The Appeal Chamber held on 13.02.2025, at 13:00, the public hearing of case (JR) 19/2024, dated 29.05.2024, pertaining to the appeal of the Public Commissioner against decision no. 730, dated 10.01.2024 of the Independent Qualification Commission, related to the assessee Valentin Preçi.
The legal representative of the assessee submitted several new acts to challenge the appeal grounds related to the potential conflict of interest of the assessee during the exercise of his office. With regard to the denunciations, she held that she shares the same position with the Head of the Special Prosecution Office during the previous hearing, that they contain no sufficient grounds for further investigations.
With respect to the finding of the observer of the International Monitoring Operation, the legal representative requested the Chamber to consider inapplicable the written acts referred to as the basis for this finding, since according to her, they were administered beyond the powers provided for a subject not sanctioned in the Constitution and law. Consequently, she also assessed the finding as an opinion raised in the capacity of evidence under this sanction, requesting that the finding be excluded from the evaluation and judicial debate at this stage of the trial.
With regard to the substantive part of the finding, the legal representative claimed the opposite of the circumstances described therein, submitting several new acts in support of her claims.
Questioned by the presiding judge, the Head of the Special Prosecution Office, Mr. Altin Dumani, took a stand in favor of the admission as evidence of the acts related to the potential conflict of interest, while assessing the administration of acts related to the finding as unnecessary. As for the latter, the Head of the Special Prosecution Office maintained that the evidence shows circumstances different from those described by the assessee and that the trial panel should considered it as evidence that proves a behavior of the assessee contrary to the ethics of a magistrate.
After being consulted, the trial panel decided:
– To accept as evidence the finding of the observer of the International Monitoring Operation and its accompanying documentation;
– to accept as evidence the acts filed during this hearing by the legal representative of the assessee;
– to not investigate the public’s complaints, as they contain no sufficient circumstances for further investigation.
Once the parties declared that they had no other procedural requests, the trial panel decided to close the judicial investigation of the case and invited the parties to submit their final conclusions at the next hearing, to be held on 18.02.2025, at 09:00.
The public hearing shall take place at the premises of the Appeal Chamber, at Boulevard “Dëshmorët e Kombit”, no. 3, Tirana.