The Secretary for Electoral Reform and legal representative of the Democratic Party, Rezart Kthupi, stated today in a media release that the party has submitted a draft proposal to the Parliament of Albania with the aim of creating a legal mechanism for the complete removal of parliamentary immunity.
According to Kthupi, the Democratic Party has maintained a consistent and coherent stance on parliamentary immunity, considering it a remnant and a symbol of inequality between voters and the elected.
“The draft decision to amend the Parliament’s rules creates the legal basis for deputies, within 5 days of the approval of the proposal and within 5 days from the beginning of the legislature, to submit to the Parliament’s chairman a written statement relinquishing parliamentary procedures for the removal of immunity, fully opening the way for justice to take restrictive measures in cases of criminal investigations against them,” he said.
The Democratic Party, Kthupi continued, “believes that the justice reform, which it has supported at every step, has finally produced an independent judiciary free from politics, creating the trust and broad citizen support in its work to investigate and combat high-level corruption in politics and the state administration”.
“In the conditions of an independent judiciary, the Democratic Party believes that any opposition to the complete removal of immunity for deputies is an attempt to prevent the investigation of corruption involving politicians or those connected to them,” said Kthupi, urging all members of the Albanian Parliament to vote for the draft decision.
Discussions over the parliamentary immunity follow the latest developments involving former Prime Minister Sali Berisha.
The Council of Mandates of the Albanian Parliament voted on Monday in favor of the request of the Special Prosecution Office of Albania (SPAK) to lift Berisha’s immunity, as he had not complied with the order to report to SPAK every two weeks and not leave the country while under investigation for corruption.
Six members of the Council, including one from the opposition, voted on Monday to bring Berisha’s immunity to a parliamentary vote on Thursday.
The Parliament is expected to vote on Thursday to allow prosecutors to place Berisha under house arrest.
