Manja on Balluk's immunity: He no longer has executive functions, it does not hinder the investigation
Socialist Party MP, also Chairman of the Laws Committee, Ulsi Manja, presented today the report in the framework of the request of the Special Prosecution Office against Corruption and Organized Crime seeking the arrest of MP Belinda Balluku.
At the meeting held at the Presidency of the Assembly, where Prime Minister Edi Rama was also present, Manja said that " we are facing a new legal and institutional reality."
"MP Belinda Balluku no longer exercises executive functions as a member of the Council of Ministers, as a result of changes in the government in accordance with Articles 95, 96, 98 and 102 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania. Consequently, the personal security measure of suspension from duty as a member of the Council of Ministers no longer produces any real legal consequences. Along the same line of reasoning, the narrative of the Special Prosecution, which has built the request for the application of more severe personal security measures, such as the risk of destroying evidence, fleeing or committing another criminal offense, remains essentially hypothetical as long as it is directly related to the exercise of executive functions that the MP in question no longer exercises ," said Manja.
Manja underlined that " this does not mean that the presentation of this report before the Assembly is a purely formal procedure. It represents a direct constitutional responsibility of the Assembly of the Republic of Albania and is an expression of institutional respect for justice, but above all it is an obligation towards the Albanian citizens who have entrusted us with their representation".
"Especially in a situation where this issue, which should have remained a matter of justice, has been unfairly transformed into a politically charged debate in the eyes of public opinion. Instead of a calm and due process of law, we have often seen attempts to shift this issue to a public trial, to a media tribunal that contradicts the standards of the rule of law and the fundamental principle of the presumption of innocence ," he continued.
"For these reasons, it is necessary that we, as a parliamentary majority, speak clearly: to separate politics from justice, noise from facts, and public judgment from due process. The request of the Special Prosecution Office against Corruption and Organized Crime, in fact, in the case of MP Belinda Balluku, differs from other requests that have come to the Albanian Parliament for authorization for arrest or deprivation of liberty, home search or personal search, because it is not a request for the imposition of a security measure for the first time ," Manja emphasized.
MP Manja emphasized that the Assembly is being asked to replace a personal security measure, the effects of which are in force against MP Belinda Balluku, such as the ban on leaving the country, with a more severe security measure, that of arrest, for a criminal offense for which the Special Prosecution Office has been investigating since August 2024.
According to Manja, the replacement of the measure can be requested in two cases: when the security needs have worsened or when the person against whom a personal security measure has been imposed has not respected the measure imposed by the court.
"The second case is excluded. MP Belinda Balluku, as proven by the Special Prosecution's report and the reasoning, facts and evidence she has attached, results in her having correctly respected the personal security measure, that of prohibiting her from leaving the country. In our assessment as a council, the issue of aggravating the security measures for those reasons that the Special Prosecution has listed in its request, which have to do with the increase in episodes of the criminal offense, the risk of destroying evidence, the risk of fleeing or committing another more serious criminal offense , "said Manja.
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