Vetting

The International Monitoring Operation, IMO, on Saturday condemned a plan by Albania's High Council of Prosecutors to return to office Besnik Cani, a former prosecutor fired by the vetting process, who won a partial victory in the European Court of Human Rights.

Moldova's Supreme Court of Justice faces paralysis after the resignation of 20 judges months before a vetting process was due to begin.

Moldovan experts hope their judicial vetting process can follow the best examples of the same process in Albania - but avoid the pitfalls.

After boycotting Albania's parliament for around two years, one of the first initiatives of the opposition when it returned in September, after losing the April 25 elections, was vetting politicians.

Opposition Democratic Party leader Lulzim Basha has called for the same vetting procedure to be applied to politicians as to justice officials.

After being established to replace the old, discredited secret police, the new National Security Agency, ANB, is facing its first major public test over its staff vetting process.

Albania's Vetting Commission claimed a major scalp on Monday when it sacked High Court Judge Shkelzen Selimi, citing his connections with organised crime - based on intelligence gathered over several years by both domestic and foreign secret services.

The judge was not present at the hearing and has issued no comment on the decision so far.

The three-member panel of Albania's Independent Qualification Commission on Friday fired Fatos Lulo, 57, a judge on the Constitutional Court, after concluding that his declared assets of several hundred thousand euros could not be justified by his earnings.

Albanian police organisations called on Edi Rama's government to vet the state police next year in a fair way, and not let it serve as a showcase for his new Interior Minister.

Interior Minister Fatmir Xhafaj has issued a directive announcing the start of the vetting process in 2018, once the relevant legislation is adopted this year.

The National Association of Judges and the Union of Albanian Judges have filed a lawsuit with the Albanian Constitutional Court, challenging the legality of the Law on the Governing Institutions of the Justice System, the Law on the Status of Judges and Prosecutors and the Law on the Reassessment of Judges and Prosecutors, known as the 'vetting' law.

A team of senior experts in law from EU member countries and the United States called the International Monitoring Operation, IMO, has begun work overseeing the establishment of official bodies that will vet around 800 judges and prosecutors in Albania.