[…]
With reference to your letter dated 11 October 2016, I have the honor to submit to you the list of the three candidates which have been nominated by the Government of the Republic of Albania for the election as judge at the European Court of Human Rights. This list is submitted in alphabetical order:
Please find enclosed the curricula vitae of all three respective candidates.
The candidates were selected through a competitive procedure, according to Parliamentary Assembly Resolution 1646 (2009). I also enclose information on the details of the national selection procedure.
[…]
The following report explains the rules and procedures for selecting three candidates for the office of the Albanian judge at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in accordance with paragraph 4.2. of the Parliamentary Assembly Resolution 1646 (2009) and the GuidelinesNote of the Committee of Ministers for electing candidates for the office of judge to the European Court of Human Rights.
Introduction
Due to the expiry of the mandate of the current judge of Albania to the ECHR, Albania, as a High Contracting Party, should submit a list of three candidates initially for consultation on the appropriateness of candidates to the Advisory Panel of the Committee of Ministers and subsequently to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, in accordance with the requirements of Article 21 (1) in conjunction with Article 22 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The candidates should have a high moral personality and possess the qualifications required for appointment to the highest judicial offices or be jurisconsults of recognised competence.
The procedure of selection of the candidates for the office of Albania’s judge to the European Court of Human Rights was conducted in accordance with Resolution no. 1646 (2009) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which sets out the criteria to be followed in selecting fairly and transparently the candidates for the office of judge to the ECHR.
The election procedure is preceded by a study on the best practices followed by other member countries to elect their national judges to the ECHR and the on-going consultations with the National Bar Association and the State Advocacy Office.
The process for re-conducting the selection procedures of the candidates for the office of judge of Albania to the European Court of Human Rights was administered by the Secretary General of the Council of Ministers.
The Ad Hoc Commission for conducting the selection procedures of the candidates for the office of Albania's judge to the ECHR (the Commission), established by Order no. 7044, dated 6.12.2016, is composed of members with integrity and representatives of a substantial professional experience (as mentioned in the point 3 below).
Upon receipt of full applications, submitted within the one month deadline made available, the Commission continued its review of the files of all the applicants. After the assessment made by each member of the Commission, the candidates were invited to the stage of orally structured interview, according to a standardized format, where candidates were also assessed for their language skills. Following the completion of the interviews, the Commission proposed a list of 3 candidates for the office of Albania's judge to the ECHR and sent it for opinion to the Advisory Panel of experts on candidates for election as judge to the European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter “the Advisory Panel”). Following the full completion of the consultation phase with the Advisory Panel, the Albanian Government submitted the final list of candidates to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, for further proceedings.
Aware of the importance of integrity and purity of the image of judges both in the Albanian justice system and the Albanian representatives to the international judicial bodies, during the conduct of selection procedures of the candidates for the office of Albania's judge to the ECHR, besides the assessment of candidates based on professional criteria, the Commission applied the constitutional principles underlying the check (vetting) process, which are related to the issue of the verification of declarations of assets and integrity, based on the legal framework governing these issues; the purity of the figure of high functionaries; ensuring the integrity of the persons elected, nominated or exercising public functions; for the declaration and check of the property, financial obligations of elected officials and certain public employees; to prevent conflicts of interest in exercising public functions.
As to the foregoing and determined to guarantee the profile of the candidates for judges, in accordance with the highest standards of professional competence and integrity, the Commission urged the applicants to submit a self-declaration that they are not convicted/convicted persons or against whom no security measures or sentence by inconclusive verdict has been rendered for having committed crimes, in accordance with the provisions of law no. 138/2015, "On ensuring the integrity of the persons elected, nominated or exercising public functions" as amended; and a self-declaration that private interests do not contain illegal financial resources, concealment of assets, false statements or conflict of interest, in accordance with the provisions of Law no. 9049, dated 10.4.2003, "On the declaration and check of the property, financial obligations of elected officials and certain public officials", as amended, and Law no. 9367, dated 7.4.2005, "On the prevention of conflict of interest in exercising public functions" as amended.
In order to guarantee that this process was as thorough and transparent, through letter No. 7036 Prot., dated December 6, 2016, the Council of Ministers addressed the High Inspectorate for the Declaration and Audit of Assets and Conflict of Interests (HIDAACI); the General Prosecution Office (PPO); General Directorate of Prevention of Money Laundering (GDPML); in order that from their verifications to send information, respectively; whether the applicants have problems with their declarations of private interests, concealment of assets or conflict of interest; whether there is evidence of interest about the applicant from appropriate checks, in implementation of the law no.138/2015 "On ensuring the integrity of the persons elected, nominated or exercising public functions" as amended, whether for the applicants there have been found, collected, analysed and disseminated to the law enforcement agencies, information on possible activities of money laundering and terrorism financing.
At the end of this process, no problem was identified for any of the candidates and as a result none of them was disqualified for legal reasons.
2. Preliminary Issues
Given that the election of a judge in respect of Albania is scheduled for the Assembly’s April 2017 part-session, the Secretary General of the PACE has invited the Albanian government to submit by 20 March 2017 the list of three candidates for this office.
