Today, on 12.04.2021, at 13:00, the Appeal Chamber held the public hearing of case (JR) 42/2021, dated 27.07.2021, pertaining to the appeal of the Public Commissioner against decision no. 363, dated 01.04.2021, of the Independent Qualification Commission, related to the assessee Elizabeta Imeraj.
Following the preceding hearing, after analyzing the requests of the assessee, the trial panel decided:
- Reopening the judicial investigation of the case and collecting as evidence the new acts lodged with the Appeal Chamber by the assessee, according to the specifications made by her at the hearing dated 01.04.2022.
- Collecting as evidence the assertions at the trial of the assessee during the AC hearings.
- The acts submitted by the assessee, located also in the case file submitted by the IQC, shall not be considered as new evidence, but will be analyzed in the capacity of the acts found in the file and subject to the evaluation of the IQC.
As regards the request for the summoning of witnesses, the trial panel decided:
- To reject the request of the assessee to summon witnesses to prove facts related to the background and assets assessment criteria, as their testimony, seen in the light of the provisions of Article 49, paragraph 6 (a) and (c), is unnecessary in circumstances when the acts of the case file contains sufficient documentation for making the decision, or are related to facts required to be proven.
- To reject the request of the assessee for summoning witnesses, whose testimony, seen in the light of the provisions of Article 49, paragraph 6 (b), is irrelevant for the resolution of the case.
The trial panel ruled:
- To reject the request of the assessee for the summoning of an expert, as it is an inadmissible request in the context of the provisions of Article 225 et seq. of the CPC and Article 49, paragraph 6 of Law 84/2016.
- To not request copies of the investigation files, carried out on the basis of criminal reports, exercised by the assessee, as seen in the light of the provisions of Article 49, paragraph 6 (a) and (b) of Law 84/2016, the receiving of these acts and the result of these proceedings is irrelevant for the resolution of the case; when the acts in the file contain sufficient documentation for decision-making or when they are irrelevant to the proceedings at the Appeal Chamber.
- To dismiss the request of the assessee to request additional information to Tirana Municipality, as under Article 49, paragraph 6 (b), the fact that is required to be proven is irrelevant, in terms when it exceeds the limits of the appeal grounds.
- To dismiss the request of the assessee to hear in a public hearing the audio recording of a hearing at the IQC, as in the light of the provisions of Article 49, paragraph 6 (c), the evidence means is entirely inappropriate.
The trial panel decided to not investigate further regarding the denunciations lodged with the Chamber, as the circumstances stated therein do not meet the criteria of Article 53, paragraph 3 of Law 84/2016 for grounds that may establish convictions for legal violations.
The trial panel noticed that the findings of the International Observers, pursuant to Article B, paragraph 3/b of the Annex to the Constitution and Article 49, paragraph 10, of Law no. 84/2016, constitute evidence in themselves and as such, will be subject to the judicial review, along with their supporting documentation.
After being acquainted with the interim decision of the trial panel, the Public Commissioner stated that he stands by all the appeal grounds related to the case.
Once the parties stated that they had no further procedural requests, the trial panel decided to close the judicial investigation of the case and invited the parties to submit their final conclusions.
Taking into account the request of the lawyer of the assessee for the provision of a reasonable time in order to prepare the final conclusions in writing, the trial panel decided to postpone the hearing until April 20, 2022, at 13:00.
The public hearing will take place in the premises of the Appeal Chamber, at Boulevard “Dëshmorët e Kombit”, no. 3, Tirana.