directory of Agriculture and
Food
No complaint was received during 2003 for the Directory of
Agriculture and Food.
12. Ministry of Finance (MoF)
During 2003 there were 48 complaints, requests and notifications
addressed to the People’s Advocate with claims from citizens and
commercial entities for violation of their rights, freedoms and legal
interests from illegal and irregular actions and/or inactivity of the
financial organs, including the MoF itself, as well as the customs and
taxation offices.
Out of these, 15 were addressed to the National Agency for
Privatization, which will be treated in a separate section. During the year
2003, 16 complaints were under review, 3 were groundless, 6 were out of
jurisdiction, 5 lacked competence and 3 were solved in favor since the
first phase of intervention and verifying.
We will describe below some of the complaints that were solved in
a positive way:
1. Citizen V.P., resident of Tirana complained against the Savings
Bank, Branch 4 of Tirana was not allowing her to make transactions with
procurement. People’s Advocate intervened to the general Director of the
Savings Bank who admitted that the obstacles were created because of a
misinterpretation of a decree of the Board of Savings Bank, where they
were suggesting controlling of the old procurement. Thus the citizen was
allowed to make transactions with the Savings Bank.
2. The private subject, located in Durres, represented by citizen
F.L., complained at the People’s Advocate against two employees of the
customs, Shkozet (Durres) branch, had blocked the imported goods he
brought from abroad without giving any explanations of their acts. The
citizen pretended that the case was suspicious and he thought that they
were asking for a bribe.
We asked for explanations from the General Directory of the
Customs and contacted the Directory of Customs, Durres branch. After
the intervention, the goods were given to the citizen and a penal case has
started at the Durres tribunal, based on the information of citizen F.L.
3. Citizen U.S., an employee with the Directory of Customs,
Durres branch, complained at the People’s Advocate against two
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inspectors of the Criminal Police at the Police Directory of Durres
Region, who after carrying a routine control of documents of his vehicle,
arrested him and sent the case to the General Prosecutor’s Office. The
citizen U.S. appeared before the court, which dropped the charges against
him. But his status was not rehabilitated because he was suspended from
his job. People’s Advocate, after being informed with the complaint, did
verify his allegations and in the end, the General Directory of Customs
annulled the decision of the suspension and citizen U.S. regained his job.
While for the two inspectors of the Criminal Police, Durres branch we
were informed that they were charged with disciplinary measures.
Among the reasons for this bad situation in the public
administration of the finance sector, we believe is the lack of knowledge
on the Constitution, the Law “On the Information”, the Code of the
Administrative Procedures, “Labor Code”, the Law “On the Status of
Civil Servants”, and the Law “On People’s Advocate” which set the
boundaries for the obligation of the administration in responding to the
complainants. The lack of control of the managers on the simple
employees of this administration to fulfill the duties obligated by this law,
to exercise programmed control and not find the easiest ways through
arrogant attitudes, thus considering the business community as a partner,
and not as a subordinate. These actions, together with the lack of
transparency, lead inevitably to the abusive, corruptive and discrediting
attitudes from the state administration.
People’s Advocate has constantly asked for implementation of the
court decisions for obligations that are relating to the state budget. This
important problem was one of the main topics of the National Conference
organized by the People’s Advocate in close collaboration with the
Helsinki Committee in 2003.
We will continue in the future to intervene and protect the rights of
citizens from the abusive behaviors of the state administration.
a. National Agency for Privatization (NAP)
Since 2003 this agency became a structure of the Ministry of
Finance, no longer under the government.
During 2002 we received 28 complaints, out of which only 1 is
under review, while in 2003 we received 15 complaints: 8 were out of
jurisdiction, 2 were groundless and 5 are under consideration. As for the
complaints that were groundless or out of jurisdiction, we have provided
to people with the necessary information and the legal basis of their
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complaints. To have an idea about the topics of the complaints for this
agency we are going to illustrate two cases as below:
1. Citizen N.K. asked for the intervention of the People’s Advocate
in the privatization of an object based on the right of pre-buying as a
former owner of the land, as it is foreseen in the article 21 of Law No.
7698, dated 15.04.1993 “On the Restitution and Compensation of the
Property”. The investigation showed that no rights were violated from the
local or central government, because the object was not privatized. So the
complaint was groundless. We instructed the citizen as to which bodies
he should address in order to exercise his rights in buying the property in
question.
2. Citizen I.K. claimed that he, as a former owner of the land, was
denied the right of pre-buying of some offices of the Former Mine of
Iron-Nikel in Prrenjas, which were transferred to the dwellings fund.
According to explanations we received from the City Hall of
Prrenjas results as:
The Ministry of Industry and Energy, based on pg. 2 of the
Decision of Council of Ministers No. 153, dated 3.04.1993 “On the
transferring of the main utilities of the state enterprises and institutions”
decided to transfer the second and third floor of the object “Offices of
Enterprise” from the Mine of Iron-Nikel of Prrenjas to the City Hall of
Prrenjas. With a decision of the City Hall of Prrenjas, this property was
passed to the dwelling fund for 6 families, which since 1989 have been
living there as tenants and with a later decision of the Prrenjas City Hall,
the 6 families became owners by paying the proper amount.
It is true that article 21 of Law No. 7698, dated 15.04.1993 “On the
Restitution and Compensation of the Property to the Former Owners”
foresees: “In lands, rural or not rural, occupied with state buildings, such
as stores, warehouses, shops, etc., the former owner has the privilege
right to buy these object at the time of privatization, paying the price
according to the legislation in force”. The actual case doesn’t meet the
requirements of article 21, because the privatization of the property was
not done by the NAP, because they were transferred to the dwelling fund,
according to the rights that the law vests the head of the institutions and
the local government.
It might be a gap in the regulation of the above issue, but we
decided that there was no violation of laws giving the citizen I.K the right
to buy the property in question. We explained to the citizen about the
content of the laws and suggested that he might be addressed to the court
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of Librazhd, because according to the laws in force, a conflict for an
estate property can be decided by the court, which should rule in favor or
not.
13- Ministry of Education and Science (MoES)
During 2003 there were 42 complaints or requests against the
MoES and the institutions under its supervision. 16 complaints were in
the phase of review from our office, 10 complaints or requests were
solved in favor, and 16 complaints were beyond our jurisdiction, whereas
2 complaints were groundless. 21 complaints were from year 2002, out of
which 3 were solved in favor, 11 out of jurisdiction and 3 groundless.
A considerable number of complaints had as an object the dismissal from
work of teachers or transfers from one job to the other, by the Education
Directory in the districts. The majority of these complaints resulted as
groundless. We have advised the teachers to contact our institution after
exhausting all the administrative means.
1. A group of professors from the Faculty of Medicine complained
about their retirement. From the legal point of view resulted that the
dispositions of the labor code, providing a notification deadline
depending on the prolongation of the work contract, were violated. Also,
some of the rights related to the cessation of the job relations were not
applied.
Taking into consideration their precious contribution in the medical
field, which should be transmitted to the students in the auditorium, we
proposed to the Ministry of Education and the Dean of Faculty of
Medicine to reconsider the Administrative Decision No. 15, dated
4.09.2003 on the retirement of the above-mentioned professors. Even the
Rectorate Directive contains legal space to base such a reversion of the
previous decision. The Dean of the Faculty of Medicine didn'
t take into
consideration our suggestion and the professors have addressed to the
court to decide upon the case.
2. In the last year report we mentioned the case of M.M., a former
teaching assistant in the Department of Philosophy and Sociology, at the
Faculty of Social Sciences. She objected the Administrative Act No. 6,
dated 12.03.2001 of the Dean that has decided not to renew her contract
as teaching assistant because the terms and conditions for the criteria of
admission had changed. She addressed to the court, which decided to
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nullify the administrative act and the faculty was obliged to execute this
decision, thus keeping the complainant in her previous position as
teaching assistant. Our office has recommended the Rector of the Tirana
University to exercise his legal competencies for the execution of the
above judicial decision. The Rector and the Dean did not accept the
recommendation. The case was sent to the Minister of Education and the
new Rector of the University, Mr. Shezai Rokaj who decided to return the
complainant to work.
3. Citizen L.C. complained against the Dean of the Faculty of
Foreign Languages. She was not awarded the diploma of graduation
because in the photo she wore a scarf, as part of her Muslim belief. The
Dean said to her verbally, that school is secular and he could not allow
such a phenomenon.
We investigated the case and concluded that in the actions of the
Dean there were violations in regard to the procedures and the content.
According to article 108/a of the Code of Administrative Procedures, the
bodies issuing administrative acts should reason such decisions in order
to give people the opportunity to complain to the higher bodies, first to
the Rectorate, then to the Ministry of Education, and lastly to the court.
According to article 18 of the above-mentioned code, the citizen should
be provided with the administrative act. In the case of citizen L.C., such
an act was missing and the words "School is secular” do not fall in the
term of reasoning.
We explained to the Dean the legal aspect of the problem and the
student was awarded the diploma of graduation.
14. Ministry of Health (MoH)
During 2003 for this ministry and the institutions under its
supervision there were a total of 24 complaints. 5 complaints were carried
from last year and in 2003 we concluded 16 complaints, out of which, 3
were solved in favor, 3 resulted as groundless, 10 outside our jurisdiction
and competence and 8 complaints had been carried in 2004.
The scope of issues dealt mainly with dismissals and transfers from
job, trading of medications that are not licensed, reimbursement of the
medications, non-execution of judicial decisions, maltreatment from the
side of medical personnel, non transparence from the Ministry of Health
for not providing permission to transfer the pharmacy, as well as payment
for overtime work.
From the complaints settled we can mention:
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1. Complaint of citizen A.D., resident of Tirana, in relation to bypassing the procedures and lack of transparence from the Ministry of
Health for providing him with permission for transferring his pharmacy,
licensed by this Ministry.
After a long correspondence and continuous contacts with the
General Secretary of the MoH the problem was solved.
2. Complaint of citizen M.K., Director of the Primary Health Care
at the Regional Health Authority in Tirana regards to the decree of her
suspension from job as decided in a meeting of the Administrative Board.
She was unjustly charged with a violation of ethics code and incapability
of carrying out her job. She was charged other times with other
administrative measures such as "reprimand", "warning for removal from
job" and "warning for removal from the director position".
After we verified the complaint, we sent a recommendation to the
Head of the Administrative Board of RGA, informing him as above. The
recommendation was considered right and she was returned to her job.
From the complaints that are still under consideration we mention:
1. Complaint of the Association of the Pharmacists of Diber
District, which raised a concern that in the Peshkopi city there are some
pharmacies where the technical head is not a pharmacist by profession.
Thus these persons sell medications that are strictly interdicted to be sold
by non-licensed people.
The National Center of the Medicaments Control informed us that
the concern was based. They have sent controls in Peshkopi and other
cities and issued closing of the activity. But to our knowledge, no further
concrete steps were taken from the MoH to close the pharmacies.
Additionally, we have been informed that new pharmacies that don'
t meet
the legal requirements continue to open.
2. Complaint of the Head of the National Association of the
Paraplegic and Tetraplegic Disabled "Shprese dhe Dashuri". She is
claiming on behalf of an entire category of sick people who are seeking to
benefit from the "Status of the Paraplegic and Tetraplegic Disabled". She
explains that this particular group of people is in total tetraplegic, not
because of an accident but of another diagnose “Myopia, Muscular
Dystrophy". Despite the fact that they happen to be in the same situation
as some people that had accidents in 1997 and have benefited from this
status, she informed us that the patients with "Myopia" haven'
t profited
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from this status. She addressed to our institution to intervene to the MoH
to redefine the medical definition for the tetraplegic and paraplegic
patients, thus changing the Law No. 8626, dated 22.06.2000 "Status of
the Paraplegic and Tetraplegic Disabled". The MoH has responded to our
request for information about the case.
3. Complaint of a group of pharmacists from former state
pharmacies, who are seeking to privatize the plot because no owner has
reclaimed it.
We have exchanged a long correspondence with the competent
institutions. The arguments they gave, showed a tendency to drag the
process until it was suspended because a legal packet on the given issue
was on the way to being approved. Even after the approval of the
Decision of the Council of Ministers No. 159, dated 13.03.2003 "On the
criteria of the assessment of the state property to be privatized and the
selling procedures", it results that the case is still pending. We
recommend that the competent authorities such as MoH, Tirana City Hall
and Public Societies, Tirana branch should take necessary steps to solve
the case in conformity with the legal dispositions.
4. It is worth mentioning the complaint of citizen V.D. that is under
consideration. We requested to the MoH to implement the court decision,
an obligation emerged by the Constitution, that gives the right to the
complainant to return to her former job as Director of the Regional Health
Authority, and no response has been provided so far.
15- Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA)
During 2003 for the MoFA, embassies and consulates outside the
country we received 12 complaints, out of which 4 were carried from
2002. In relation to the scope of these complaints we must say that they
mainly dealt with actions or inactivity of consulates or consular sections
in our embassies in those countries where there are a lot of Albanian
citizens. From the complaints, 10 were finished and 2 are under review.
Out of 10, 8 resulted out of the jurisdiction and competence of the
People’s Advocate, 1 groundless and 1 was solved in favor. The majority
of the complaints were addressed against the representative missions in
Albania. When the complaints have been out of our jurisdiction, the
citizens were shown the ways to follow in such cases.
To increase the services to the citizens, more attention is being paid to
the problem of legalizing of documents needed outside the country, for
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those documents to be notarized and must be legalized in the MoFA. We
had complaints from the citizens that are obliged to stay in long queues
and face unnecessary obstacles. This ministry has taken measures to
reduce these difficulties. Also, in the 2002 Rapport we recommended that
the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs should ratify the Convention that
recognizes the notary stamps, without needing a second legalization from
the MoFA. It results that with Law No. 9060, dated 08.05.2003 “On the
adherence of Republic of Albania into the Convention for abolishing the
request of the legalizing of official foreign documents”, our country
became a member of the Convention and the implementation of the
Convention will set a unified practice for legalizing official foreign
documents.
