Justice must be protected from politics, if it does not engage in politics

By Mero Baze

In the way politics has treated SPAK and the new justice system in general, two different standards have been established. The standard of Sali Berisha, who openly insults all SPAK and GJKKO prosecutors, even displaying photos of their wives in press conferences, and the standard of Edi Rama, who considers SPAK and the new justice system his own achievement and calls on them to maintain their integrity and independence – not only from him but also from Sali Berisha.

The harsh truth is that SPAK and the new justice system, throughout the time they have operated amid fierce debates, have shown themselves to be more sensitive to pressure than to respect; more submissive and silent in the face of blackmail than toward those who support them in doing their job; and more restrained in response to direct insults from Berisha, Meta, or others than to criticisms from Edi Rama. And it’s not just SPAK, but the entire structure of the new justice system.

I can count at least 100 press conferences where Sali Berisha and Ilir Meta have openly insulted the head of SPAK and the judges of the Special Court (GJKKO), even going as far as displaying photos of their wives in press briefings, and yet there has been no statement from the High Prosecutorial Council (KLP) or the High Judicial Council (KLGJ).

By contrast, today’s criticism from Edi Rama directed at SPAK and GJKKO – based on verifiable claims that these institutions are being influenced by Berisha’s allies for political purposes – prompted an immediate response from them, declaring that their independence must not be undermined.

The issue is that SPAK and GJKKO’s independence is not only threatened by the government but also when the opposition exploits them for electoral purposes.

The arrest of the Mayor of Tirana – who also serves as the Socialist Party’s political leader for one-third of the country – at the very start of the electoral campaign, without any fundamental justification for his detention, amounts to direct judicial interference in politics.

Just as it is not forbidden to protest when politics interferes with justice, it is equally legitimate to protest when justice interferes with politics.

If examined through the lens of electoral crimes, the involvement of SPAK prosecutors and GJKKO judges in Veliaj’s arrest due to political grievances constitutes a clear electoral violation – one that would itself be subject to investigation if Albania had a truly independent justice system.

This is a textbook example of justice meddling in politics, rather than politics interfering with justice.

That said, it is good that institutions are reacting. It is good that KLP and KLGJ issue statements calling for politics not to prejudge their work. But they must establish a consistent standard when they choose to respond.

It is easy to react to those who respect you and recognize you as institutions born from their political reform. The challenge is to react in a way that truly upholds judicial independence from politics, rather than simply protecting the misuse of justice for political ends.

Let me share a personal disappointment I’ve had with them.

I might be one of the most consistent journalists in supporting Justice Reform, ever since it was conceived in 2015. At times, I have even made a fool of myself defending things that, in the day-to-day reality of justice, are indefensible. I have done so because I have personally experienced the corruption of the old justice system – I have dealt with Gjin Gjoni and his band of judges who would convict me just to please Sali Berisha, while simultaneously letting drug traffickers go free in exchange for millions in bribes. They could justify their corruption by claiming they had “punished an enemy of Berisha.”

As flawed as this justice system may be, it is nothing compared to the rotten one that came before it.

But to understand just how intimidated these prosecutors and judges are by their critics – and how confident they are when dealing with those who support them – I had my own test a month ago when the accusations against Veliaj were made public.

I wrote an editorial questioning who Anesti Angoni really was – a man who claims to know everything about Veliaj’s private life, about certain businessmen, who seems to have access to every state document, and whom SPAK takes seriously, treating him as if he were an institution.

Some people told me he was linked to Greek intelligence services, others said he was connected to Olsi Dado; others still claimed he was a proxy for Belinda Balluku due to conflicts with Veliaj, and some even suggested he was a construct of SPAK itself, fabricating anonymous reports.

All of these theories sounded ridiculous to me, so I did not engage with them. I simply asked: who is he?

And do you know what happened?

Two journalist colleagues told me that Olsi Dado stormed out of his office in a rage and demanded that SPAK’s press advisor, Mr. Zhilla (whom I do not know), issue a public statement announcing that Veliaj was now under investigation for four charges instead of two – “since Mero Baze is defending him.”

I was shocked.

This means that a journalist who has defended them for seven years against all attacks – even when Berisha was launching baseless accusations against SPAK – even when they arrested people I personally knew – was enough for them to arbitrarily increase the charges against Veliaj in a public statement, simply because I had questioned an anonymous accuser’s credibility.

It sounds unbelievable, but it is a public fact. The official interrogation records show that Veliaj was initially informed of two charges, and it is also a fact that SPAK, after my article, added two more charges in their press release.

I do not know what infuriated the prosecutor so much, beyond the possibility that one of the three scenarios I mentioned about Angoni’s identity might actually be true – whether it be a foreign intelligence scheme, an internal SPAK fabrication, or something else.

But if a high-ranking politician suddenly has two additional charges simply because a journalist defended him, then we have a serious problem. Either we are dealing with a justice system that is politically motivated, or we have a justice system that first issues accusations and only later scrambles to find the evidence.

This entire situation has forced me to rethink their overall integrity – not just Olsi Dado, whom I have known for years from our time as DP militants, and from whom I expected nothing different – but the entire logic of how these prosecutors and judges operate. They behave like frightened kittens when attacked by their critics, yet they act like tigers when confronted by those who support them.

And after all that, they rush to report to Sali Berisha to make sure they have his approval.

They are in the clear. And they should be thankful they have a prime minister they can complain about for not letting them serve Berisha – otherwise, no one would have ever heard their voices.