Eurasia Press & News
Albania Supreme Court Judge Ardian Nuni was shot on Sunday night outside his home, in what his colleagues said was an attack against the justice system as a whole.
Nuni had been operated in Tirana’s Military Hospital, and was out of danger and in stable condition. According to police sources the judge was shot twice in the back, outside his house, in Tirana’s Paris Commune neighbourhood.
“This attack is aggression against the justice by the mafia,” the deputy head of the High Council of Justice, Kreshnik Spahiu, told local broadcaster News 24. “Nuni was a symbol of justice.”
Nuni, 40, is one of the youngest judges in Albania’s Supreme Court. He took the post in April 2007.
“We are troubled by acts like this which are an attack against the justice system,” Albania’s Minister of Justice Enekeled Alibeaj told reporters. “The culprits should face justice as soon as possible.”
Officials said the crime was being investigated by the Serious Crimes Prosecution office, and police were questioning several witnesses to the shooting.
Nuni’s fellow judges condemned the shooting as a criminal act against their community, and said increased political attacks on the justice system were bolstering criminal elements.
“This grave act is an attack against a Supreme Court judge, a crime against his life, but as such also an attack against all the justice system and the state,” Manjola Bejleri, the head of the Judges Association told Balkan Insight.
“It not the first time that judge is attacked, which shows the growth of high level criminality.”
In Albania judges are given protection only by request if they feel their life is under threat. Bejleri said this level of protection was not enough and should be extended.
“We have asked that the political class does not attack the justice system, because the image of the system and the public’s confidence toward it is being damaged, which makes the system weak against criminal threats,” said Bejleri
“Such attacks serve as a justification and boost criminal acts.”
Albania’s Supreme Court also issued a statement condemning the shooting, calling it “an attack against the entire justice system” and asking “that the legal procedures for the protection of the life of judges be implemented better.”
“This is a grave act, but what is more serious is the attempt by these aggressors to attack the justice system,” said Albanian President Bamir Topi after visiting Nuni in hospital. Prime Minister Sali Berisha called the act “criminal” and called on the authorities to investigate it thoroughly.