In 2002 the Institution of the People’s Advocate, viewing that the
rights of Albanian prisoners outside the country are almost denied, and
based on the international agreements that protect the rights of prisoners,
initiated the project for the publication of a brochure, and during 2003, in
collaboration with the MoFA and MoJ we printed in Albanian a summary
of information on international law, regarding the rights of the individual
and their protection in institutions of penitentiary system outside the
country, where more than 5,000 Albanian citizens suffer their sentences.
This publication was made in order to help the Albanian prisoners outside
the country, who are a specific unprotected group that do not have the
possibilities for network and connections, as the other prisoners do. This
becomes more evident when the prisoner cannot read and write the
language of the country where jailed. The literature in the Albanian
language in prisons outside the country for many reasons does not exist.
Recommendation No. 89 of the Council of Europe about education in
prisons in paragraph 10 defines the rights of prisoners for the service of a
library at least once a week.
The book has been published and distributed to Greece, 1800 copies,
Slovenia, 25 copies, England, 100 copies and Denmark, 20 copies. We
are working to make it accessible in Italy and Macedonia.
In 2002 we have sent to the MoFA and MoJ a recommendation, which
has been approved and regards to:
- Execution of procedure of preparation and publication of official
texts in Albanian language of ratified international acts by our country
from the MoJ, which officially keeps the international acts prepared for
approval from the competent organs.
- The realization of publication of conventions’ texts in the
Albanian language and ratified agreements by our country, the text of
which is not published in the Official Gazette, with purpose that all the
176
organs that are obliged to implement them should first become familiar
with them.
It appears that no concrete steps toward realization of the above
recommendations have been taken during 2003.
The cases below are worth mentioning from the practice of 2003.
1. We were notified by the Parliamentary Commission of Law that
citizen I.E. and two of his colleagues, employees at the Insurance
Company SIGMA AD, Skopje, without any legal ground, had their
passports confiscated by the Macedonian Police.
We requested to the Albanian Ambassador in Macedonia to
provide us with relevant information and notified the Consulate Directory
at the MoFA as well. At the same time, inspired by the principles of the
European Convention on Human Rights and the close relations we keep
with our homologue in Macedonia, Mr. Branko Naumovski, we asked
him to help through using his authority in solving the case. After his
intervention, the problem was solved; the Macedonian police returned the
passports to citizen I.E, and his colleagues and gave them visas.
2. In the 2001 and 2002 reports we presented the case of 5 former
employees, diplomats and assistance personnel of the Albanian Embassy
in Beograd, who on April 5, 1999, when the NATO bombardments
started on Yugoslavia for the crimes of Serbs in Kosovo, left the embassy
without even collecting their personal belongings and have asked for
compensation. Even though this recommendation has been accepted
verbally by the Former Ministers of Foreign Affairs, no solution has been
found until now. This example speaks clearly about the bureaucracy that
our citizens face from the officials of the public administration.
16-The Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications
(MoTT)
During 2003, our institution received 50 complaints against the
MoTT and their depending bodies.
177
a. Complaints against the Ministry itself
During 2003, our institution received 6 complaints against the
MoTT, out of which 2 were groundless, 3 were out of competence and
jurisdiction and 1 was solved in favor.
The complaint solved in favor belongs to citizen A.B., resident of
Labinot, Elbasan, who pretended that the MoTT and the General
Directory of Roads, during the drafting of the project for the roadsegment Elbasan-Librazhd didn’t take into consideration his request to
deviate the construction of the road, because as it was presented in the
master plan, it required the demolition of a great part of a building where
he was exercising a private activity. The citizen contacted on several
occasions the proper officials but no explanation was provided. After
receiving the complaint, People’s Advocate, through his experts, had
numerous contacts with general Directory of the Roads. As a result of the
verification of his allegations and consulting with the documentation at
the Office of Real Estate, Elbasan branch, we made it possible for the
citizen to make contacts with the officials of the General Directory of
Roads, which is the proper authority to solve the case.
The problem with this case can be related to several cases against
the Ministry of Transport: the expropriation of owners for public interest.
As mentioned in the 2002 Report as well, the delay in procedures and
taking the cases to court are common and reflect somehow the lack of a
thorough regulation by laws to the related problem. There is a lot of
inaccuracy in the lists of the Office for Registration of Estate regarding
the expropriation of owners for a public interest. The obligation emerges
from article 1 of the Protocol 1 of the European Convention on Human
Rights and article 41 and 42 of the Albanian Constitution apply to all
subject, including the public administration. Referring to the complaints
submitted to our institution, we have found that the above article has not
been applied properly from the public authorities and as a result,
interested parties have taken the cases to the courts of law. The People’s
Advocate should continue to put pressure on the public authorities for
resolving administratively those kinds of conflicts and saving people
from running to courts.
b. Complaints against Telecom
During 2003 we have received 56 complaints against the General
Directory of Telecom and its offices in different cities. We need to point
178
out that this sector has grown tremendously in the few last years.
Nevertheless, a lot of problems have appeared, especially the increasing
of the standards of services in conformity with the contemporaneous
techniques.
The complaints showed that there were many inaccuracies in the bills,
such as missing due dates and the repair and restoration of the services
were not completed on time.
It has been verified that this institution, in a lot of complaints, has not
done verifications of the complaints submitted, but rather sent out a copy
of a form, changing only the name and the phone number of the
complainant. After our intervention, there are some improvements, but
still, a lot has to be done, especially on being transparent during drafting
of the bills, where the majority of complaints come. It doesn’t require too
much action, as in the case of the Albanian Electric Corporation and
Water Pipe, because the equipment is located within the institution
structure. It demands also the attention from different organizations, such
as ERT, Consummators Association, Directory of Consummators at the
MoE and the MoTT.
Actually, the People’s Advocate is reviewing the telephone rates of
Albtelecom since December 2003. We have cooperated with experts on
the issue, aiming to have not only transparence in the judicial procedures,
but a professional opinion about the change of the telephone rates. We
have extended our investigation over the Albtelecom, Telecom
Regulatory Entity, MoE, and MoTT.
During 2003 we worked closely with the Albtelecom in drafting and
approval of the new contract offered to consumers. This contract meets
the contemporary requirements thus embodying both parties with mutual
rights and obligations.
We have received complaints against the private cellular companies,
such as AMC and VODAFON for the service fees and the phone cards.
We have addressed to the Regulation Agency of Telecommunications to
resolve the complaints.
We took the initiative to do some inquiry on these companies, which,
even though have a great coverage of phone service, escapes the scope of
the law “On Telecommunications in the Republic of Albania”, setting
very high rates. This was the object of a hearing at the Parliament by
Deputy Neritan Ceka in 2003. We are still under the process of
considering the case.
179
17. Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports (MoCYS)
During 2003 we received 10 complaints against the MoCYS, while 6
were carried from 2002. 11 cases were completed, 3 were in favor, 7 were
beyond jurisdiction, for 1 complaint the recommendation was refused and
6 complaints are under the process of considering by office.
The thematic of complaints against the ministry above is related to the
non-execution of the court orders, violation of the right to information,
unfairly firing and disciplinary actions.
As for the completed cases, we would like to mention three complaints
that were presented in 2002 but were finished in 2003. One case resolved
in favor by our institution, regarding to the execution of a decision
according to which the Culture Monuments, Tirana branch owed citizen
G.L. a financial obligation. After our intervention, the above institution
solved the case positively. In the two other cases, the citizen complained
that they were not informed about the content of the decision of the
dismissal from their job and were not provided with a copy of the
decision, thus violating the dispositions of the Law No. 8503, dated
30.06.1999 "On the Right to Information on Official Documents". After
our intervention the cases were solved.
1. Another case is the complaint of citizen M.F. against the Albanian
Federation of Soccer (FSHF), regarding the system of licensing the
Albanian soccer clubs. Concretely, the complainant didn'
t accept to requalify for receiving the license of the soccer couch. He claimed that he
was awarded the title couch after completing 1 year of post university
studies at the Institute "Vojo Kushi" and it was not necessary to pass
qualification training. Besides, no legal dispositions make those diplomas
unavailable. The complaint was found grounded by our institution and we
sent a recommendation to the MoCYS to nullify the testing for licensing
the Albanian couch of all levels, as a procedure not based in relevant laws
and decrees of the Council of Ministers. We have not yet received an
official response.
2. The complaint of 24 employees of “Alba Film Studio”, who were
suspended from the payrolls and no contribution was made to the social
insurance fund. They claimed that according to Decision No. 49, dated
28.01.1999, an additional fund was added to the “Alba Film Studio” fund,
which can be used to convert it into a commercial entity. The MoCYS cut
the financial support allegedly for lacking necessary funds. According to
the explanations we received from the MoCYS, they accept that the
180
complaint is right but the Council of Ministers never approved funds that
this ministry asked for the “Alba Film Studio”, because the Ministry of
Justice and Ministry of Finance disagreed.
3. Reviewing this case, it resulted that the Decision of Council of
Ministers No. 316, dated 24.04.2003 “On a Change to Decision of the
Council of Ministers No. 78, dated 21.01.1999 “On conserving the state
property in some commercial entities and enterprises”, specified that
“Alba Film Studio” is a company in transformation with 100% state
assets. Therefore, as long as this society “de jure” is not a mutual owned
company, and according to the above decision the society is in the phase
of transformation, the payment and the contribution toward the social
insurance fund since January 2003 of the employees of “Alba Film
Studio” remain unsolved.
We expect an official response from the Ministry of Finance about the
obstacles and arguments for denying the request of MoCYS.
18. Ministry of Environment (MoE)
During 2003 we received 2 complaints relating to the pollution of
the environment. One was out of jurisdiction and the other is under
review. Even though the number of complaints is not higher, their
presence shows that the Albanian public is becoming sensitive about such
issues as environmental ones.
One of the complaints was repeated from 2002 and referred to the
pollution caused by radiation from cellular antennas on top of the
buildings placed by companies such as AMC and Vodafone.
As we reported in the last year’s report, after taking into
consideration the conclusions reached by the expert appointed by us, we
concluded that we were before a violation of the laws into force.
Therefore, based on the article 21/c of the Law “On People’s
Advocate”, we recommended to the Public Prosecutor’s office of Tirana
to initiate criminal charges on the abuse of their powers, toward the
responsible officials at the National Agency for the Protection of the
Environment (actually, the Ministry of Environment) and to charge the
responsible officials of “Albania Vodafone” and “AMC” with criminal
charges for the pollution of the environment. The case has been decided
by the public prosecutor’s office of Tirana. They dropped charges against
the above subjects for lack of evidence of real dangerous or grave
consequences from the radiation from antennas. Consequently, no
responsibility stands for the Agency of Protection of Environment.
181
A project-law drafted by the Ministry of Environment is under way
to be approved by the Council of Ministers and Parliament to protect
people and the environment from this kind of radiation.
2. In the complaint of citizen A.C. is raised a concern about toxic
debris from the Plastic Plant of Lushnja. This debris constitutes a great
risk for the surrounding area and an obstacle for investment. We have
recommended the Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Economy to
assure the necessary funds to clean the place of the debris. The Ministry
of Environment conducted inspections to verify the situation and has
drafted a master plan, which is presented to the Ministry of Industry and
Energy, considering the fact that the Plastic Plant of Lushnja was
depending in that ministry.
The Ministry of Economy and Ministry of Industry and Energy
consider the Plastic Plant of Lushnja a private business, therefore the
cleaning of debris falls on the shareowners and not on the ministries. We
are going to follow up with the case because it is a very sensitive one and
represents a danger to the people’s health until resolved.
19. Ministry of Industry and Energy (MoIE)
During 2003 we received 12complaints, which were related
directly to the MoIE and 9 complaints were carried from 2002. During
2003, 50 complaints concerned the Albanian Electric Power Corporation.
a. Complaints against the Ministry itself
Out of 21 complaints, 4 were beyond the jurisdiction, 8 were
solved in favor, while 8 are still pending cases.
1. 8 of the complaints are related to the non-fulfillment by the
government of the obligations emerged by the agreement with the Italian
company “Darfo” for the payment of social securities of the employees of
Albckrome and Albabaker before taking over the above enterprises by the
Italian company. Verifying the complaints received, as we mentioned in
the 2002 Report as well, it resulted that the government owed a
considerable amount of money to the subjects above.
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According to Law No. 8590, dated 23.02.2000 “On the approval of
the “Agreement of concession of BOT form for the plant of iron-nikel in
Elbasan and the Mine of chrome in Prrenjas and Pojske, between the
Ministry of the Public Economy and Privatization and the Italian society
Darfo SPA”, and awarding some benefits and guarantees for this
agreement”, article 4 stipulates: “Upon the signing of the concession
agreement, the government is in charge of the obligations toward the state
budget and the third parties, object of the concession.” To this point, it is
important to define the necessary steps taken by the government to
liquidate the debts.
The Ministry of Industry and Energy, initiated by a
recommendation we sent, drafted a project-decision “On the registering,
monitoring and regulation of the late payments between enterprises and
societies of public sector”. This decision defines the modalities of
payments from the state budget.
Our office played an important role to move ahead the competent
ministries until a final solution. Actually, the problem of the payments of
the social insurances has been solved because the necessary funds were
provided. Meanwhile, the problem of obligations toward the third parties
that constitutes a high financial burden for the state is under review.
4. Citizen P.H., the executor of Plant 12 of Nikel-Cobalt in
Elbasan, complained about a violation of the right to information. He
requested to the Directory of Control for Energy and Directory of
Industry and Energy at the MoIE for providing him with some official
documents and after their refusal, he addressed to the People’s Advocate.
5. In our request sent to both directories at the MoIE we informed
them about the legal basis of the request of citizen P.H., in fact article
23/2 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania and the dispositions
of Law No. 8503, dated 30.06.1999 “On the Right to Information on
Official Documents”.
The case has been solved positively.
6. The complaint of citizen Y.A., representing 13 people, is
addressed to the Electrical Policy of Tirana for the illegal actions of the
General Director of the Electrical Policy, which is under jurisdiction of
the Ministry of Industry and Energy. These employees claimed that they
were dismissed from their jobs with prejudice because they brought up
issues of corruption and abusive conduct in the workplace.
