FLASH
Shkruar nga Arben LlangoziAt the end of the day, the reformed justice system may have changed its logo, may have changed names, and may have been dressed in European vocabulary, but for the average citizen, it is the same as before, only slower, more expensive, and more arrogant.
"Don't talk about reformed justice, because it violates trust, hinders reform and raises concerns about institutional corruption! (55,000 euros as a security measure, decision within an hour)"
In the Tirana of diplomatic speeches, where conferences on justice have become more frequent than court decisions themselves, citizens are asked in authoritarian tones and foreign accents to remain silent.
“Don’t talk about justice, don’t criticize the judiciary, don’t slander prosecutors, because it undermines citizens’ trust in the reformed justice system,” said Alexis Hupin, a representative of the EU Delegation, at an official conference in Tirana in recent days. And he wasn’t the only one who preached silence as a solution to problems.
And they are right, citizens are really seeing results. Some are even seeing them very quickly, as long as they can afford to pay. Example?
A citizen in Saranda, after two years of avoiding justice, surrendered and surprisingly, within 1 hour his security measure was changed from prison arrest to freedom. What defeated the Albanian bureaucracy with this speed? Not reform, not even the law, but a payment of 55,000 euros, of which, according to information, 25,000 euros went to the judge and 30,000 euros to the prosecutor. And it doesn't end there, the citizen was asked to pay another 100,000 euros to ensure innocence in the judicial process. All this, in a system that every day we are told has been reformed, cleansed, strengthened and reborn.
The head of the High Inspectorate of Justice, Artur Metani, for his part, proudly explained that he is cooperating with EU countries to guarantee the independence of magistrates. And in fact, this “independence” is already evident, judges and prosecutors are independent of any responsibility, from any procedural deadline, and even from the citizen himself who has remained hostage to a rotten system. They are free to make decisions according to the price list, to delay files for years, to “clear up” decisions after 24 months and to demand rewards as in a public tender.
In this absurd reality, internationals continue to talk about a “new era of justice”, while citizens are faced with civil cases that last an average of 15 years from First Instance to Appeal. Decisions that are clarified after 2 years, while the fate of properties, families, and children remains in suspense.
Decisions that are openly sold in justice offices, with negotiable prices, according to the type of service, property guarantee? There is a price. Innocence? There is another. Procrastination to tire the other party? That bill also has it.
And when citizens dare to speak out, denounce or report concrete cases, they are immediately declared as “underminers of the reform”. Because in the Albania of the new justice, the problem is not corruption itself, but talking about it. It is not the payment for a favorable decision that is worrying, but the article that shows it. It is not the delayed or bought justice that is dramatic, but the commentary that ironizes it.
Internationals demand that citizens have “trust” in the reform. But how is trust built? With endless delays? With a system that works only for those who have money? With courts that do not provide justice, but sell it with an oral contract? Or with prosecutors who first ask about the source of financing and then about the evidence?
Ironically, instead of a justice system that should protect citizens from corruption, we have built a justice system that is complicit in corruption. No longer a system that fights injustice, but a system that distributes it equally, with the exception of those who have paid the most.
And about this grim reality, citizens are told every day to remain silent. Not to speak. Not to publish. Not to denounce. Because, otherwise, “trust is violated.” Not trust in justice, but trust in the facade that has covered a system that, after 8 years of reform, continues to function like an antique bazaar from the last century.
At the end of the day, the reformed justice system may have changed its logo, may have changed names, and may have been dressed in European vocabulary, but for the average citizen, it is the same as before, only slower, more expensive, and more arrogant.
With one change, now you don't even dare to speak. Because you might violate a "trust" that no one has.
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