At a time, when the High Judicial Council and the Ministry of Justice haven’t found a common ground regarding the new judicial map, attorneys have come together to counter the proposal for the merger of the Appeals Tribunals into a single Court of Appeals, saying that it would lead to several negative consequences.
“One of EU’s recommendations is access to justice. We see the merger and concentration of these tribunals into one as a very problematic possibility. Access would fall significantly. It must be reconsidered,” – said Arber Hoxha, attorney.
“There’s an existing conflict between KLGJ and the Ministry of Justice, due to the simple fact that trials are currently being held in these different courts and there’s already a lack of judges and prosecutors. I can only image what would happen if we were only left with one Court of Appeals, which would make citizens’ back-and-forth struggles even greater,” – said Vjollca Pustina, attorney.
A single Appeals Tribunal being proposed by the government would also bring additional financial costs for citizens living far from the capital.
“The financial costs would be immense, especially taking into account the prolonged tendency of these legal procedures. It would be ideal if someone only needed to come to court once and be done with it, but in reality it never works like that,” – added Hoxha.
“Imagine a citizen, who has to come to Tirana from Gjirokastra and for one reason or another, their trial date got postponed,” – said Pustina.
The clash between KLGJ and the Ministry of Justice over this new judicial map has been an ongoing dispute for the past year. Initially, it was countered by former minister of justice, Etilda Gjonaj, whereas her successor Ulsi Manja announced a few days ago, that citizens need to be granted a better and easier experience in the judicial system.
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