The cases were sent before the court of Tirana, which ruled in
favor of the employees, arguing that the dismissals were not grounded
183
because the employees did not have any other disciplinary measures and
no remarks were made about their performance. The Directory of the
Electric Policy of Tirana has not enforced the court decisions yet.
Therefore, we have recommended to the MoIE to verify the
accusation of the above employees for corruption and abusive behaviors
of the General Directory of the Electric Policy. No official
announcement has been made from them.
b. Complaints against the Electric Power Corporation (EPC)
During 2003 we received 50 complaints and requests against
Tirana EPC and some other branches in different cities. 6 of them have
been solved in favor, 21 were groundless, 3 were out of jurisdiction and
10 have been carried over to 2004. Most of the complaints belonged to
Tirana.
Below you will find some of the complaints and the problems that
appeared:
1. We have received a lot of complaints from citizens, claiming
that the competent authorities haven’t provided them with power in
conformity with the signed contract. They said that they have paid their
dues accordingly. The verification resulted that the requests were based
on legal grounds.
Based in our recommendation, in 2002, KESH changed pg. 1 and 2
of its Order No. 32, dated 02.02.2001, which legitimized the collective
punishment. This change hasn’t been enforced because we continue to
receive complaints for the same object.
2. We have received a lot of complaints regarding the bills issued
by EPC for people that don’t have an electricity meter. EPC hasn’t found
an appropriate way to collect money for the services rendered and has
charged the consumers with erroneous amounts. A lot of people
complained that they have been to EPC several times asking to have the
meter installed but EPC has not taken any step. They continue to pay
erroneous bills in order to get electricity. These actions on the part of
EPC constitute a violation of the consumers’ rights.
As a result of our intervention, EPC will equip citizens with
apparatus within 2004. They were awarded a grant from the World Bank,
which will be used first to install apparatus in districts like Shkodra and
Vlora and will repair the old apparatus owned by a lot of consumers as
well.
184
3. We have had complaints from some employees of EPC for not
filling the electricity bills accordingly. It has resulted in paying a higher
amount than what was due, because we all are aware that after consuming
over 300 KW, there is a higher tariff to be paid. We informed the
competent officials and the disciplinary actions have been put into place.
The People’s Advocate institution has made an immense
contribution in raising the awareness and conscience of the public on the
violation and infringement of the citizen’s rights from EPC. At the same
time we have asked the citizens to fulfill their obligations, such as the
dues for the services provided.
4. As in the case of Albtelecom, since January 2004, KESH is
operating with the new rates approved by the new contract. The Office
for the Protection of Citizens has forwarded us the complaints of 6000
citizens who opposed the increasing of the electricity rates. Unlike
Albetelecom, KESH has shown transparence in the procedures. However,
we have established a group of experts to review the case and make
necessary suggestions.
20. Complaints against Secret Services
During the year 2003, citizens, who demanded the intervention of
the People’s Advocate Institution to resolve their problems in connection
with the State Informative Services, have submitted 2 complaints, I was
groundless the other was solved in favor.
1. Citizen P.M. complained for being unfairly removed from his
job. After verifying his complaint, we found that the decision of dismissal
was grounded because he has not been fulfilled job requirements and has
abused state finances.
2. Citizen P.S. complained to the People’s Advocate that some
employees of SHISH were notified to be dismissed from their jobs
because both spouses were working at the same workplace. After we
intervened, finding the spouses positions that were not related to each
other solved the problem.
We emphasize that the institutional relations between our
institution and the Secret Services are based on legal grounds and we
appreciate their willingness to provide us with the required
documentation, including the classified ones, according to the
requirements of law.
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21. Generalizations on complaints related to the
consumers
Speaking about “consumers”, instinctively you think of somebody
buying something. This is not a complete vision. We are all consumers
and our life style depends on daily consummation. Taking into account
the important role of the consumers nowadays, we have used all the
necessary legal means to raise the awareness of the consumers. This is
reflected in some vital fields of public services, such as KESH, Water
Pipeline, Albtelekom, etc. We have participated in every discussion table
with these institutions and we initiated the reformulation of the contracts
these entities offer to the public and urged the need of changing them.
Law No. 9135, dated 11.09.2003 “On the protection of Consumers”, in
article 50 stipulates: “People’s Advocate has an obligation to protect the
rights of consumers and their associations from the third parties”. There is
a step forward that institutionalized the People’s Advocate intervention.
Even though the above-mentioned law entered into force 6 months
ago, it hasn’t been implemented because of the obstacles encountered
from the structures so-called public structures of the market control. The
People’s Advocate has used his power to sensibilize the state structures
and make them aware of law requirements.
Viewing the complaints we have received, we think that the most
common problems in the consummation field are as below:
- Lack of information on the quality of goods or services
- Missing of the fiscal invoices by the consumers, which cause
fiscal evasion.
- Not using of the Albanian language on the product labels.
- Advertising abuse.
- Missing licensing of quality and sanitary conditions of the
goods and services.
Public services, such as electricity, telephone, cellular, water
pipeline and the quality of the food and constructions are the most
important matters that the consumers should be protected by the public
entities, such as the Regulatory Entities of Power and
Telecommunications, Inspectorates for controlling the food or
constructions, etc. Unfortunately, the activity of these entities lacks
effectiveness and availability. Thus two big entities, ERT and ERE,
whose commissioners are elected by the Parliament with the purpose of
guarantying the independence from the government, lack organization
186
and efficiency in performing their duties to protect the rights of the
consumers.
People’s Advocate, as an institution in protection of human rights,
will not cease to be a guardian in assuring the implementation of laws
protecting consumers by the proper authorities. We have found
understanding and offered cooperation, such as scientific expertise
relating to the vital services for citizens, from the institutions like the
Science Academy and the University of Tirana.
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CHAPTER FOUR
1. Follow-up on cases presented in the Annual Report for year
2000, 2001 and 2002
Some of the cases (complaints, requests, or recommendations)
presented in the 2000, 2001 and 2002 reports have been accomplished,
therefore they have been reflected in the respective sections dealing with
their problem-range. Consequently, in this chapter we shall briefly
introduce only those follow-up cases even for year 2004.
1. Amendments in the Code of Penal Procedure, in connection to the
right for the family members of the victims of the penal offences to attend
the trial sessions, to defend their own interests. This recommendation will
be repeated by even other changes the Code of Penal Procedure will be
subjected to, the reduction of the preliminary investigations being a case
in point. In January 2004, when the draft of Penal Procedure Code was
presented to the Parliament, we have recommended to the Law
Commission to include our proposal, initiating from the complaints of the
families of the victims of the January 9th tragedy, and the complaint of
Gani Malushi.
2. Amendments in the Code of Civil Procedure, in connection with the
participation of the defense attorneys for both inter-judicial parties, in
cases when the High Court examines the request of either parties, as
regards suspending the verdict execution. In addition, even in cases of
trial sessions involving a single judge, etc.
3. Completing the Law "On the Convicts'Rights" with the respective
normative acts on remunerating the convicts for the work done, changes
in the regulations for the penitentiary police, and completing the specific
regulations for each prison.
4. Amendments in the Labor Code. Our recommendation has been
accepted. The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs has submitted the
draft law on amending this law. The case will be followed up until the
Albanian Parliament has approved these changes.
5. Endorsing the new Code of Family. The draft for the new code
prepared by the government has been introduced to the Parliament,
awaiting approval.
6. Amending the Law "On Social Insurance in the Republic of
Albania" concerning the benefits for the military servicemen inflicted
accidents while performing office duties.
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7. Adopting the Law on the Indemnities, according to article 44 of the
Constitution.
8. On invalidating article 289 of the Customs Code; the request has
been submitted to the Constitutional Court, the trial session has taken
place, but the verdicts has not yet been pronounced.
9. The recommendation addressed to the Prime Minister concerning
refusal by the administration bodies to carry into effect the judicial
verdicts, thereby violating article 142 of the Albanian Constitution.
Concurrently, related to failure of the Ministry of Finance and the
Ministry of Justice to meet the requirements envisaged in the Council of
Ministers Decision No. 355, dated 02.06.1998, to this effect. The
recommendation has been repeated and the problem is being followed up.
10. Recommendations on the measures taken so as to carry into effect
the right of information over the official documents. We will follow up
with the recommendations of the National Conference on the right to
information.
11. Transferring the isolation cells at the Police Stations to the
subordination of the General Prisons Directory. Work to carry into effect
has started and is being followed up by our Office until accomplished.
12. Establishing the medical examination service for the detainees predetained at the Police Stations. We have repeated this recommendation,
since the measures to take into effect have not been taken. This problem
is being followed up.
13. The complaints of the residents living in the border with Kosovo,
whose houses had been damaged during bombing of NATO in 1999. This
problem is being followed up.
14. The complaints of the residents of Boville, their properties had
been flooding during construction of the Boville water pipeline, which
haven’t been compensated yet. The institutional competence has been
determined and the problem is being followed up.
2. Cases started at the initiative of the People's Advocate
According to article 13, Law No.8454, dated 4.02.1999 “On People'
s
Advocate”: “The People'
s Advocate initiates the procedure related to
examining the respective cases, provided he notices or suspects that the
violation of the right has occurred, based on the complaint or request
submitted by the person interested or damaged, as well as at his own
initiative, in special cases which have bee made public, at the consent of
the person interested or damaged.”
189
The 13 complaints submitted by the OSCE office have not been
considered as initiative cases. Nevertheless, with reference to the
complaints submitted by the Tirana-based OSCE office, our office has
initiated the examination of the cases, likewise we have paid on-site visit
to meet the complainants in person, or they have been asked to approach
us, so as to give the respective consent and explanations. The OSCE
office has been notified in writing with respect to the completion of each
case.
- A total of cases started at the initiative during year 2003
28
- Complaints resolved favorably
15
- Beyond competency or jurisdiction
2
- The complaints refused on account of the fact that
2
individual complaints have not been submitted in compliance
with the law, the complaints have been withdrawn, or
finally the complaint was unjust or untrue
- Examination underway
9
More detailed information is provided in the respective tables.
190
Follow-up on complaints or problems handled at the initiative of the Institution during 2003
No.
Media
1
Gazeta
Shqiptare,
Albania
Koha Jonë
2.
3.
Rilindja
Demokratike
Albania
4.
TV Top Chanel
5.
Zëri i Popullit
6.
Korrieri
7.
Dita
8.
TV and several
Newspapers
Complainant
Hasan
Tahirllari
(Fiks Fare)
Complainant Content
Place/Dist Manner of Solution
rict
Police killed my son, Gazmend and is
trying to hide the truth, together with the
Public Prosecutor office of Korca, alleged
that the cause of his death was alcohol
exceed.
Maltreatment of the operator of Top
Chanel TV, Ermir Begeja, by the police
Maltreatment of homosexuals by the
police
Maltreatment of Përparim Babaj by
Shkodra police
Maltreatment of Dashamir Braholli,
L.Semilka and S.Hallka, by Greek police
Assassination of Vullnet Bytyçit by Greek
police
Maltreatment of Arjan Torka by Greek
police
Maltreatment of Ligor Halili, Mili Halili
and Rrahman Pashollari by Greek police.
One has subsided severe body damages,
resulting the removal of the spleen
191
Korçë
In
Favor
Incompetence
+
Tiranë
Rejected
or Unjust
No consent
Tiranë
Unjust
Shkodër
No consent
+
+
+
+
Under
Process
No.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16
Media
Complainant
Ballkan
Donato
Di
Tano,
a
convicted
Italian citizen
Ilir Barçi
Complainant Content
Place/District Manner of Solution
He tried suicide by cutting the
wrists, allegedly not being allowed
by the police to meet with his
family.
TV
Notification from the newspaper to
be accepted by the orphanage
“Zyber Hallulli”
TV
Dhimitër
Seek help for protecting his rights as
Kazanxhiu
one of the owners-to be in the case
of Hawaii buildings
Several Media
Workers
of For not receiving the salary,
“Fabiona”
insurance for ISSH and work
conditions.
Rilindja
Owners
of Objecting
the
decision
of
Demokratike
Golemit
KRRTRSH in relation to the
abolition of their constructions
Ballkan
Vathi Kushta For not receiving the retired pension
from the social insurance of Vlora
Gazeta Shqiptare, Kristo Pepa
The Albanian prisoners, sentenced
TV.Top Chanel
by the court of Thessalonica
(Greece), who are framed by the
translator, Niki Vavacula, who
doesn’t speak Albanian
Dita
Tiranë
The Law “ On Mental Health”
hasn’t been enforced by the
psychiatric hospital in Tirana
192
Durrës
In
Favor
+
Tiranë
+
Tiranë
+
Kavajë
Greece
Rejected
or Unjust
Under
Process
Unjust
Tiranë
Vlorë
Incompetence
+
+
+
+
No.
Media
Complainant
Complainant Content
Place/District Manner of Solution
In
Favor
17.
18.
19.
Initiated by the Prisoners
People’s
Advocate
Those that have been kept in the isolation
facilities after the court decision has been
entered into force are seeking one day and a
half prison time for a day in the above
facilities. Recommendation on amending Law
No. 7941, dated 31.05.1995 has been
submitted
Initiated by the Prisoners of The convicted of the Burrel prison complain Mat
People’s
Burrel Prison against the administration of the prison for
Advocate
violating their rights, recognizing by Law No.
3338, dated 16.04.1998 “on the Rights and
Treatment of the Prisoners”. With the
initiative of the People’s Advocate from
October 22-24, 2003, the aids of the People’s
Advocate conducted an inspection at the
Burrel prison. The People’s Advocate
submitted
a
recommendation
doc.200301750/3 dated 03.11.2003
Koha Jonë
Elma Beluli
She wants information about her son and his Tiranë
friend whereabouts. Romeo Beluli and Martin
Islamaj are suspected to be arrested by
Serbian authorities
193
Incompetence
Rejected
or Unjust
Under
Process
+
+
+
No.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
Media
Complainant
Complainant Content
Place/District Manner of Solution
In
Favor
Ballkan
Subscribers of Working closely with ERT and
Albtelecom
Albtelecom to draft the new contract
of the Albtelecom
Mirela Sinani Violation of parental rights from
Shekulli
Mahmudije
Tv. Top Chanel
parents or custodians. Initiated by
Matmuja
three citizens’ complaints, we sent
Nereida Pepa two recommendations to the
Ministry of Justice and Ministry of
Public Order, regarding the rights of
children embodied by laws.
