A report by the High Council of Justice, HCJ, on Monday said most of the draws held in Albanian courts to allocate cases to various judges are in effect decided by the head of the court.
An inspection of 30 different courts in the country by HCJ inspectors concluded that in more than 50 per cent of them the draws are only formal and the cases are allocated by the head of the court.
The most flagrant cases highlighted in the report is that of the head of the First Instance Court of Berat, where the chief justice included himself in an abusive manner in every judicial panel.
“The inspection concluded that there is room for improvement in procedures on which the draws for the selection of judges are based,” the report said.
The inspection period covered draws held in the court system in 2012 and 2013. The report notes that inspectors found more than 170 breaches of procedure in the courts monitored.
The HCJ report comes on the eve of a major overhaul of the justice system, which is expected to go to parliament in autumn as one of the preconditions for Albania to open accession negotiations with the European Union.
In June, an independent analysis of the justice system conducted by a group of experts tasked by parliament, said judges and prosecutors were paying between 100,000 euro to 300,000 euro in bribes for promotions to key positions in Albanian courts and prosecutor’s office.
