Prime Minister Edi Rama’s communication with public via social media:
Hello everyone!
Today on the eleventh anniversary of January 21 events, there are definitely old reasons for us to keep our heads hung low, but there are also new reasons for us to keep our heads up.
Eleven years today, four peaceful and totally harmless protestors were killed as the protest was ending with participants dispersing and they were killed in four far distant locations from the building of special interest, namely the Prime Minister’s office. I avail myself of this opportunity to recall the fact that the government building was attacked by nobody and nothing at that protest, when some few objects were set on fire, but yet far from the building of the special interest.
Not only that, but I think everyone remembers that the building was back then fenced like a sort of a large private mansion belonging to some rich former Soviets and not like the building of a democratic government.
None of the protesters climbed over that fence, no Molotov cocktails, no flares or stones were thrown beyond that fence or towards the building’s walls, and no blaze swallowed the famous palm tree near the very gateway since day one when that gate was opened in the first half of the past century.
In short, none of the incidents that randomly and routinely took place in front of this building later, when the political parties transcended their roles and when the party now defending itself behind armoured doors at the Democratic Party headquarters, hiding from the side now attacking them by using crowbars and with the other side defending by using fire extinguishers, were together and united in their countless aggressions against the Prime Minister’s office.
Earlier today I happen to come across commentators speaking while hiding behind the door locks blaming me for the murder of four protestors on January 21 even. Why did I kill them? Because I was the one to call people to protest, but if the criminals who pulled the trigger are not enough, one of the real culprits in those murders is on the podiums of the imaginary revolution that aims to take over the DP headquarters and the other one is behind the armoured doors trying to keep the lock of the party building.
To say that four people were killed because they should not have headed to the boulevard that day deserves no comment.
But of course, I have a comment for all of those blaming me and the government for letting the real culprits walk free and even stage continued violent episodes right at the heart of Tirana.
I am not the sort of the man who shuns responsibility or who refuses to apologize when I am or feel responsible, even morally responsible for wrongdoings and mistakes and I believe I have already demonstrated it more than once. In this case, not only I don’t see any reason to think twice before responding to such an accusation, but on the contrary I wish you to listen to this very attentively, I believe we have redeemed the part of our obligation to the Martyrs of January 21 events. And by this I don’t mean just granting them the status of “martyr” or the reliefs who have provided for their excellent family members. I mean the justice system reform, which is being vilified and denigrated on a daily basis by the reform opponents and adversaries. However, the reform is definitely the cornerstone this state has been lacking over 100 years, where justice has never been just, fair and never equal. It has never been justice, but either a stone in the hand of power to kill, imprison, and mutilate enemies according to the appetite of the dictatorship of the proletariat or a counterweight in the trade of the rights of others, before and after communism, if you will.
For the first time – like it or not by those who pretend to resort to arguments and facts – since the foundation of the Albanian state, a cornerstone of Albania’s justice system has been already laid by this ruling majority, by the Socialist Party, this governing party I head in close collaboration with our strategic allies, the United States of America and the European Union.
For the first time in history of our state, justice system doesn’t face a grim future, although the present of justice system is not rose, but it doesn’t face a grim and gloomy future as it was the case in the past, during and the post-communist period until the day when the Socialist Party seize power and I am very proud when the Socialist Party is associated with the justice system reform. The Socialist Party took over to lay down the cornerstone and after a serious effort; the justice reform was approved by the Albanian parliament just a few years ago.
I am fully aware of the fact that I know that patience is one of the rare goods in this country, because people have been waiting for so long in all aspects, especially when it comes to justice.
Asking for patience is like asking for a great sacrifice. I understand it very well and for you to clearly know I am the most impatient person, yet I grit my teeth and keep being patient because many years have passed in our lives, waiting to see justice, but one thing we must all be very clear to all. Before I say this, I will say something else.
You can resent me as much as you want about everything and I don’t mind it.
As long as I have opted to communicate with the ordinary people even by exchanging comments via my Facebook page. I welcome any comment from the citizens.
I do so because I respect a lot all those who voted for me to serve in this office and they have done me the biggest favour ever, providing me the opportunity to govern the country.
I consider all those who participate in communication here or all those you encounter everywhere, people whom I can serve with respect, primarily by listening to them. But, neither can you hold me accountable for 30 or 100 years nor can you hold me accountable for the impossible; the full functioning and as we all wish of justice when the paint of the seal on the law of Justice Reform has yet to dry.
As we speak, it is not that nothing has happened; that something unimaginable has happened just a few years ago when the justice system reform was approved. The country’s justice system is being overhauled and cleansed of the corrupt judges and prosecutors. They are being removed by the vetting process.
The vetting process goes on and a number of more corrupt and incompetent judges and prosecutors are awaiting to undergo the screening although some of them keep wreaking unimaginable havoc in their last ditch effort to grab whatever they can before they can fall and be trapped on the vetting net. Some judges and prosecutors even tender resignation without waiting to undergo vetting.