Shekulli
Hashim
Complaints on the procedures of
Domelezi,
obtaining the citizenship. A close
Nazmije
cooperation and was established
Sinani
with the Ministry of Public Order
and Presidency.
All electronic and BSSH
Change on the fees of telephone
written Media
All electronic and Consummators Initiated by our institution, we have
written
Media,
considered changes in the fees of
initiated by the
KESH services.
People’s
Advocate
194
Tiranë
+
Tiranë
Shkodër
Kukës
+
Shijak
Durrës
+
Incompeten
ce
Rejected
or Unjust
Under
Process
Tiranë
+
Tiranë
+
No.
25.
26.
27.
28
Media
Complainant
Top Chanel
Show Fiks Fare
Vasil Dralo
Complainant Content
Place/District Manner of Solution
In
Favor
Complaint on civil state issues. A
relevant recommendation was
drafted in regard to application of
the Law
“On the Civil State” and the court
process for writing off the dead
from the state civil registers.
Initiated by the Alfred Kondi
Complaint in relation to the public
People’s
services of the Water pipeline. We
Advocate
submitted a recommendation to
the Prime Minister to amend the
legal acts dealing with the Water
pipeline public services.
Korrieri
Orphans
of Complaint against the director of
“Zyber Hallulli” the “Zyber Hallulli” Orphanage.
Orphanage
The orphans accuse the director
for not giving them their money.
Shekulli
Trafficking
Report of Swiss “Terre Des
Children
Hommes” in Agia Varvara,
publishing the number of missing
children
195
Lezhë
+
Tiranë
Rejected
or Unjust
Under
Process
+
Tiranë
Tiranë
Incompetence
+
+
APPENDIXES
1. Evaluations of the International Institutions and Foreign
Authorities on the People's Advocate Performance and Activity
The activity of the People’s Advocate Institution in Albania has
been carried out under the monitoring of prestigious foreign
organizations, such as the Council of Europe, the European Commission,
OSCE, ODIHR, The State Department of the USA and numerous
international organizations working in the field of human rights. In
addition, several homologues from around the world have paid visits to
our office and have expressed their impressions about the successes
achieved by the People’s Advocate in Albania in their reports, interviews
and letters.
1. Embassy of the USA
Dear Mr. Dobjani,
I am writing to you to express my concern about the death of
Gazmend Tahirllari, right after his arrest of the Korca police station, on
January 3rd. Since this is possibly a very grave case of the violation of
human rights, my office is following with a great interest the
development of the case.
I would like to thank you for representing an independent key
institution of the Albanian Government, for your active role in the
prevention of the conflict between the Tahirllari family and the police, for
helping to build the trust of the general public in the Albanian judicial
system. I was delighted by the actions of Mr. Luan Rama, Minister of
Public Order, to make the case public and condemn the police violence. I
was pleased with the General Prosecutor’s action, which led to an
effective investigation.
I understand that the facts of the case are being made public. I am
waiting for a full and thorough investigation and if it necessary, a court
process in conformity with Albanian legislation. I find this opportunity to
thank you for your devotion to resolve this very serious case.
Tirane, January 23, 2003
Warm Wishes,
James F. Jeffrey
Ambassador
2. People’s Advocate – an institution, which started his functioning
in July 2000 - has investigated the illegal acts of the government also.
Although, he doesn’t have legislative power to implement decisions, the
People’s Advocate has acted as a guardian in protection of human rights
of citizens…The work load of the People’s Advocate has been increased
and the public has become more informed about the services offered by
him. The People’s Advocate has been supported by high-level authorities
of the government and is being authorized to obtain information from all
public agencies.
Washington, March 31, 2003
Report
of
the
State
Department on the Human
Rights situation around the
world during 2003
3. Third Report of the High Commissioner Office of Human Rights
of the Council of Europe
11. Office of the Albanian Ombudsman promises great
expectations. People’s Advocate, who possesses very impressive human
and material resources, has undertaken all kinds of actions, including the
audiovisual campaign. We would like to express our gratitude for being a
great host and we are very trustful of the help and support his office will
provide to citizen in regard to the protection of their human rights.
Strasburg, June 19, 2003
Alvaro Gil Robles
4. During the second meeting of the Council of Europe office in
Tirana, held on October 29, 2003, a draft report was presented on the
framework of Program III of the Cooperation between European
Commission and Council of Europe on Albania.
The group of experts of the consulting company PARTICIP, charged
with the independent assessment of the Program III of the Cooperation
between European Commission and Council of Europe on Albania,
conducted the evaluation of the effectiveness of the assistance on the
justice system. After completing the interviews with the representatives
197
of those institutions, Magistrate School, State Agent, Center for Official
Publications, High Court, People’s Advocate, Ministry of Justice and
Center for European Studies, at the end, People’s Advocate was rated 9.4
out of 10, scoring the first place.
5. Report of the Bureau for Democracy of Human Rights and Labor of
USA on the international right of religion, published in December 2003.
Limitations of the Religious Freedom
The Sate in Albania is secular and religion is included in the public
school programs. Although there is no law limiting the showing of
religious marks in the public schools, the students have not been allowed
to wear religious signs. In July 2003, a graduate-to-be Muslim student at
the University was prohibited from wearing the scarf in the diploma
photo. After the intervention of the People’s Advocate, the student was
allowed to wear the scarf.
6. The first completed analysis of the Legal System in Albania,
prepared by the OSCE Presence office in Tirana (pg. 244) says: “The
achievements of the People’s Advocate office are mostly due to the
independence of the institution, guaranteed by the constitution. The
public trust has been enhanced as evidenced by the increase of the
complaints at the People’s Advocate office. The People’s Advocate staff
has gained a reputation as very communicative and professional in its
relations with the citizens”.
Published in Tirana on February 19, 2004
198
2. Acknowledgement Letters Addressed to the People's
Advocate
Mr. Commissioner of the People’s Advocate
Mr. Jorgo Dhrami
Tirane
I received your message regarding my brother’s problem and I
have this opportunity to thank you and the staff of the People’s Advocate.
I am fully convinced and very happy that our country finally has a
humanitarian and independent institute, where ordinary citizens can
address their concerns and have faith in the justice of your decisions.
I would like to wish the People’s Advocate staff, as appointed by
God, to continue down the road of justice for the people.
As an Albanian citizen (I am proud of being one), I utterly support
you and offer my modest help to your institution, if necessary.
Virginia, USA, March 19, 2003
Best regards
Edmond Aliaj
2. Mr. Ermir Dobjani
People’s Advocate
Tirane
I, Durije Misja (Muzhaku) thank from my heart and my soul,
you first, Mr., Chairman and the whole staff for the justice and human
rights, by complying with the laws in power.
I had a house inherited together with 7 family members from
my sister Rukije Muzhaku.
After three and a half years of court processes at the Tirana
District Court, Tirana Appeal Court and High Court, we have been
granted the owner rights of our property (which was given to other people
with false documentation).
In 2003, the bailiff office delayed the execution of the decision
from January to August 2001. After we complained to your institution
199
and due to your intervention, we took the possession of the house on
October 15, 2001. Mr. Hajredin Hysa was in charge of the case and we
thank him.
In October 2002 we decided to sell the house, but to our
surprise, we received a letter from the real estate office in Tirana, signed
by Mr. Vladimir Pellumbi, that our house is being held and can’t be sold,
even though this office provided us a year ago with the property title
They didn’t want to negotiate with us, although we won the case before
the High Court.
We immediately were addressed to your office again, and Mr.
Fredi Paskali was in charge and solved the problem. I would like to thank
him and I am very grateful for what he has done.
Any time I get an opportunity with friends, I talk about you and
the institution you represent and it is common knowledge that your
institution protects the rights of the people.
I am writing this letter as a sign of respect for you and all the
staff of the People’s Advocate.
Tirane, April 15, 2003
Sincerely,
Durije Miska
3. Mr. Ermir Dobjani
People’s Advocate
Tirane
As you have been informed, I, Siri Hanaj, have been in contact
with your office for years and we have established good relationships and
understanding. I was not always right but your office has found the right
solution to my problems. First, I would like to mention my opinion in
regard to the application of the Law No. 7703, dated 11.05.1993 “On
Social Insurance”, the deficiencies of the law and the violation of the law
requirements by the other legal acts. Your office took into consideration
my remarks and you made the appropriate recommendations to the
legislative and executive authorities. As a citizen and intellectual, I feel
satisfied that common people’s voice is being heard. I found this
opportunity to mention the solution of a personal issue too. I was not paid
200
for 4 months from my workplace. Due to the intervention of your office, I
collected the past salaries.
Dear Mr. Advocate, I would like to make a suggestion if allowed:
Considering the Albanian situation – where the officials behave as
owners and don’t comply with laws, thus violating the rights of citizens Law “On the People’s Advocate”, perhaps for 40-50 years, should be
supplemented by sanctions (such as fine, removal from job and penal
sanctions too) in case of non complying with his recommendations.
According to my opinion, this amendment should put an end to the
violations of laws by “Maliqet” and we finally would live in a democratic
society.
Thank you again for your understanding and consideration on
solving any kind of problems I presented to your office – I would like to
meet you in person and express my gratitude to you.
Tirane, May 28, 2003
Respectfully,
Prof. Ass. Dr. Siri Hanaj
4. Thank you for your understanding, cooperation and commitment
to involve all the competent authorities in investigating the extortion and
disappearance “without a trace” of our collaborator and compatriot,
Remzi Hoxha.
The Independent Syndicate of Small Business and Craftsmanship
of Kosovo is very grateful to the People’s Advocate of Albania for the
efforts to solve the case, and thank Mr. Ermir Dobjani and his staff that
have become a good example in:
- Increasing the morale of Albanians wherever they live on the
state institutions commitment to solve their problems.
- Increasing the trust of the co-patriots that Albania is setting an
example of a rule of law state that fights crime.
- Increasing the international community faith in the fact that
Albania is a civilized nation that is capable of building their
institutions and fighting crime by respecting the international
law standards.
We believe that you will do whatever is in your power to discover
the truth about Remzi Hoxha and thank you again for being committed to
solving people’s concerns.
Pristine, June 2, 2003
201
The Independent Syndicate of
Small Business and Craftsmanship
of Kosovo
Pristine
Headquarter
4. Mr. Ermir Dobjani
People Advocate
Tirane
First, we would like to apologize for not writing to you before.
We represent 7 families from the village of Zhym of the Lushnja district.
We thank in particular you and Mr. Fredi Paskali and your staff too, who
within 13 days put an end to our problem regarding the registration of our
property which was pending from June 24, 2002 and we were not able to
get the ownership title.
The Appeal Court of Vlora with the Decision No. 89, dated
29.02.2002 and the High Court with the Decision No. 19, dated
25.07.2001, gave the property to us. To our surprise, three trials have
taken place before the district court of Lushnja and a process is still going
on.
The three decisions of the Lushnja district court have dismissed the
case: Decision No. 203, dated 13.03.2001; Decision No. 19, dated
06.02.2002 and Decision No. 597, dated 06.09.2002.
We don’t understand why a final court decision is being examined
three times by the tribunal of first instance and hope that you will put an
end to our calvar of court judgments.
Lushnje
Zhym, July 24, 2003
etc.
Best Regards and Respectfully,
Kostandina Allkonja, Lili Allkonja, Kristaq Allkonja,
202
WRITTEN MEDIA FOR YEAR 2003
No. DATE
NEWSPPAER HEADLINE
1
07.01.2003
BALLKAN
2
07.01.2003
SOT
3
08.01.2003
DITA
4
08.01.2003
TEMA
Experts of the People’s Advocate drafted the
rapport on the situation of the detention Notification
cells.
Notification
Korce, Dobjani investigates the police.
PA: and his role on the protection oh Notification
humans rights in Albania.
Notification
PA and human rights.
5
09.01.2003
SOT
Dobjani: Violent police.
6
10.01.2003
Gazeta
SHQIPTARE
7
11.01.2003
SHEKULLI
Helsinki Albanian Committee greets the Notification
People’s Advocate standpoint.
Notification
PA seeks exhume of Tahirllari.
8
11.01.2003
9
11.01.2003
10 11.01.2003
11 11.01.2003
12 12.01.2003
13 17.01.2003
14 17.01.2003
15 17.01.2003
16 17.01.2003
17 17.01.2003
COLUMN
Notification
PA seeks exhume of Tahirllari for a second Notification
medical expertise.
PA: The legal-medical expertise should Notification
BALLKAN
reveal the truth. Tahirllari, exhumed and
examined.
PA promises to find the truth about the Notification
DITA
death of Tahirllarit.
People’s Advocate: The truth will be Notification
Gazeta
SHQIPTARE
revealed soon.
Three officials signed for Tahirllarin. The Notification
truth is being revealed. There was high level
REPUBLIKA
of alcohol on his blood, but hitting his head
with foot damaged the brain and caused the
death.
PA and the General Prosecutor should
KOHA JONE
Article
coordinate their actions.
PA is pleased from the support of General Article
Gazeta
SHQIPTARE
Prosecutor’s Office.
Dobjani and Sollaku ring the bells! Police Article
REPUBLIKA
under accusation.
General Prosecutor’s Office and Dobjani – a Article
SHEKULLI
fruitful cooperation.
Sollaku confirms the truth about the death of Article
ZERI POPULLIT
Tahirllari from the police violence.
ALBANIA
18 17.01.2003
BALLKAN
Residents of Koder-Kamez complain to
Notification
People’s Advocate.
19 17.01.2003
BALLKAN
General Prosecutor and the People’s Press
Advocate gave a press conference
Conference
20 26.01.2003
21 28.01.2003
Gazeta Dnevni
Article
PA participates in the meeting of
Avaz-Bosnje
Ombudsmen from Balkans.
