Press Release

General Prosecutor, Mr. Adriatik Llalla guarantees that the institution, that he leads, has taken measures to monitor the electoral campaign for local government, and especially at the day of the elections, in order to identify and prosecute possible cases of electoral crimes.

Mr. Llalla shared these assurances to the Ambassador of ODIHR, Ms. Audrey Glover, during a meeting held on Saturday (dt. 05.23.2015).

During the conversation, the General Prosecutor informed the Ambassador of the ODIHR with the legal provisions related to the offenses in the field of free elections, citing the relevant section in the Criminal Code, adopted in 2012, as “an expression of will of the Albanian lawmakers to ensure regular electoral process”.

In fulfillment of legislative will, Mr. Llalla said that the Albanian Prosecution Office has established a tradition, associated with monitoring of the electoral process, bringing as an example the measures taken for the general elections of 2013, during which the General Prosecution Office issued a directive to all local Prosecution Offices to be prepared at the elections day. Such practice will continue to be followed for the local elections of 2015. A special office in the General Prosecution Office, administered by the Department of Investigation, will coordinate and consult with the local Prosecution Office for any suspect electoral crimes.

Regarding the initiatives to monitor the elections of June 2015, the General Prosecutor stated that "cooperation mechanisms have been strengthened, especially with the State Police and the Central Election Commission. Indeed, the latter, only a few days ago signed a cooperation agreement under which the Prosecution Office undertakes to train local election commissions and counters on cases of criminal offenses".

In addition, Mr. Llalla said to the Ambassador Glover that General Prosecution Office and "local Prosecution Offices would be willing to maintain contacts with international observers for each case of irregularity that can be verified during the campaign or on election day and ensured that for every doubt, prosecutors and judicial police officers are instructed to follow with absolute priority "since, as he said," electoral crimes affect democracy and the rule of law, and for this reason the Albanian Prosecution Office considers as a priority the investigation of these cases and punishment of the perpetrators".