ALB
ENG
By Plator Nesturi
Wednesday seems far away. This is the day when parliament will decide the fate of Tahiri MP, by voting in favor or against the powers of the prosecution to investigate him. Nevertheless, positions are clear. The SP and PM Rama, despite expelling the former minister of Interior from the party’s structures and as member of the parliamentary group, they maintained the same stance that was expressed by its MPs in the Committee for Mandates. They are willing to allow the prosecution to make a house search, but not for Tahiri’s arrest. On the other hand, the opposition is still sticking to its position and the leaders of DP and SMI say that they are ready to authorize the prosecution take any action, including the arrest of the former minister.
Amid this situation where the sides launch endless accusations against each other, Tahiri’s case is more likely to be handled like a political case, rather than a case which should be exclusively handled by the judicial system. Even a reaction of the Prosecution of Serious Crimes against the declarations made by the Prime Minister on Tahiri’s case during the meeting of the parliamentary group of the SP, could not escape the political nature of the comments. And in response, the Prime Minister’s office issued an equally political reaction. I don’t know who is responsible for the Prosecution’s statement and who was interested in aggravating the situation between this institution and the political force. In the very least, this would imply that the prosecution was positioning itself.
All these days, despite the debates on how much convincing the case submitted by the Prosecution of Serious Crimes was in the Committee for Mandates, it must be said that that everyone is clear about the fact that it was the political class that unjustly entered in the territory of the justice system. It was evident that the arguments that were used by MPs, although they were referring laws, were mostly political, because this is why they have been elected in parliament. To do politics and uphold their party’s interests. While the declaration issued by the prosecution contained political comments, here, everything seems to become very intricate, because these comments may suit to one side and aggravate the other, while everyone should talk in the language of the law. It would be best if the prosecution offered an unbiased image if, during its reaction against the declaration made by the Prime Minister, it would preserve a legal profile by stressing that it’s the prosecution the one in charge of assessing evidence and not the political class. But, it should do this not by entering a political ground, commenting how much the Prime Minister or anybody else, for that matter, desire the reform in the judicial system. This is a positioning that goes beyond the powers that the law provides and does nothing else but fuel the fire that politics want to keep it going. So, it seems that everyone will intentionally get dirty: politics, justice system and state institutions. Only crime remains clean in its filth.
If it were Wednesday today, Saimir Tahiri would be clear of his fate. He would no longer be an SP lawmaker or an official of this party. He would be investigated, but not under custody. Nonetheless, no surprises can be ruled out. What we notice is an apostolic silence manifested by the international community and many diplomats who have been active on what has happened so far in Albania. It seems that they’re looking to see what the political class and the Albanian justice system will do. It looks as if there will be other surprises. While Tahiri was left alone today and not part of the socialist family, to face the justice system, it seems that with this, certain precaution measures were taken. Whatever comes up later against the former minister, will be an individual responsibility and not a political one, incriminating the SP and the government. A game which still remains a political game, because the political class is not playing in order to save itself and the country from crime, but it’s doing everything it can to save its color and to gain points against the opponent, at a time everyone is responsible in this situation.
Note: The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Albanian Free Press’ editorial policy