Herzegovina
Sollaku and Dobjani confirm further Article
TEMA
cooperation between two institutions.
203
22 28.01.2003
ATSH
23 29.01.2003
DITA
24 31.01.2003
BALLKAN
25 31.01.2003
ATSH
26 01.02.2003
KOHA JONË
27 01.02.2003
BALLKAN
28 01.02.2003
Gazeta
SHQIPTARE
29 01.02.2003
ALBANIA
30 01.02.2003
KORRIERI
31 01.02.2003
32 05.02.2003
33 05.02.2003
34 07.02.2003
35 11.02.2003
36 12.02.2003
37 12.02.2003
38 13.02.2003
39 13.02.2003
40 13.02.2003
41 18.02.2003
42 19.02.2003
43 19.02.2003
44 19.02.2003
45 19.02.2003
46 19.02.2003
Dobjani participates in the meeting of the
Notification
Ombudsmen from Balkans.
PA participates in the meeting of the
Article
Ombudsmen from Balkans.
Dobjani: Punishment for the public
Article
prosecutors of Fier.
American Ambassador, Jeffrey greets Mr. Notification
Dobjani, People’s Advocate.
Jeffrey expresses his concern about Notification
Tahirllari.
Notification
PA: "Legal doctor in every expertise-act".
American Ambassador, Jeffrey thanks the Notification
People’s Advocate: You are preventing the
conflict.
Notification
Deputies in Korca for "Tahirllari" dossier.
Ambassador of USA: People’s Advocate is
one of the independent Albanian institutions.
Notification
Jeffrey greets the People’s Advocate for Notification
ZERI POPULLIT contributing in the increasing of trust of
public toward the legal system in Albania.
Gazeta SOT
Dobjani released from prison Ligor Papen. Article
PA seeks investigation for the public Article
KOHA JONE
prosecutor.
PA, the socialist leader plays the role of Article
KOHA JONE
People’s Advocate
ZERI
I Dobjani, penal indictment at the General
Notification
POPULLIT
Prosecutor’s Office for cellular antennas.
PA at the Conference on the Reforms of the
Gazeta
legal system: The legal acts lack Article
SHQIPTARE
professionalism.
PA meets with representatives of the Notification
ATSH
association “Besa”.
People’s Advocate, - very cooperative Notification
ZERI POPULLIT
institution.
KOHA JONË
PA gives his word to "Besa".
Article
Notification
Gazeta SOT
Dobjani: I am People’s Advocate.
PA – publishing shortly a book for the Notification
ATSH
Albanian prisoners abroad.
Gazeta
Dobjani at the “Orphanage” for Ilir Barçin.
Article
SHQIPTARE
Gazeta
The rights f prisoners.
Pronunciation
SHQIPTARE
PA: Publication of the legal manual for the Article
KORRIERI
Albanian prisoners abroad.
Gazeta
The rights of Prisoners – publication of the Article
SHQIPTARE
PA.
ATSH
PA and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
promote the publication of a book on the Notification
rights of Albanian prisoners abroad.
204
47 19.02.2003
ATSH
People’s Advocate protects the rights of
Notification
Albanian prisoners abroad.
48 20.02.2003
Gazeta
SHQIPTARE
PA put 13-years old kid at "Zyber Hallulli".
49 20.02.2003
ATSH
50 20.02.2003
ALBANIA
51 20.02.2003
ALBANIA
52 20.02.2003
KORRIERI
53 21.02.2003
Gazeta
SHQIPTARE
54 21.02.2003
ATSH
55 21.02.2003
Gazeta "55"
56 21.02.2003
57 22.02.2003
ZERI
POPULLIT
ZERI
POPULLIT
58 22.02.2003
Gazeta "SOT"
59 22.02.2003
Gazeta
SHQIPTARE
60 22.03.2003
ALBANIA
61 22.02.2003
BALLKAN
62 22.02.2003
SHEKULLI
63 26.02.2003
BALLKAN
64 26.02.2003
ATSH
65 27.02.2003
ATSH
66 27.02.2003
ATSH
67 27.02.2003
ATSH
68 28.02.2003
ATSH
69 28.02.2003
ATSH
70 28.02.2003
Gazeta
SHQIPTARE
Notification
People’s Advocate welcomes the Political
Notification
Representative of OTAN.
Dobjani: "We should protect 5000 Albanian
Article
prisoners all around the world.
Article
A book about the prisoners abroad.
Article
Promotion of the book on the rights of
Albanian prisoners abroad.
Dobjani meets with Elgersman of OTAN.
Article
People’s Advocate warns: “Be careful of Notification
false advocates”.
People’s Advocate welcomes the Political Notification
Representative
of
OTAN,
Stephan
Elgersman
I People’s Advocate welcomes the Political Article
Representative of OTAN.
I People’s Advocate warns: “Be careful of Article
false advocates”.
People’s Advocate warns: “Be careful of Article
false advocates”.
People’s Advocate: We provide our services Article
free.
In Has – a cheater in the name of the
Pronunciation
People’s Advocate.
People’s Advocate warns: “Be careful of Notification
false advocates”.
People’s Advocate warns: “Be careful of Notification
false advocates”.
PA participates in the seminar “On the
Article
Albanian Citizenship”.
PA participates in the seminar “On the Notification
Albanian Citizenship”.
People’s Advocate, Dobjani meets with the Notification
Croatian Ombudsman, Klaric.
Croatian Ombudsman in a two days –visit to Notification
our country.
President Moisiu meets with the Croatian Notification
Ombudsman, Klaric.
People’s Advocate institution plays a very Notification
important role in the democracy values expresses himself the Chairman of the
Parliament, Pellumbi.
Croatian Ombudsman meets with the Notification
officials of the Albanian Justice.
Article
Ante Klaric visits Tirana.
205
71 28.02.2003
Gazeta
ALBANIA
72 01.03.2003
Gazeta SOT
73 01.03.2003
Gazeta RD
74 04.03.2003
Gazeta TEMA
75 04.03.2003
REPUBLIKA
76 04.03.2003
Gazeta SOT
77 09.03.2003
Gazeta DITA
78 09.03.2003
79 09.03.2003
SHQIPTARE
Gazeta DITA
Gazeta
SHQIPTARE
80 12.03.2003
81 12.03.2003
Republika
82 13.03.2003
SHEKULLI
83 16.03.2003
BALLKAN
84 16.03.2003
ZERI
POPULLIT
85 18.03.2003
BALLKAN
86 19.03.2003
ATSH
87 20.03.2003
DITA
88 20.03.2003
DITA
89 20.03.2003
ALBANIA
90 20.03.2003
REPUBLIKA
91 20.03.2003
BALLKAN
92 20.03.2003
Gazeta
SHQIPTARE
93 21.03.2003
BALLKAN
94 21.03.2003
ALBANIA
95 21.03.2003
BALLKAN
Croatian Ombudsman visits Tirana.
Article
Ombudsman:
Balkan Article
Moisiu-Croatian
countries should cooperate.
PA: Moisiu meets with the Croatian Article
Ombudsman.
Increase of complaints to the People’s Article
Advocate.
Police to court. Dobjani accuses the officials Article
dealing with foreigner ‘issues.
Article
PA: telephone for complaints.
Publication of the book on the rights of Article
prisoners.
Article
PA helped to return at the Academy.
Article
Dobjani marks his 4000 complaints.
A father’s adventure and the “victory” with Article
the People’s Advocate.
Dobjani: Evidences for the corrupted officials Article
have been forwarded to the Public
Prosecutor’s Office.
A mother in Shtiqën: If you have lost my Article
son, I’ll sue you to the People’s Advocate.
Article
PA with a citizen from Dropull.
Dobjani: The 1993 Act violates the Article
I
constitutional principle of the equality before
law.
PA-CE: A joint seminar on the protection of Article
human rights.
American Ambassador James Jeffrey meets
Notification
with the People’s Advocate, Ermir Dobjani.
PA- Jeffrey: You represent an important
Article
institution.
After the complaints of consummators to the Article
People’s Advocate, Harasani promises
cooperation
Jeffrey-Dobjani: The Embassy of the USA Article
asks for further cooperation.
Jeffrey meets with Dobjani on the human Article
rights issues.
Jeffrey to the People’s Advocate: I am here Article
to encourage you.
People’s Advocate intervenes. Protest, Article
Restoration of power in Kamez.
Relatives of Tahirllari to the People’s Article
Advocate: “The General Prosecutor’s Office
hides the evidences”.
Relatives of Tahirllari complaints to the Article
People’s Advocate.
Relatives: The General Prosecutor” Office Article
conceals the evidences.
206
96 21.03.2003
RD
97 22.03.2003
KOHA JONE
98 22.03.2003
REPUBLIKA
99 26.03.2003
REPUBLIKA
100 26.03.2003
Gazeta
SHQIPTARE
101 27.03.2003
REPUBLIKA
102 28.03.2003
RD
103 28.03.2003
TEMA
104 29.03.2003
BALLKAN
106 30.03.2003
107 01.04.2003
108 03.04.2003
Gazeta
SHQIPTARE
BALLKAN
REPUBLIKA
BALLKAN
109 04.04.2003
BALLKAN
110 06.04.2003
TEMA
111 07.04.2003
ATSH
105 29.03.2003
112 07.04.2003
113 07.04.2003
114 08.04.2003
115 08.04.2003
116 08.04.2003
117 08.04.2003
118 08.04.2003
119
10.04.2003
120 13.04.2003
121 13.04.2003
Relatives of Tahirllari to the PA: “The Article
evidences have been hidden on purpose
and the decision is not fair.
Article
PA discovers in the Sate Archives the rare
document. In search of the prison time.
Head of People’s Protection sent a Article
denunciation to the Minister of Energy.
People’s Advocate: No indictment is
Notification
presented by the People’s Advocate!
Policemen are afraid of seeking overtime- Pronunciation
unpaid work.
Sotiraq Nushi
Article
PA denounces the violence and mal
treatment of the police to the Parliament
Article
Nano promises Abdiu Dobjani’s position.
PA: 144 policemen are not paid for their Article
over-time work.
Tahirllari case brings the People’s Advocate Article
to Korca.
"KESH is keeping my pension”. A complaint Article
to the People’s Advocate.
Article
PA; pension, policemen killed before “99.
Article
{A denounces the manipulations.
Article
Pensions before the People’s Advocate.
Interview Artur
PA: Rapport of USA, tells the truth.
Lazebeu
PA hides the violations of human rights
Article
People’s Advocate intends to keep the Notification
independence of his institution.
People’s Advocate has had increased Notification
ATSH
complaints during 2002.
Strengthening of the People’s Advocate Notification
ATSH
institution, condition for the integration of our
country.
Law on “people’s Advocate” needs Notification
ATSH
amendments.
People’s Advocate – An opponent for the Notification
KOHA JONE
Government.
Dobjani or the State Department or the
RD
Pronunciation
People’s Advocate?
Dobjani denounces the police in the Notification
BALLKAN
Parliament.
An increase of complaint to the People’s Notification
ALBANIA
Advocate.
Public prosecutors forget in prison the
BALLKAN
youngster.
Article
People’s Advocate: the 13 years old was hit
DITA
Article
accidentally by a Belgian soldier.
Albanian Ombudsman meets with Russian
Agjensia PRIMA
Notification
officials in Moscow.
207
People’s Advocate: Anarchy at the office of
Civil State. The dead people show on the Pronunciation
lists of the alive.
122 19.04.2003
REPUBLIKA
123 19.04.2003
SHEKULLI
124 23.04.2003
ATSH,"55",
Albania, Sot , People’s Advocate, Mr. Ermir Dobjani is
Korrieri, G.Sh., awarded the Golden Medal “Naim Frasheri”.
Z.P. Republika
125 24.04.2003
Gazeta
SHQIPTARE
126 24.04.2003
ATSH
127 26.04.2003
SOT
128 26.04.2003
129 26.04.2003
Gazeta
SHQIPTARE
ZERI
POPULLIT
130 06.05.2003
DITA
131 13.05.2003
Gazeta
SHQIPTARE
132 13.05.2003
ALBANIA
133 13.05.2003
KORRIERI
134 13.05.2003
Weekly
Gazeta
SHQIPTARE
135 14.05.2003
DITA
136 14.05.2003
KOHA JONE
137 16.05.2003
ZERI
POPULLIT
138 23.05.2003
GAZETA "55"
139 23.05.2003
ALBANIA
140 23.05.2003
SHEKULLI
141 27.05.2003
ALBANIA
142 27.05.2003
KORRIERI
143 28.05.2003
GAZETA "55"
Kukes, People’s Advocate on the violence
Notification
against 5 prisoners.
Notification
Discussion on the People’s Advocate Notification
Commissioners.
People’s Advocate meets with Macedonia Notification
Ombudsman
Naumovski, meeting with high-ranking Notification
officials at Government.
Naumovski
meets
with
leaders
of Notification
Government.
I Macedonian People’s Advocate meets with Notification
high authorities of the country.
Dobjani: There are the facts where police
Pronunciation
violates the law.
Dobjani writes to Athens for Kapllanin
Notification
Rama: We didn’t give rankings to the former
prosecuted people”. Meeting organized by
Pronunciation
the Minister of Public Order; People’s
Advocate was invited.
People’s Advocate: We will investigate the
Notification
case of the policeman fired for ranking.
People’s Advocate, Ermir Dobjani: The
director of Municipality and not the General
Pronunciation
Director should make nomination and
removal of policemen from the district level.
Dobjani: Complaint to Rama.
Pronunciation
People’s Advocate protects the policeman Notification
Hajdari
I
Notification
People’s Advocate “Being closely to citizens.
People’s
Advocate
institution
‘has Notification
descended” to citizens.
Relatives of the victims denounced to the Notification
People’s Advocate a few months ago.
Dobjani: Materials have been sent to the
Pronunciation
General Prosecutor’s Office.
"Putting an end to the violence in the
Pronunciation
detention cells”.
People’s Advocate: More rights for the
Pronunciation
prisoners.
