Principle of Presumption of Innocence Should Not be Violated

 

18.04.2006

The Albanian Helsinki Committee has appealed on several previous occasions to our officials and politicians that, when they claim to possess facts or evidence on the commission of any criminal offence, they should file the relevant report to the competent bodies. In fact, according to article 300 of the Criminal Code, reporting an offence known to have been committed or being committed is mandatory.

 

Public statements, whoever they come from and that impose the stamp of guilt on this or that person, at a time when no final court decision has been issued, runs contrary to the principle sanctioned in article 30 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania, which says: "Anyone shall be considered innocent until his/her guilt has been proven through a final court decision."

 

With a view to a correct understanding and implementation of this principle, AHC organized two months ago, together with other non-governmental organizations, a round table discussion, during which this issue was extensively debated.

 

Recent public statements that make the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Albania guilty, by pretending possession of facts that prove his links with organized crime, corruption, and other affairs, directly violate the abovementioned constitutional principle. Consequently, harmful consequences may result from such attitudes.

 

In this reaction, AHC has in mind the right of the Assembly, pursuant to article 149 of the Constitution of Albania, to propose to the President of the Republic of Albania to dismiss the Prosecutor General for violating the Constitution or for serious violations of the law in the course of exercising his duties, for mental or physical incompetence, for acts or conduct that seriously discredit the position and figure of the Prosecutor. This fact, however, does not legitimize imposing the stamp of guilt for the commission of an offence without a review of the case by competent bodies and particularly without a final court decision.

 

In closing, AHC considers it necessary to highlight the consistent position of the Court of Strasbourg regarding respect for the principle of presumption of innocence sanctioned in paragraph two of article 6 of the European Convention for Human Rights. For instance, in one of its decisions of February 10, 1995, it emphasizes: presumption of innocence is not only a procedural guarantee in the penal process, but its role is much broader. It is about the protection of anybody from being treated as guilty by state bodies or officials of committing a penal offence before the court proves it. ("About the European Convention," 2003, Albanian translation, p. 206, decision Allenet de Ribbemont against France)