10/05/2012 19:45
Top Channel Tv
The passing of this draft law officially opens the green light to EULEX for investigating in the Albanian territory about the claims that in the KLA hospitals that were established in Burrel, Albania, there has been traffic of organs, as claimed by the European Council rapporteur, Dick Marty.
However, the international legal experts are concerned about this law. Some of them, when contacted by Top Channel, confirmed that this law directly violates the rights and freedoms that the Albanian Constitution guarantees to the Albanian citizens.
The problems start with article 9 of this law, where the EULEX task force dictates the steps that the Albanian judicial system should take:
“Local judicial authorities, in the case of criminal acts against humanity, war crimes or other serious crimes against the values that are defended by the international justice, the efforts for committing them and the cooperation in committing these criminal crimes cannot reject the request letters since they are criminal acts of political character”.
This article is valued by the legal experts as an imposition of how the Albanian judges should behave when in fact it is the EU that in all its reports values and demands the judicial system to be independent. Even article 15 of this law, for searches and arrests in the Albanian territory is also concerning.
“The EULEX Special Investigative Task Force has independent authority: to hear witnesses, experts and persons who are accused in Albania; to observe sites; to receive other evidence and keep any and all materials that are relevant for the investigation and trial, according to this law. To undertake actions and other activities that could be necessary for concluding the investigation and preparing the development of the case, in full accordance with the limitations set in point 4 of this article. These actions can be undertaken for concluding the investigation and preparing the development of the case in trial, even if these do not damage the free will of the individual”, the document says.
The legal experts comment this article as incomplete, because if the EULEX task force arrests an Albanian citizen under the suspect of being involved in organ traffic and than this person is found not guilty, due to an EULEX error, the Albanian state must undertake his compensation.
Another point that raises suspicions and leaves too much space for interpretation is the way how these people will be arrested in the Albanian territory, which can be conducted in accordance with the Albanian legislation, but on the same time, the law says that the Albanian authorities can assist the task-force activity if the latter demands.
The US greet the law
The US Embassy in Tirana greeted the consensus found for the law that allows cooperation with the EULEX Special Investigative Task Force sees this as a prove of Albania’s commitment to the European integration and regional cooperation.
“The investigation unit has the full support of the United States. We expect a complete and correct investigation, held with transparency and in full cooperation with the national and local authorities”, says the declaration of the US Embassy.
EU welcomes Albania’s decision
The EU Special Investigative Task Force (SITF) welcomes today's adoption by the Albanian Parliament of a law on cooperation with the SITF.
Juri Laas, Spokesperson for the SITF explains that this law that is inspired by previous regional laws in cooperation with the International Court of Crimes in Former Yugoslavia, proves that EULEX has the green light to cooperate with the states in which the investigation field is extended.
Albania is one of the states included in Dick Marty’s accusations about KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army) and its leaders for human organ’s traffic during the Kosovo war.
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