However, we have no choice but show some more patience and patiently keep working, because it is not the year 1945 – and I have repeatedly stated it and I would reiterate it anytime we talk about it – because there are still many people asking me, the government, the political power, the legislative and executive power to take the prosecutors role to launch investigations and arrest people and to assume the judges’ role by convincing people. How could this happen? How can this happen? This can happen only if we are to turn the clock back to the year 1945, during the communist-era justice system when the investigations, the trials, execution of the people were done upon orders issued by the first party secretary.
This can’t happen and that’s why this is a process. Whenever talking about justice and citing the example of other countries, one shouldn’t’ forget that this process was launched just four or around five years ago. What are five years in the history of a country? Though a five-year span is significant time in the lifetime of a man, yet five years represent an inestimable in the history of a country? In the meantime, independent court rulings have been for ages a reality in the countries we tend to refer and compare with when it comes to the justice reform. This was the case in these counties when we had to form a state yet, we didn’t exist as a state at all and instead we were a forgotten province in the very outskirts of an empire.
Why am I saying all these? I am saying all these to point out that this is a better day than a year ago. Last year, this day, January 21 was a much better day than two years ago in terms of shedding light and establishing responsibilities. Why is it a better day? It is a better day, because we are no longer in the conditions when we were desperate and eager to see justice start working and we had yet to put a foundation stone.
I commented on the vetting process. The Gerdec blast case has been reopened as one of the heaviest and gravest chapters of the two major tragedies, two murders committed by the state, despite what some claim. The two cases were killings committed by the state! Two tragedies that happened due to state corruption, state crime! Gërdec case has been reopened after being closed, just like it happened with the January 21 events by the old justice that is being cleaned by the vetting process.
The case has been reopened and is being investigated by the special prosecutor’s office, SPAK.
SPAK is not a magical power. It is neither the FBI, nor a structure similar to agencies in other countries, where they operate for centuries. It is an infant that has started mumbling, showing its initial signals. It has reopened the Gerdec blast case! I am convinced this is the path and I am convinced that the saying: “justice may take long, but it doesn’t forget” is now meaningful, like it or not, because there is no other choice, there is no other option, and I understand all the insinuations, I understand all the allegations and all sorts of conspiracies, because the long-standing impatience and injustice has created a fertile ground for all of these to thrive, more so that the justice reform is being attacked constantly on daily basis, from dawn to dusk. The reform is being hampered from dawn to dusk. Efforts are being made to sabotage it, but the judiciary reform is progressing. I would have wished for it to progress a lot faster. Everyone would. But could it objectively move forward faster? I don’t know. I am not sure, because these are processes. State-building is a process similar to a child’s upbringing. It is a comparison I think really explains what I am trying to say. Raising a child takes time. So does the state-building process. It takes its time. It is as simple as that, and what I said is actually a reflection on a series of comments I already read while preparing for this communication. In the meantime there are many other questions via the FAcebook.
Question via Facebook: Why are the procedures not accelerated, but you wait for the term in office to end instead?
PM Edi Rama: This has nothing to do with the term in office. It a ranking were to be announced for those impatiently seeking justice for the January 21 events, I pretend to head that ranking in terms of impatience, because I feel the heavy burden of this injustice for 1001 reasons and my continued relation with the families of the martyrs makes it really a hot topic. However, I said and I repeat it: this has nothing to do with the government’s term in office, it has nothing to do with politics, but it has to do with the justice bodies. We have delivered on a justice reform, which is certainly far from being perfect and the same is the case with the reform implementation too. Of course, a project encounters obstacles during its implementation process. The project is accompanied by surprises, mistakes and at some point it seems that the project doesn’t work at all. These are all part of a process. It is like child raising, with nothing being linear, yet the process goes on and this is what matters most. For the first time ever, the country’s justice faces no grim future.
Facebook comment: Justice delayed is not justice.
PM Edi Rama: Justice is always justice!
Facebook comment: The best tributes and wreath would be justice done with those responsible being brought before justice, instead of being roaming free as persona non-grata. May they rest in peace!
PM Edi Rama: May they rest in peace and I 100% agree! This is true!
It is true that the tributes and wreaths are a manifestation of respect, but the best tributes and wreaths of flowers would be punishment of the perpetrators. I fully agree!
Facebook comment: You seize power with the big pledge to resolve the Jan 21 events and the Gerdec blast. It has been nine years since then and you have done nothing more than what your predecessors have done.
