Saturday 18:26
The Examiner
SPAK’s independence is non-negotiable. So is the constitutional standard it must meet. Editorial Board | Tirana Examiner When asked this week about Albania’s parliamentary majority blocking SPAK’s request to arrest MP Belinda Balluku, the European Commission responded with characteristic brevity. “We do not comment on ongoing cases. It is up to the Parliament of …
The Examiner
By The Tirana Examiner Legal Desk On 9 March 2026, Supreme Court Chief Justice Sokol Sadushi issued an interim decision initiating a formal procedure to partially revise Unified Decision No. 7 of 14 October 2011 — the ruling of the United Collegiums that has governed Albanian judicial practice on pre-trial detention for nearly fifteen years. The …
The Examiner
SPAK’s 2025 Annual Report contains a passage with no legitimate place in a statutory accountability document. It deserves to be read closely. By Ardit Rada (Tirana) One hundred and twenty pages of record. On page 11, under the heading “Problematikat dhe Sfidat” — Challenges to be Addressed — one passage stands apart from everything …
The Examiner
Three sentences on page 11 of SPAK’s 2025 statutory report raise a question that Albania’s institutional architecture has not yet had to answer: where does prosecutorial independence end and institutional insulation begin? by Albatros Rexhaj (Tirana) SPAK’s 2025 Annual Report was submitted to parliament in early 2026 under constitutional obligation. Most of it does …
The Examiner
The following comparative legal analysis surveys the principal models of parliamentary immunity across European jurisdictions, with reference to the standards established by the Venice Commission, the European Court of Human Rights, and the Court of Justice of the European Union. It is published by the Tirana Examiner Legal Desk as a reference document for readers …
The Examiner
A Legal Analysis of the SPAK Request Before Albania’s Parliament By The Tirana Examiner Legal Desk Albania’s parliament is scheduled to vote on Thursday on whether to authorize SPAK’s request to arrest former Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku, who holds a parliamentary mandate. The political noise surrounding that vote has been considerable. The legal …
The Examiner
When prosecutors can’t find both parties to a crime, they invent a different one. By Ylli Manjani (Tirana) There is another abuse of criminal justice worth examining: the concept of Unlawful Influence, a criminal offence under Article 245 of the Penal Code. To understand the abuse, we first need to agree on what the …
The Examiner
A criminal investigation explains how the contract was awarded — but not what it did. by Rexhina Bici (Tirana) On March 8, 2026, a ten-year concession contract for the sterilization of surgical instruments in Albania’s public hospitals expired quietly. The same day, from detention, former health minister Ilir Beqaj issued a statement calling it …
The Examiner
A promise to reverse judicial reform signals either reckless populism or a calculated bet on institutional exhaustion. by Ardit Bido (Tirana) *The author is a Member of the Albanian Parliament (Socialist Party). The Tirana Examiner publishes contributors across the political spectrum; party affiliation is disclosed in the interest of transparency.* Sali Berisha has a …