People’s
Advocate
meets
with Notification
representatives of the associations of former
political prosecuted citizens
208
144 28.05.2003
SOT
145 28.05.2003
Gazeta RD
146 28.05.2003
Gazeta RD
147 28.05.2003
ZERI
POPULLIT
148 28.05.2003
ALBANIA
149 28.05.2003
BALLKAN
150 28.05.2003
ATSH
151 29.05.2003
ZERI
POPULLIT
152 29.05.2003
BALLKAN
153 29.05.2003
DITA
154 29.05.2003
ALBANIA
155 29.05.2003
SOT
156
Gazeta
SHQIPTARE
157
158
159
29.05.2003
29.05.2003
29.05.2003
30.05.2003
TEMA
ATSH
Gazeta
SHQIPTARE
160 30.05.2003
ZERI
POPULLIT
161 30.05.2003
TEMA
162 30.05.2003
BALLKAN
163 30.05.2003
ATSH
164 02.06.2003
SHEKULLI
165 03.06.2003
"55"
Dobjani, helping the former prosecuted Notification
citizens.
700 complaints to the People’s Advocate
against the Ministry of Public Order for Notification
awarding ranks unfairly.
Representatives of the associations of the
former prosecuted citizens meet with the Notification
People’s Advocate.
People’s
Advocate
meets
with
I
representatives of the former prosecuted Notification
citizens
Former prosecuted citizens’ complaint to the
Notification
People’s Advocate about the violence.
Alket Jaupi complies with the requirements
of the law for People’s Advocate Notification
commissioner
Prime Minister Nano talks to the People’s
Advocate about the former-prosecuted Notification
citizens.
Nano: Agreement Government – Former
I
prosecuted
citizens
have
People’s Notification
Advocates as their mediator.
Former-prosecuted. Nano meets Dobjani.
Notification
Prime Minister meets with People’s
Advocate to resolve the conflict with Notification
protesters.
Dobjani, a guarantee between government
Notification
and former-prosecuted people.
Nano: Investigation for the dossiers of the
Notification
former-prosecuted should be initiated.
Dobjani, a guarantee for the remunerations. Notification
Nano, from bloodshed to investigation for
Notification
the former-prosecuted.
Former-prosecuted – Government, accept
Notification
the People’s Advocate as a mediator.
People’s
Advocate:
Law
on
the
remuneration of the former-prosecuted Notification
citizens
I People’s Advocate, negotiations with former
Notification
political prosecuted people.
Former-prosecuted
to
the
People’s
Advocate: we want 3400 leke for every day Notification
in prison.
People’s Advocate: Government taking to
Notification
the former-prosecuted.
People’s Advocate: The discussion for
drafting a project-agreement for the former- Notification
prosecuted started.
The regular meeting of the parties with the
Notification
People’s Advocate.
Associations of the former-prosecuted
Notification
negotiate with the People’s Advocate.
209
166 03.06.2003
DITA
People’s Advocate meets with the General
Notification
Secretary of the Council of Ministers.
167 03.06.200.
ATSH
People’s Advocate: There is no pact with the
Government for the indemnity of the former- Notification
prosecuted people.
168 03.06.2003
ATSH
People’s Advocate: Unification of the basics
for signing the agreement for the
Notification
remuneration of the former political
prosecuted.
169 04.06.2003
DITA
170 04.06.2003
TEMA
171 04.06.2003
SHEKULLI
172 04.06.2003
ZERI
POPULLIT
173 04.06.2003
PANORAMA
174 05.06.2003
ATSH
175 06.06.2003
"55"
176 11.06.2003
BALLKAN
177 12.06.2003
ATSH
178 13.06.2003
ZERI
POPULLIT
179 13.06.2003
KOHA JONE
180 13.06.2003
SOT
181 17.06.2003
ATSH
182 20.06.2003
TEMA
183 21.06.2003
SOT
184 24.06.2003
Gazeta
SHQIPTARE
185 June 2003
Reviste
People’s Advocate: Law is law.
SHPRESE No.5
Former-prosecuted, “OK” the proposals of
Notification
the Government.
People’s Advocate protects the deputy,
Notification
Metko.
Drafting of the pact between Government
Notification
and former-prosecuted.
People’s Advocate: Unification of the basics
I for signing the agreement for the
Notification
remuneration of the former political
prosecuted
People’s Advocate is helping the unification
Notification
of the requests of the former-prosecuted
People’s Advocate, Dobjani meets with
representatives of the minority parties in the
Notification
framework of the negotiations regarding the
former-prosecuted.
Minority parties asking to the People’s
Advocate information about the negotiations Notification
on the former-prosecuted.
People’s Advocate and High Stet Control
Notification
cooperate on the pensions
People’s Advocate: Minister of State
discusses with the representatives of the Notification
associations of the former-prosecuted.
People’s Advocate continues to do the
I
mediator between Government and former- Notification
prosecuted.
Klosi and Dobjani meet with the formerNotification
prosecuted
Former-prosecuted asking for help to the
Notification
People’s Advocate.
People’s
Advocate
recommends
the
application of the law “On Mental Health” at Notification
the Psychiatric Hospital in Tirana.
How People’s Advocate “opens” the letters
Notification
of citizens
Letters of the People’s Advocate have been
Notification
stolen.
People’s Advocate on the Civil State.
210
Pronunciation
Interview
Harallamb Bano
186 01.07.2003
Gazeta
SHQIPTARE
187 04.07.2003
Panorama
188 04.07.2003
ZERI
POPULLIT
189 08.07.2003
ATSH
190 15.07.2003
Gazeta
SHQIPTARE
191 16.07.2003
Koha Jone
192 19.07.2003
SHEKULLI
193 19.07.2003
ZERI
POPULLIT
194 22.07.2003
SHEKULLI
195 22.07.2003
ZERI
POPULLIT
196 23.07.2003
ALBANIA
197 23.07.2003
KORRIERI
198 23.07.2003
KORRIERI
199 24.07.2003
ALBANIA
200 25.07.2003
ATSH
201 26.07.2003
TEMA
202 26.07.02003
BALLKAN
203 26.07.2003
DITA
204 26.07.2003
ATSH
205 26.07.2003
KOHA JONE
206 27.07.2003
SOT
Family of Petrit Lleshi to the People’s
Advocate: Police exercised violence against Notification
our sons”.
Declaration of the People’s Advocate,
Dobjani. The control took place without the Pronunciation
presence of the delegation
I People’s Advocate investigates the Rinas
Pronunciation
police.
Law “On the Rights and Treatment of
convicted”, another opportunity to protect Notification
human rights.
Sick
prisoners,
“hostage”
their
Article
accommodation.
People’s Advocate on a transparent law on
Pronunciation
press.
People’s Advocate: The law that has never Interview
been implemented.
Brizida Gjikondi
I
People’s Advocate: How are violated the
court’s decrees and how the offices Pronunciation
perform their job.
A tragic divorce, the price is paid by
children. A recent case has been brought to Pronunciation
the People’s Advocate.
I People’s Advocate: “Children’s interests
Pronunciation
take priority.
People’s Advocate: We protect you from Interview
outside.
A.Lazebeu
600 complaints for rankings to the People’s Pronunciation
Advocate.
S. Nushi
People’s Advocate incites the administration Pronunciation
to be open to media.
S. Nushi
People’s Advocate helps citizens for the
Pronunciation
services provided by KESH and Albtelecom.
People’s Advocate initiates the new contract
Pronunciation
between KESH and consummators.
People’s Advocate proposes a new contract
with KESH, which will guarantee more rights
to citizens and prevent the abuse from the Pronunciation
state while drafting the contract with
consummators.
People’s Advocate: New contract with
Pronunciation
KESH.
People’s Advocate and KESH, contract to
Pronunciation
help citizens.
People’s Advocate institution put un end to Pronunciation
the anxiety of a mother from Elbasan.
Ymer Hasani
Due to the People’s Advocate, now I ma Pronunciation
convinced of my death after 11 years ago.
Ymer Hasani
People’s Advocate exposes a forgotten Pronunciation
case.
Ymer Hasani
211
207 27.07.2003
KORRIERI
208 27.07.2003
REPUBLIKA
209 27.07.2003
DITA
210 27.07.2003
KOHA JONE
211 30.07.2003
SHEKULLI
212 31.07.2003
BALLKAN
213 31.07.2003
PANORAMA
214 10.08.2003
Gazeta
SHQIPTARE
215 12.08.2003
216 13.08.2003
217 14.08.2003
Gazeta
SHQIPTARE
Gazeta
SHQIPTARE
ZERI
POPULLIT
218 16.08.2003
ALBANIA
219 18.08.2003
220 19.08.2003
222 19.08.2003
KOHA JONE
KORRIERI
Gazeta
SHQIPTARE
REPUBLIKA
223 19.08.2003
REPUBLIKA
224 19.08.2003
KOHA JONE
225 19.08.2003
ALBANIA
226 19.08.2003
Gazeta RD
227 19.08.2003
SOT
228 19.08.2003
TEMA
229 19.08.2003
ZERI
POPULLIT
230 20.08.2003
BALLKAN
231 22.08.2003
BALLKAN
221 19.08.2003
Dobjani’s investigation convinces mother on Pronunciation
the death of her child.
Ymer Hasani
People’s
Advocate:
11years
of
Pronunciation
investigations to reveal the death of a 13
Ymer Hasani
years old girl.
Pronunciation
Dobjani: Your daughter is dead.
Ymer Hasani
Lleshi brothers refuse to meet with experts Pronunciation
of the People’s Advocate in prison.
Sotiraq Nushi
Finally they found a compromise.
Pronunciation
People’s Advocate: New contract with
Pronunciation
Albtelecom
Student of foreign languages complaints to
Article
the People’s Advocate
Death of the driver: tomorrow the dossier to
Article
the People’s Advocate.
People’s Advocate visits the family of the
Article
dead driver.
Death of driver: the family talks to the
Article
People’s Advocate.
I People’s Advocate assesses the relations
Pronunciation
with the general Prosecutor’s Office.
People’s Advocate, new law for the
Article
convicted.
No vacation for people with concerns.
Article
Dobjani: Sanctions for the violation of laws. Notification
Dobjani: Those who violate laws should be
Notification
out of electoral commissions.
Dobjani, now a solution for "ALSAT"
Pronunciation
Celibashi and Dobjani reach an agreement
Notification
on the commissioners.
People’s Advocate suggests to Celibashi the
Notification
pre-electoral proposals.
People’s Advocate recommends KQZ:
Notification
Exclude the offenders of the law.
Dobjani asks Celibashi not to include in the
lists of commissioners those that are Notification
suspected of manipulations.
People’s Advocate asks KQZ to verify the
Notification
commissioners.
Dobjani: Offenders of the law out of the
Pronunciation
counting vote-process.
I People’s Advocate recommends to KQZ to
Notification
draft a new decree on the voters.
People’s Advocate welcomes people’s
Notification
complaints.
“Mother Teresa” sisters free of accusation
fro the loss of a baby (Investigation Pronunciation
conducted by the People’s Advocate).
212
People’s Advocate: Electoral lists, the dead
Article
are alive!
7000 dead people in the lists.
Pronunciation
People’s Advocate addressed to the civil
state offices to take out of the dead from Pronunciation
their lists.
232 27.08.2003
REPUBLIKA
233 27.08.2003
KORRIERI
234 27.08.2003
TEMA
235 27.08.2003
BALLKAN
People’s Advocate: Civil state offices should
Interview
be involved with the electoral lists.
236 27.08.2003
SOT
Dobjani: Write off the dead from the lists.
Pronunciation
People’s Advocate: Vote of the dead.
Pronunciation
Dobjani: 4000 dead in the electoral lists.
Press
Conference
237 27.08.2003
238 27.08.2003
239 27.08.2003
Gazeta
SHQIPTARE
Gazeta
SHQIPTARE
ZERI
POPULLIT
240 27.08.2003
ZERI
POPULLIT
241 27.08.2003
SHEKULLI
242 27.08.2003
KOHA JONE
243 27.08.2003
Gazeta RD
I
Unnecessary and alarming a public
declaration of the People’s Advocate for Pronunciation
having a lot of dead in the electoral lists.
Ferdinand Pone: "Since the People’s
Advocate has promised that these elections
I
should not bee administered by the theft of Pronunciation
votes, he should conduct investigations
against the officials.
People’s
Advocate
denounces
the
Pronunciation
irregularity in the voter’ lists.
People’s Advocate confirms the irregularities
Article
in the voter’ lists.
People’s Advocate asks for immediate
Notification
action to ameliorate the electoral register.
244 27.08.2003
GAZETA "55"
Over 8000 dead are still in the voter’ lists,
meantime the Minister of Local Government
Article
and Decentralization, Ben Blushi is trying to
hide such a scandal.
245 03.09.2003
Gazeta
ShQIPTARE
People’s Advocate: fewer complaints toward
Article
the city hall to our office.
246 07.09.2003
KOHA JONE
Mother of the boatman addressed to the
People’s Advocate, Ermir Dobjani: “Help me Article
to find my son in the prisons of Montenegro”.
247 August 2003
Tribuna Juridike Accountability of the investigation of the Article
(Nr.43)
citizen under arrest.
Hasani
Ymer
248 15.09.2003
ATSH
People’s Advocate meets at his office with
the Ambassador, Mr. Robert Barry, Head of
Notification
the OSCE/ODIHR Mission on monitoring the
local elections in 2003.
249 18.09.2003
ATSH
People’s
Advocate
Institution
starts
Pronunciation
investigation of the maltreatment of the three
Artur Lazebeu
Albanian immigrants in Greece.
213
250 18.09.2003
PANORAMA
251 19.09.2003
SHEKULLI
252 19.09.2003
KOHA JONE
253 19.09.2003
Gazeta "55"
254 19.09.2003
Gazeta "RD"
255 19.09.2003
ZERI
POPULLIT
256 19.09.2003
KORRIERI
257 19.09.2003
DITA
258 19.09.2003
SOT
259 19.09.2003
ATSH
260 20.09.2003
ALBANIA
261 21.09.2003
KORRIERI
262 26.09.2003
ALBANIA
263 26.09.2003
264 26.09.2003
265 27.09.2003
ZERI
POPULLIT
DITA
Gazeta
SHQIPTARE
People’s Advocate starts investigation on Pronunciation
immigrants.
