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Former ambassador and career diplomat at the State Department, Jonathan Moore, a very knowledgeable person on developments in the Balkans, has spoken about the 'non grata' status of Democratic Party leader Sali Berisha, who has been on the State Department's blacklist for 4 years, along with members of his family.
Moore emphasizes that the sanctions against former Prime Minister Sali Berisha were imposed without concrete evidence, but based on rumors, forwarded by the US embassy in Tirana to Washington. However, Moore explains that the 'non grata' sanctions against the corrupt were imposed during the first Trump administration.
Following an exclusive interview with A2Cnn, Ambassador Moore states that the new Albanian Parliament has the power to intervene in Washington regarding the lifting of the "non grata" for Berisha. And referring to this logic, it seems that the power to lift the "non grata" for Berisha lies with the Parliament controlled by Edi Rama, or a review of American legislation is needed.
"This legislation that created this type of sanction was established during the first Trump administration in 2018 and was an attempt to find a more efficient way to impose sanctions on people accused of corruption," Moore said.
He believes that the program for declaring politicians "non grata" has many flaws and should be reviewed.
"Unfortunately, in my personal opinion, there have been several key problems with this legislation. The first is precisely the burden of proof. These sanctions require facts, details, legal arguments and financial transactions that are blocked both by the US, but also through the US. These sanctions, through the State Department, introduced in 2018, seem to be supported mainly by allegations of corruption. So, the first person told the second person, who told the embassy that someone was corrupt. Then, there was also a rush to put several people under sanctions. Mr. Berisha is not the only one in Albania and the subject of these sanctions," Moore told A2 CNN.
The former American diplomat further emphasizes that since this happened in 2018 and we are 7 years behind, and there are many people in the world who are on that list who have never been investigated, serious questions arise regarding the validity of the sanctions.
"Of course they can be challenged and a second problem with this legislation is that there is no objection process or to see if someone has made a positive contribution to the interests of the United States," Moore said.
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