Today, on 15.02.2022, at 10:00, the Appeal Chamber held the public plenary session of case (JD) no. 2/2021, dated 26.03.2021, corresponding to the appeal of the petitioner Markelian Kuqo, against decision no. 633, dated 10.12. 2020 of the High Judicial Council, “On the imposition of a disciplinary measure against Judge Markelian Kuqo”, and interested parties, the High Judicial Council and the High Inspector of Justice.

Following the verification of the presence of the parties, the petitioner submitted a preliminary request, by which he requested the Chamber to ascertain its lack of substantive and functional competency to review his case and forward the acts to the Constitutional Court.

When questioned by the presiding judge on their position on this request, the representatives of the High Judicial Council and the High Inspector of Justice stated that the request is unfounded in law and as such it should be rejected.

The trial panel, after being consulted, pursuant to Article 179/7 of the Constitution, Article 5/3 of Law 84/2016 “On the transitional re-evaluation of judges and prosecutors in the Republic of Albania”, Article 71/3 of Law 8577/2000 “On the organization and functioning of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Albania”, referring as well to decision no. 35, dated 26.02.2021 of the Preliminary Review Panel of the Constitutional Court, decided to reject the request of the petitioner Markelian Kuqo.

With regard to the other preliminary requests of the petitioner, by which he raised claims on the submissions of the HJC and HIJ and on the disciplinary proceedings acts administered by the HJC, the trial panel decided that these requests are not considered as preliminary requests, therefore they may be resolved during the trial of the case at the Appeal Chamber.

After the rapporteur summarized the appeal of Mr. Markelian Kuqo, the presiding judge invited the petitioner to present his submissions to the court. The petitioner requested additional time to complete his appeal, viewing it from a new perspective after the AC interim decision. Given that this request was rejected by the trial panel on the grounds that the decision announced in today’s session does not affect the appeal, Mr. Markelian Kuqo stated only that he stands by his appeal.

The interested subjects, HJC and HIJ, filed their submissions, requesting the Chamber to reject the appeal of the petitioner Mr. Markelian Kuqo and to uphold the decision no. 633, dated 10.12.2020 of the High Judicial Council “On imposing the disciplinary measure of dismissal from office of Judge Markelian Kuqo”.

The petitioner addressed a series of questions to the representatives of the High Judicial Council and the representatives of the High Inspector of Justice related to the circumstances that led to this decision.

In response to the request of the interested parties for a reasonable time for the preparation of the responses, the trial panel decided to postpone the court hearing until 11.03.2022, at 10:00.

The public hearing will take place in the premises of the Appeal Chamber, at: Boulevard “Dëshmorët e Kombit”, no.3, Tirana.