Artur Lazebeu
Pronunciation
Immigrants, case is being judged in Greece.
Artur Lazebeu
"Summer students" complaints to the
Notification
People’s Advocate.
Maltreatment of three Albanian immigrants
is being investigated by the People’s Pronunciation
Advocate.
People’s Advocate, investigation for the
Pronunciation
maltreatment of immigrants.
People’s Advocate initiates the investigation
of
maltreatment
of
three
Albanian Article
immigrants in Greece
People’s
Advocate
investigates
the
maltreatment of the three immigrants, Notification
Protest of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Dobjani investigated the violence against
Notification
immigrants.
Pronunciation
Investigation for biting the immigrants.
Artur Lazebeu
People’s Advocate confirms the inaction Pronunciation
from the police.
Artur Lazebeu
Investigations of the People’s Advocate
Pronunciation
confirm the inaction of the Albanian police.
Police doesn’t comply with the decrees
Article
regarding the treatment of the immigrants.
People’s Advocate, another investigation on
Article
the Greek victims.
I People’s Advocate on the maltreatment of
Article
the immigrants from the Greek police
Dobjani starts investigation in Devoll.
Article
Assassination of Bytyci; People’s Advocate Pronunciation
is building a case for the Greek prosecutors. Artur Lazebeu
People’s Advocate become acquainted of
the event and the Greek version of the Article
assassination of the 18years old
Dobjani in Kapshtice for the assassination of
Pronunciation
the Albanian.
Croatian President, Mesic, welcomes
Notification
Dobjani.
I People’s Advocate meets with his Croatian
Notification
homologue.
I
266 27.09.2003
Gazeta RD
267 27.09.2003
ALBANIA
268 29.09.2003
ATSH
269 30.09.2003
ZERI
POPULLIT
270 September 2003
Revista te drejtat Human Rights
e njeriut
democracy.
271 30.09.2003
Gazeta "55"
Dobjani, meeting with Klaric
Notification
272 01.10.2003
ATSH
Book on the Albanian prisoners abroad.
Notification
273 03.10.2003
ATSH
Albanian consummator is not protected by
Pronunciation
state administration.
214
–
Core
stone
of
the Interview
Ermir Dobjani
274 07.10.2003
KOHA JONE
People’s Advocate seeks for help from Luan
Rama and Spiro Peci to protect the common Pronunciation
people.
275 07.10.2003
KORRIERI
People’s Advocate: Ministers, respect the
Pronunciation
children.
276 07.10.2003
DITA
People’s Advocate addressed to two
ministers to respect the children of the Pronunciation
divorced parents.
277 07.10.2003
ATSH
278 08.10.2003
BALLKAN
279 08.10.2003
SOT
280 08.10.2003
KOHA JONE
People’s Advocate meets with families of the Pronunciation
victims of the Greek police.
Ermir Dobjani
Pronunciation
Dobjani meets with Vullnet Bytyci family.
Ermir Dobjani
People’s Advocate meets the relatives of the
Notification
assassinated immigrant.
Dobjani meets with Bytyci family.
Notification
281 08.10.2003
Gazeta
SHQIPTARE
Assassinated immigrant. Dobjani: Indemnity Pronunciation
for the family.
Ermir Dobjani
282 08.10.2003
ALBANIA
283 08.10.2003
ZERI
POPULLIT
284 08.10.2003
Gazeta "RD"
285 08.10.2003
GAZETA "55"
286 08.10.2003
SHEKULLI
287 15.10.2003
BALLKAN
288 21.10.2003
ATSH
289 05.11.2003
Gazeta
SHQIPTARE
People’s
Advocate
investigates
treatment of Imelda in prison.
290 05.11.2003
ATSH
People’s Advocate on the inspection of the
Burrel prison, after the complaint of several Notification
prisoners.
291 05.11.2003
ATSH
292 05.11.2003
ALBANIA
293 06.11.2003
ZERI
POPULLIT
294 06.11.2003
ALBANIA
295 06.11.2003
KOHA JONE
Dobjani: "Punishment for the assassination Pronunciation
of Bytyci”.
Ermir Dobjani
I People’s Advocate meets with the family of
Notification
the Greek victim, Vullnet Bytyci.
People’s Advocate claims the responsibility Pronunciation
of the Greek authorities.
Ermir Dobjani
People’s Advocate meets with the family of
Notification
Vullnet Bytyçi
People’s
Advocate:
The
Albanian
ambassador in Greece should follow the Notification
case.
After 8 years in prison, Shkelzen Kodra
requests the help of the People’s Advocate Pronunciation
to find his daughter, who was 1 year and a Iljaz Çeço
half when he went to prison.
People’s Advocate, member of the
Administrative Council of the Association of Notification
the Francophone Ombudsmen.
the
Notification
People’s Advocate meets with the accused,
Tasho. The right to have an attorney has not Notification
been denied.
People’s Advocate, no solution for the
Notification
orphans.
I People’s
Advocate
meets
with
the
Notification
suspected, Tasho.
People’s Advocate reports about the
Notification
meeting with the girlfriend of Altin Arapi.
People’s Advocate, meeting with the fiancée Notification
215
296 06.11.2003
SOT
297 06.11.2003
SHEKULLI
298 06.11.20031
BALLKAN
Gazeta
SHQIPTARE
Gazeta
SHQIPTARE
299 07.11.2003
300 07.11.2003
of Altin Arapi.
"People’s Advocate" meets with Imelda
Notification
Tashon.
People’s Advocate, Imelda Tasho is being
Notification
treated well.
People’s Advocate visits Imelda in prison.
Notification
People’s Advocate: Violence in Burrel.
Notification
People’s Advocate investigates the case of
Notification
the dismissed students.
Scandal in Burrel prison. Dobjani presents Notification
the rapport.
People’s Advocate denounces the head of
the
prison:
violence
and
regional Notification
discrimination.
Notification
People’s Advocate “suspects” Imelda.
301 08.11.2003
REPUBLIKA
302 08.11.2003
SHEKULLI
303 08.11.2003
KORRIERI
304 04.12.2003
ATSH
Office for the Protection of Citizens, petition
to the People’s Advocate on the increase of Notification
the telephone rates.
305 05.12.2003
ATSH
Press
People’s Advocate starts investigation Conference
against Albtelekom for new telephone rates.
306 06.12.2003
ZERI
POPULLIT
307 06.12.2003
ALBANIA
308 06.12.2003
KOHA JONE
309
SHEKULLI
06.12.2003
310 08.12.2003
BALLKAN
311 10.12.2003
SHEKULLI
312 10.12.2003
ATSH
313 10.12.2003
DITA
314 10.12.2003
ALBANIA
315 10.12.2003
BALLKAN
316 10.12.2003
SHEKULLI
317 10.12.2003
KOHA JONE
I People’s Advocate starts investigation
Notification
against Telecom for new telephone rates.
Initiated by the Office for the Protection of
Citizens,
People’s
Advocate
starts Notification
investigation against Albtelekom.
Dobjani: "Investigation on Albtelekom”.
Article
People’s Advocate: Albtelekom, starts
investigation on the increase of telephone Article
rates.
People’s
Advocate:
Draft-Contract
of Article
Albtelekom contains substantial handicaps.
People’s Advocate proposes: Academic Article
team, an opposition to KESH.
People’s Advocate, Dobjani meets with
Academic, Popa, regarding the improvement Notification
of the public services.
Director of KESH, Harasani, consults with Article
the People’s Advocate.
People’s Advocate: Increase of the Article
electricity rates demands transparence.
Harasani, Dobjani and Spahiu discuss on
the procedures applying in the increase of Article
the electricity rates.
People’s Advocate: Respect of law and Notification
transparence
People’s Advocate, Dobjani requested
yesterday that some categories should be Article
excluded by this decision.
216
318 10.12.2003
TEMA
319 10.12.2003
EKONOMIA
320 10.12.2003
SOT
321 11.12.2003
SHEKULLI
322 16.12.2003
REPUBLIKA
323 18.12.2003
ATSH
324 18.12.2003
REPUBLIKA
325 18.12.2003
KOHA JONE
326 18.12.2003
ALBANIA
327 18.12.2003
KORRIERI
328 18.12.2003
"55"
329 18.12.2003
DITA
330 18.12.2003
331 18.12.2003
Gazeta
SHQIPTARE
ZERI
POPULLIT
332 18.12.2003
R.D.
333 18.12.2003
SHEKULLI
334 19.12.2003
ATSH
335 24.12.2003
ZERI
POPULLIT
336 24.12.2003
BALLKAN
337 24.12.2003
REPUBLIKA
Gazeta
SHQIPTARE
338 24.12.2003
339 24.12.2003
SHEKULLI
340 24.12.2003
KOHA JONE
Andis Harasani and Ermir Dobjani discuss Article
on the increase of the electricity rates.
Increasing the electricity rates should needs Article
transparence.
Harasani, Dobjani and Spahiu on the Notification
increase of the electricity rates.
People’s Advocate – Science Academy: Article
Ready for contesting KESH.
Notification
People’s Advocate, urgent investigation.
National conference organized by People’s
Advocate and Albanian Helsinki Committee Notification
on “The execution of the court decisions”.
Elevated electricity rates to the people’s Article
Advocate office.
People’s Advocate, investigation on the new
rates of Telecom and KESH. Experts Notification
investigate the rates.
Experts on the increase of rates of Notification
Albtelecom and KESH.
Experts investigate the increase of rates Notification
from KESH and Albtelecom.
Dobjani: Experts for the increase of rates Notification
from KESH and Albtelekom
Advocate Dobjani meets with Harasani and
Noti: "There would be an inspection in your Notification
institutions”.
People’s Advocate: Experts
KESH and Albtelecom
investigate
Notification
I People’s Advocate set up expert groups to
Notification
investigate the rates of Telecom and KESH.
People’s Advocate: Experts should examine Notification
the rates.
People’s Advocate: Hoda – How are we Article
going to monitor KESH?
People’s Advocate observes that the
common people are disappointed by the Notification
bailiff’s office
I The opponent team says no the new rates of
Pronunciation
the electricity.
People’s Advocate: The evaluation of the Notification
services fees should be made by KESH.
Pronunciation
Ermir Dobjani: "I must protect citizens”.
Group of experts of the People’s Advocate: Article
Agree but decrease of the upper rates.
Academics: 12 points that the contested Article
group presented to the People’s Advocate.
People’s Advocate before justice in a Article
complaint for injustice.
217
No. INSTITUTION
DATE
BROADCAST
1
NEWS 24
01.01.2003
PA: I represent the interests of the Interview
residents
Ermir Dobjani
2
TVSH; TVA; Shijak
09.01.2003
TV; TNSH.
PA: Stop violence from police
Pronunciation
3
TV Gjeli
14.01.2003
PA in Iceberg.
Program
Jorgo Dhrami
4
Vizion +
15.01.2003
PA and contracts with KESH and Program
Water pipeline
Brizida Gjikondi
5
KTV
15.01.2003
PA, General Prosecutor’s Office and Program
Police.
Sotiraq Nushi
6
Zeri i Amerikes
15.01.2003
PA in Human Rights rapport.
7
TVSH;Top Channel
TNSH;Vizion+ TVA; 16.01.2003
KLAN ;
PA and General Prosecutor’s Office
Press Conference
should coordinate their actions.
8
Radio
Lire".
16.01.2003
PA on the situation of human rights.
9
Zeri i Amerikes
16.01.2003
PA on the rapport of Human Rights Interview
Watch.
Ermir Dobjani
10
TVSH; TNSH; Top
Channel;
TVA; 17.01.2003
Vizion+; TV Klan
PA meets with the Director of KESH.
Interview
Citizens and KESH – mutual
Ermir Dobjani
obligations.
11
TV KLAN
20.01.2003
PA and General Prosecutor’s Office Interview
reveal the truth on Tahirllari case.
Jorgo Dhrami
12
TV Alsat
23.01.2003
PA and the issues with police.
13
TVSH, TVA,TNSH
28.01.2003
PA meets with the Ombudsmen of
Notification
Balkans.
14
TV Alsat
30.01.2003
PA on respecting rights of minors.
Interview
Jorgo Dhrami
15
TNSH
30.01.2003
PA in the civic forum of Kavaja
Notification
16
TVSH,
TVA,
31.01.2003
News24,TNSH
American Ambassador, thank
note to PA.
17
Radio Tirana
Promotion of the book: Legal acts in Program
protection of the prisoners abroad.
Ervin Karamuço
"Europa
e
15.02.2003
218
PRESENTATION
Notification
Interview
Ermir Dobjani
Interview
Jorgo Dhrami
you
Notification
18
TVSH, TNSH, Real
19.02.2003
TV, TVA TV Koha
American Ambassador
People’s Advocate.
19
TVSH, TNSH, TVA,
20.02.2003
Real TV
American Ambassador: Prevention of
Notification
the conflict, people-police.
20
TVSH, TV Koha,
27.02.2003
Radio Tirana
American Ambassador appreciates
Notification
the People’s Advocate contribution.
21
TV Teuta
05.03.2003
22
NEWS 24
09.03.2003
23
Vizion +
11.03.2003
24
News 24
11.03.2003
25
Top Channel
14.03.2003
26
TV Shijak
17.03.2003
PA and the European Convention on
Notification
the Human Rights.
27
Vizion+Alsat
18.03.2003
Seminar of PA with CE on the
Notification
convention.
28
Top
Channel,
TNSH, TV Shijak, 19.03.2003
Vizion+
PA
receives
Ambassador.
29
TNSH
PA improves the contracts with KESH.
30
TV Klan, News 24,
20.03.2003
TNSH
31
TV KOHA
21.03.2003
32
Vizion+
21.03.2003
33
TV KLAN
21.03.2003
34
TV Publik Gjerman
31.03.2003
ARD
35
TV Shijak
01.04.2003
36
Radio ALSAT
02.04.2003
37
BBC
13.04.2003
38
Radio Gollos Rosii 13.04.2003
39
TV Mir
13.04.2003
40
Eho TV
13.04.2003
19.03.2003
thanks the
Pronunciation
American Ambassador appreciates
the cooperation with the People’s Pronunciation
Advocate.
