As it had warned, the socialist majority overwhelmingly rejected the Special Prosecution's request to authorize an arrest warrant against former Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku, while the opposition protested outside the Parliament.
A metal cordon and dozens of police officers and armored vehicles surrounded the perimeter of the Parliament building and the surrounding streets on Thursday, as a plenary session was underway on the immunity of MP Belinda Balluku, former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure and Energy, who has been charged with the criminal offense of repeatedly violating equality in tenders.
While opposition supporters were protesting outside the Parliament with calls against corruption and the government, the socialist majority in the hall, as it had warned, came to Balluku's defense by rejecting the Special Prosecution's request for her arrest. With 82 votes against, including that of Prime Minister Edi Rama who led the political defense of his associate, SPAK's request was rejected by the Parliament on Thursday after having dragged on for almost three months.
Balluku himself was absent from the session, waiving his right to speak before the deputies. Deputy Ulsi Manja from the Socialist Party read the majority report, through which the Special Prosecution's argument about the risk of evidence from Balluku was rejected. According to Manja, this risk had changed with the dismissal of Balluku from her executive duties. Meanwhile, Oerd Bylykbashi read the opposition report, which demanded the acceptance of SPAK's request as based on legal provisions and the need for stripping parliamentary immunity from justice.
Thursday's session was the epilogue of a long process, where the majority for the first time since the new justice bodies were put into operation, comes out against a request by SPAK to lift the immunity of a deputy. The political and legal defense against Balluku was initiated by Prime Minister Edi Rama, who changed the course of his stance on the justice reform, initially attempting to overturn the security measure 'suspension from duty' in the Constitutional Court and then using the force of cards in the Assembly to overturn the prosecution's request for her arrest. Rama's behavior towards justice has caused concern among European Union countries, which have supported the justice reform since 2016.
Before the Assembly voted, the British Embassy in Tirana made a public statement stressing that “parliamentary immunity should not be an obstacle to equal accountability before the law”. The British Embassy also appealed for “the importance of preserving the rule of law and judicial independence”. The German Embassy also reacted after the majority rejected SPAK’s request, demanding that criminal prosecution of corruption in high-ranking cases be carried out without obstacles. Considering it a necessary condition for integration, the German Embassy stated that: “Our clear expectation is that even in these cases, criminal prosecution through justice can be carried out quickly and without obstacles. Albanian politics is still being asked to guarantee this process”.
/Reporter.al