PM Edi Rama: My predecessors, dear Arben, used to kill innocent and peaceful protestors, they killed voters and they could do even a lot worse. We have done something great, something about which history will speak much more clearly and much better than I can speak today, namely the justice system reform. We have laid a cornerstone in the justice system, a cornerstone for a completely missing system, for the construction of a cathedral on the site of a swamp. Do you understand? This is what we did, and that is why I said at the beginning that we have paid our share of the obligation, because we do not investigate, we do not conduct trials, we do not render decisions, we do not arrest people, and we do not imprison people, because we live in a system democratic with the powers separated.
Facebook comment: President Ilir Meta is visiting Korça today and is awarding medals there, while declining to answer the reporters’ questions over the Jan 21.
PM Edi Rama: How come that you expect Ilir Meta to answer about the Jan 21 events and what is he supposed to do other than awarding useless and unworthy medals?
Facebook comment: (Former Defence Minister) Mediu is enjoying the millions he earned through that deadly business. May God do justice!
PM Edi Rama: No, justice will be done by the justice system. Gerdec blast case has been reopened and is being investigated by SPAK and as you might have learned the court opened the case saying the case has not been tried. It takes just some more patience and I am convinced that sooner rather than later the court will issue a ruling, stipulating that the case has not been tried. If I may, I would say that cases and similar trials take actually a long time in other countries too. However, justice will definitely be done.
Facebook comment: I hope justice will be done someday and the killers will be punished fit to their crime.
PM Edi Rama: This is what I increasingly believe to happen.
Facebook comment: Poor people don’t understand what other evidence the justice system needs for Sali Berisha, who has made away with his wrongdoings over the past 30 years.
PM Edi Rama: Again, we don’t arrest people. The government is not tasked with arresting people. The ruling party doesn’t arrest people. The executive power is not tasked with arresting anyone. Prosecutors, in collaboration with the State Police, are the ones who arrest people according to a warrant issued by the court and these citizens are not poor at all, because they understand more than any individual who pretends to speak on their behalf.
Facebook comment: SPAK prosecutors, who earn millions in monthly salaries from the taxpayers’ money, are afraid of doing justice.
PM Edi Rama: Please refrain from issuing allegations over millions, fear and global accusations as they lead to nowhere.
Facebook comment: When you admit you are powerless in front of all of this thing although you are at the helm of the government, just imagine how ordinary people would feel as they face injustice at every step they take on a daily basis. If you were really determined, justice would have definitely been done…
PM Edi Rama: I am really determined, because if not we wouldn’t embark on the justice system reform otherwise.
I am determined, because if not, I wouldn’t be still here through hard work and perseverance.
I am determined, because if not I wouldn’t be laying wreaths at the plaques representing the martyrs of the Jan 21 events. But, again, the system we have chosen to live in is based on the separation of powers and for this reason, in a certain sense, we are absolutely not only equal, but also powerless in the face of our impatience that often defeats us, because it was just few days ago that I and the Minister of Justice pointed out a scandalous case featuring a scandalous and ordinary judge literally opposed a major government project for children by blocking the project for the interest of an individual. What can be done to tackle it? The vetting process is underway, but it can be done overnight! It cannot be done in the blink of an eye. Don’t forget the allegation suggesting that I control everything. This is not true and it doesn’t work that way.
Facebook comment: You might have dismissed the President from his office, but, as far as I know, he set the partial local election date a day ago.
PM Edi Rama: No, it is very simple. I repeat. Parliament has dismissed Ilir Meta from the post of the president! Ilir Meta has been removed by Parliament, but the procedure to formalize the president’s removal goes through the Constitutional Court. This is the separation of powers!
I don’t understand how come that people still call on the government to carry out tasks that the executive is not tasked with doing.
We are neither under a monarchy, nor under a dictatorship. We are also not under an absolute power, although a handful of people are inspired by the hatred, angry and revenge instincts only and allege over a supposed absolute regime. Which regime? What sort of regime do they mean?
If it were a regime in office, we wouldn’t be talking and discussing these issues and nobody would ever dare speak up.
Question via FB: What happened in the last 11 years?
PM Edi Rama: Over the last 11 happened as follows: first we won elections. Second, we committed ourselves to delivering on justice reform! We commenced the process of cleaning the justice system from the corrupt judges and prosecutors and the process is underway.
Fifth, we started establishing new justice bodies, namely the Special Anti-Organized Crime and Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, or SPAK, and the Special Court are two new justice bodies already operational.
This is what we have already done and if they sound too little, they are definitely not a lot vis-à-vis our expectations. However, trust me, they are considerably a lot if considering the time span during which they have taken place. They are a lot.
Question via Facebook: Why is new justice not working?
PM Edi Rama: New justice has started working, but, as I said, it is still an infant that has just started to take the initial steps and it will take time.
Strengthening the muscles of the new justice system will take its time. It can’t be a process that can be finalized in the blink of an eye, because others would have delivered on it if it were to be that way. It wouldn’t take for a painter to become Prime Minister so that the reform is finalized.
Thank you very much!