American Ambassador sent a thank
Notification
you note to PA.
PA Condemns the corruption in the
Pronunciation
police.
PA denounces two policemen for
Notification
corruption
Program
PA in “Albanian”.
Ermir Dobjani
the
American
Notification
Pronunciation
Brizida Gjikondi
Family of Tahirllari expresses its trust
Pronunciation
to the PA.
Interview
Why Tahirllari family revisits PA?
Jorgo Dhrami
Policemen should be given over time Pronunciation
payment.
Sotiraq Nushi
Pronunciation
We will help the Tahirllari family.
Jorgo Dhrami
Albanian
Ombudsman
made Program
recommendations for Vendetta.
Ermir Dobjani
PA, ready to accept complaints from Pronunciation
police.
Sotiraq Nushi
People’s Advocate comments on the Interview
Rapport of the State Department.
Ermir Dobjani
Albanian
Ombudsman,
meetings in Moscow.
Albanian
Ombudsman,
meetings in Moscow.
Albanian
Ombudsman,
meetings in Moscow.
Albanian
Ombudsman,
meetings in Moscow.
219
official
official
official
official
Notification
Notification
Pronunciation
Press Conference
41
Top Channel
17.04.2003
People’s Advocate: The registers of Pronunciation
civil state need regulation.
Brizida Gjikondi
42
Gjeli Vizion
19.04.2003
People’s Advocate on the Law on the
Program
Right to Information of the Official
Artur Lazebeu
Documents.
43
TVSH; TNSH; Real
23.04.2003
TV; Alba TV
44
TVSH; TNSH
24.04.2003
45
ALSAT
27.04.2003
46
Radio Europa e Lire 27.04.2003
47
TNSH; TV-Teuta
29.04.2003
48
ALSAT
10.05.2003
49
ALSAT
12.05.2003
50
TVSH; TVA; Real
27.05.2003
TV; TNSH
People’s Advocate meets with a
mission of the association of the Notification
former-prosecuted.
51
Top
TNSH;
News 24
Prime
Minister
asks
for
the
intermediation
of
the
People’s Pronunciation
Advocate with the former-prosecuted.
52
Top Channel; TVA;
29.05.2003
TNSH; TVSH
53
Vizion +
01.06.2003
54
TVSH,
Vizion +
02.06.2003
55
TVSH,
Vizion +
56
NEWS 24
03.06.2003
57
NEWS 24, TVSH
03.06.2003
58
TVSH
12.06.2003
People’s Advocate: State Minister
discusses with representatives of the Notification
associations of the former-prosecuted.
59
TVA
12.06.2003
People’s Advocate: State Minister
discusses with representatives of the Notification
associations of the former-prosecuted
Channel;
TVSH; 28.05.2003
TNSH,
03.06.2003
President Moisiu award to the
People’s
Advocate
the
“Naim Notification
Frasheri” medal.
People’s Advocate meets with the
Notification
Macedonian Ombudsman.
As Ombudsmen we should support Interview E.Dobjani,
each other institutionally.
B.Naumovski
The biggest obstacle comes from the Interview
General Prosecutor’s Office.
Ermir Dobjani
Proposed by the people’s Advocate,
President
Moisiu
awards
the Notification
representative of the DANIDA.
The assessment of the human rights
situation in the country by the Notification
People’s Advocate.
People’s Advocate on the immigrants. Notification
People’s Advocate, the representative
of the Government and the former– Notification
prosecuted start negotiations.
Agenda of the People’s Advocate in
Interview
the beginning of 2003.
People’s Advocate continues to
Notification
negotiate with the former-prosecuted.
People’s Advocate transmits to the
Prime Minister the concerns of the Notification
former-prosecuted.
People’s Advocate: Unification of the Interview
former-prosecuted requests.
Artur Lazebeu
People’s Advocate: No pact, but unified
Interview
requests to the Government.
Ermir Dobjani
220
People’s Advocate: State Minster
discusses with representatives of the Notification
associations of the former-prosecuted
60
TV.KLAN
12.06.2003
61
TV.KOHA
24.06.2003
62
Top Chanel
24.06.2003
63
TV Shijak
25.06.2003
People’s Advocate: The mental
Pronunciation
patients should be kept in appropriate
Harallmb Bano
places.
64
TVA
10.07.2003
Changes of the law on the prisoners
Interview
grant more access for the People’s
Harallamb Bano
Advocate.
65
Top Chanel
17.07.2003
66
Zeri i Amerikes
18.07.2003
67
TV Klan
28.07.2003
68
ALSAT
18.08.2003
69
ALSAT
18.08.2003
70
TNSH,
TVA,
18.08.2003
ALSAT, TV.Shijak
71
TVSH
18.08.2003
72
Radio Tirana
19.08.2003
73
BBC
19.08.2003
74
TVSH,
KLAN,
Top Chanel, News
26.08.2003
24,
TV.
Koha,
TV. Teuta, etc.
People’s Advocate requests the
Pronunciation
writing off of the dead from the
Ermir Dobjani
electoral lists.
75
TVSH, Top Chanel,
15.09.2003
News 24,
People’s
Advocate
and
the
Ambassador Robert Berry, Head of
the Mission of the OSCE/ODIHR on Notification
the monitoring of local elections 2003
in our country.
76
Top
News 24
77
TV.Koha
78
Real
Top Chanel
79
Vizion +
Chanel,
17.09.2003
18.09.2003
TV,
19.09.2003
24.09.2003
People’s Advocate on the registers of Pronunciation
civil state.
Brizida Gjikondi
People’s Advocate: The arrested Pronunciation
people shouldn’t be exposed the face. Alket Jaupi
People’s Advocate in protection of the Interview
children rights.
Brizida Gjikondi
People’s Advocate on the struggle on Interview
corruption.
Ermir Dobjani
People’s
Advocate:
On
the Interview
maltreatment from police.
Jorgo Dhrami
Pronunciation
Nobody above the court decision.
Ermir Dobjani
Pronunciation
KESH – New contracts with citizens.
Ermir Dobjani
Offender of the law out of the electoral
Notification
commissions.
People’s
Advocate
willing
to
Interview
contribute in the well-administration of
Ermir Dobjani
the electoral process
People’s Advocate on the electoral Interview
commissions.
Ermir Dobjani
People’s Advocate: Offenders of the Interview
law out of the electoral commissions. Ermir Dobjani
People’s Advocate investigates the
Pronunciation
maltreatment of the immigrants from
Ermir Dobjani
the Greek police.
Dossiers should be transmitted to the Pronunciation
Greek homologue.
Artur Lazebeu
People’s Advocate reaffirms the Pronunciation
passivity of the police.
Artur Lazebeu
People’s
Advocate:
Ways
of Interview
complaining
of
the
maltreated Artur Lazebeu
immigrants.
221
immigrants.
29.09.2003
People’s
Advocate
Croatian homologue.
meets
with
80
TV.KLAN
81
TVSH,
TNSH,
01.10.2003
TV.Klan,
Top Chanel
Book on
abroad.
82
TVSH,
TNSH,
Tv.Klan, TVA, Top 07.10.2003
Chanel, News 24
People’s Advocate receives the family
Pronunciation
of the assassinated Bytyci from the
Ermir Dobjani
Greek police.
83
TV. Alsat
21.10.2003
State, People’s Advocate, Civil
Interview
Society on the protection of the rights
Artur Lazebeu
of immigrants.
84
TV.Klan
31.10.2003
Case of the orphanage "Zyber Hallulli"
85
Radio +2
19.11.2003
86
Top Chanel
21.11.2003
87
Top Chanel
26.11.2003
88
TVSH, TVA, Top
Chanel,
TV.Klan,
05.12.2003
TNSH, Radio Zeri
Amerikes
People’s Advocate starts investigation Press
Conference
on the rates of Albtelecom.
Ermir Dobjani
89
TV 1
People’s
explications
Albtelecom.
90
TVSH, TVA, Top
Chanel,
TV.Klan,
09.12.2003
TNSH,
Vizion +,
News 24
People’s Advocate and CAO on the
Press Conference
rates of KESH.
91
TV. Koha
09.12.2003
People’s
Advocate
on
Albtelekom and pensions.
92
TVA
10.12.2003
Message of the People’s Advocate on
Pronunciation
the International Date of Human
Ermir Dobjani
Rights.
93
TVA, Alsat, Top
Chanel,
TNSH, 10.12.2003
News 24, etc.
People’s Advocate demands the
opinion of the Science Academy on Notification
the public services.
94
TVSH, TVA, Top
Chanel,
TV.Klan, 17.12.2003
TNSH, Vizion +,
Dobjani, Harasani and Noti meet with
experts on the increase of the rates Notification
from KESH and Albtelecom.
95
TVA,
Alsat,
Vizion +, TNSH, 19.12.2003
Real TV, TV.Teuta
People’s Advocate – Bailiffs” Office,
national conference.
Notification
08.12.2003
the
Albanian
prisoners
Notification
Notification
Pronunciation
Anila Nepravishta
People’s Advocate confronts with the
Interview
international organizations on the
Artur Lazebeu
maltreatment of Albanians.
People’s Advocate on the convicted
Programi
without a translator by the Greek
SHQIP
tribunals.
People’s Advocate addressed to the
Interview
international organizations about the
Ermir Dobjani
Albanian immigrants abroad.
222
Advocate
on
the
demands
Pronunciation
rates
of
Artur Lazebeu
KESH, Interview
Ermir Dobjani
96
Vizion +
24.12.2003
97
TVSH, Klan, Top
Chanel, Vizion +, 24.12.2003
Alsat, etc.
People’s Advocate during 2003.
Program
Artur Lazebeu
People’s Advocate presents to ERE
the recommendations of the experts Notification
on KESH.
223
Summarized statistics of media coverage for the year 2003
WRITTEN MEDIA
Articles
162
Pronouncements
68
Notifications
Interviews
Press Conferences
Total
Notifications
Interviews
Press Conferences
Total
6
101
3
340
ELECTRONIC MEDIA
Articles
33
Pronouncements
25
26
9
4
97
Note:
The problem-range of interventions by the People'
s Advocate is evident even from the headlines judged appropriate to be included in the
respective statistics. However, the scope of activity is more comprehensive than what has been provided here, since there are other
resolved issues, which the People'
s Advocate has decided not to publicize. See statistics in the respective sections.
224
Complaints handled during 2003
Total 2,767
767
or 28 %
2000
or 72 %
Complaints received during 2003,
without including 1,633 complaints
responded immediately
Complaints pending from 2002
225
Manner of resolving the complaints completed during year 2003, despite being within or
beyond our jurisdiction
Total 2,254
159 or 7%
480
or 21%
844
771
or 34%
or 38%
Beyond jurisdiction
Groundless
In Favor
Re-Archived
226
Manner of resolving the complaints within our jurisdiction during 2003
Total 1,410
159 or 11%
480
771
or 34 %
or 55 %
Groundless
In Favor
Re-Archived
227
Situation of complaints at the end of 2003
Total 2,767
513 or 19%
2254
or 81%
Complaints completed during
2003
Complaints under examination in
2004
228
Complaints and Request submitted orally to the Public Relations Office during 2003
Total 2,160
527
or 24%
Complaints and requests registered at the Public
Relations Office after submitted in a written form
1633
or 76%
Complants and requests submitted to the Public
Relations Office, and responded immediately,
according to article 17/a and 17/b under the Law
"On People'
s Advocate"
229
Complaints, requests and notifications handled by
the People's Advocate Office during 2003
Total 4,400
2767
1633
Compliants handled during 2003 (2000 from
2003 and 767 pending from 2002)
Complaints submitted to the Public Relations
Office and responded immediately during 2003
230
Assesment of complaints received in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003,
(including those responded immediately)
Total 11,509
4240
3633
2826
810
Complaints received Complaints received Complaints received Complaints received
during 2001
during 2002
during 2003
during the second
half of 2002
231
38
232
Other
2
Secret Services
Ministry of Industry and Energy
15
Ministry of Environment
37
Ministry of Culture, Youth and
Sports
9
Ministry of Transports and
Telecommunications
22
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
53
Ministry of Health
Ministry of Education and
Science
35
Ministry of Finance
23
Ministry of Agriculture and Food
Ministry of Economy
119
Ministry of Territory Regulation
and Tourism
160
Ministry of Labour and Social
Affairs
212
Ministry of Local Government
and Decentralization
122
Ministry of Defence
199
Ministry of Public Order
Public Prosecutor
Judiciary System
Ministry of Justice
Council of Ministers
(Government)
Distribution of complaints according to the governance branches during 2003
Total 2,767
754
347
240
181
141
56
2
35 11 13
9
33
64
10
1
13
47
Ku
ke
Ku s
rb
in
Le
Li zhe
br
az
Lu hd
M sh
M a ll n j
e
al
a
es ka
i e ste
M r
ad
he
M
a
M t
ir d
ite
Pe
q
P e in
r
m
Po
gr et
ad
ec
Pu
Sa ke
ra
n
Sh de
ko
d
Sk er
ra
T e pa
pe r
le
n
Ti e
ra
Tr ne
op
oj
e
Fr
o m V lo
r
e
ab
ro
ad
0
126 144
e
200
uj
400
Kr
Be
r
Bu at
lq
iz
D e
el
vi
n
D e
ev
ol
l
D
ib
er
D
ur
E l re s
ba
sa
n
G
jir Fie
ok r
as
G ter
ra
m
sh
H
a
Ka s
va
K o je
lo
nj
e
Distribution of complaints according to the districts during 2003
Total 3,633
1800
1600
1572
1400
1200
1000
800
600
323
124
207
9
31 33 31 43
120
233
92
7
8
14
9
14
56
97 106
16
140
7
27
13
28
WRITTEN MEDIA IN 2003
Interview
2%
Press Conference
1%
Article
29%
Notification
48%
Pronouncement
20%
234
ELECTRONIC MEDIA IN 2003
Program
9%
Press Conference
4%
Notification
34%
Interview
27%
Pronouncement
26%
235