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Press
Release
September
20, 2007
The Albanian Helsinki Committee,
after acquainting itself with the Draft law “On
the compensation of the communist regime’s
political prisoners”, on September 13, 2007,
sent a letter to Mr. Fatos Beja and Mr. Fatmir
Xhafa, respectively the Chairman and the Vice
Chairman of the Parliament’s Commission on Legal
Affairs, the Public Administration, and Human
Rights.
Among other things, the letter
suggests a review of the contents of article 6
of the above draft, which excludes a group of
formerly elected or nominated officials as well
as other politically convicted persons during
the period of the communist regime from
compensation.
AHC bases the suggestion on the
following arguments:
a) Law no. 7514, dated
30.09.1991, has established the innocence,
amnesty, and rehabilitation of all politically
convicted and persecuted persons. As a result,
this law does not exclude certain persons or
groups of persons.
b) The innocence, amnesty,
and rehabilitation of the former politically
convicted persons is the basic document that
certifies that this category of persons, which
according to article 6 of the draft are excluded,
were convicted through arbitrary and unlawful
acts or decisions by the communist regime. As a
result, on the basis of article 44 of the
Constitution “Anyone shall have the right to be
rehabilitated and/or recompensed in keeping with
the law, if that person has been damaged because
of an unlawful action or inaction of state
bodies.”
c) The differentiation that
article 6 of the Draft makes for the same group
(formerly convicted and persecuted) is in
contravention of article 18 of the Constitution
of the Republic of Albania and article 14 of the
European Convention of Human Rights which
guarantee equality before the law and prohibit
discrimination through illegitimate forms and
due to different causes. |