In Albania there are no specific rules that provide for the follow-up procedure for the selection of Albanian judges in an international organization, given the fact that the national procedure which led to the selection of Albania’s current judge to the ECHR was held prior to the criteria adopted in 2009.
In order to make sure that the national selection procedure of the Albanian judge to the ECHR was carried out in accordance with the standards of the Council of Europe, the Albanian Government took the following steps:
Submitted for publication, by letter, No. 6335 Prot., dated October 31, 2016 the Notice of Application to:
On November 1, 2016, the Notice of Application was published in almost all the above sources. The deadline for acceptance of applications was fixed 30 (thirty) days.
According to the call for application, applicants must meet the following criteria:
These criteria for application are set in line with the roadmap of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe CM (2012) 40-add, dated 29.3.2012.
3. The Selection Commission
The Commission for carrying out the selection procedures for the applicants to the office of Albania's judge at the ECHR is composed of the Chairperson and four members who have a significant professional experience. They are experts of the Public International Law and Human Rights, with knowledge of the English and French languages: a constitutionalist, a former representative of Albania at the Venice Commission, a former judge at the ECHR, the President of the Constitutional Court, the Dean of the Law Faculty (former member of the Supreme Court) and the Director of the Legislation Department of the Prime Minister's Office.
The Management Office of the Secretary General of the Council of Ministers was tasked to perform the functions of the technical secretariat, in support of the Ad Hoc Commission.
The composition of the Ad Hoc Commission is composed as follows:
Chairman of the Commission:
Members of the Commission:
4. The first stage of the selection procedure
The Selection Commission held its meeting on 7 December 2016. Based on the criteria of public call for application and the characteristics of the candidates who appeared, the Commission decided to call all the candidates to continue to the next stage of the selection procedure, that of the interview. The number of candidates who passed the stage of interview was 11 (eleven).
With regard to language testing, the Commission examined the submitted documents and decided to include in the stage of the orally structured interview questions in one of the official languages of the Council of Europe (English or French).
5. The second stage of the selection procedure
On December 12, 2016, the Commission conducted the interviews with the candidates as per their alphabetic order. The orally structured interview with each candidate was conducted in the Albanian language. During the interview, each candidate was addressed questions in one of the official languages of the Council of Europe, English or French.
During the interview stage, each of them made also a brief presentation of her/his views on the role of the national judge to the ECHR. The Commission addressed to the candidates questions on certain problems and issues of law.
6. The results
After the conclusion of both stages of the selection procedure, the Ad Hoc Commission, based on relevant assessments and having consulted with the Advisory Panel, proposed the list of three candidates for the office of the Albanian judge to the ECHR as follows:
Ms ANASTAS Aurela;
Mr BERBERI Sokol;
Mr MUSKAJ Aleksander.
The selected candidates, listed above, were submitted for review by the Council of Ministers.
Following the review by the Council of Ministers, this three selected candidates, enclosing the relevant practice, were submitted to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe within March 20, 2017 for further proceedings.
Annex
CV of the candidates in English alphabetical order
Anastas Aurela CV
Berberi Sokol CV
Muskaj Aleksander CV
[...]
Name, forename: Anastas, Aurela
Sex: Female
Date and place of birth: 7 April 1965, Vlora, Albania
Nationality: Albanian
Other relevant qualifications
I. Articles published in scientific reviews or other periodicals (English Language)
Law making citizens’ initiatives and the constitutional law in Albania (Legislation, jurisprudence, practice), published by “Krytyka Prawa. Njezalezne studia nad prawem”, Tom VI, Akademia Leona Kozminskiego, ISSN 2080-1084, Warszawa, 2014
The execution of the court decisions with regard to the payment of alimony in favour of the children in cases of divorce (the case of Albania). Published by “In margine al Sinodo 2014. Riflessioni in punto di diritto su matrimonio e famiglia”. Cacucci Editore, Bari. ISBN: 978-88-6611-292-1
“Albanian Constitutional rights in the framework of the implementation of stabilization and association agreement with EU”, published in “Integrazione e politiche di vicinato: Nuovi diritti e nuove economie”, edited by Dammacco, G., Sietk, B.Uricchio, (2012) A. Cacucci Editore, ISBN: 978-88-6611-137-5
“Linguistic Rights in Albania”, Co-author, published by “Shippensburg journal of modern languages” (SJML), Pensilvania (SHBA), 2009.
“Freedom of Religion in the Constitution of Albania”, in “European Review of Public Law”, Esperia Publications Ltd, Vol.17-No 1, spring/2005
“Educational Rights in Albania”, (scientific paper) co-author, in “No person shall be denied the right to education”, published by Wolf Legal Publishers, November 2004 (10 pg). ISBN: 90-5850-098-5.
“Les Garanties des Droits Fondamentaux dans La Contitution Albanaise”, in the compilation: “The Albanian Constitution, the future Euro-Atlantic challenge of Albania”, Luarasi Publishing House, a publication in Albanian, English, Italian, French,) Tirana, 2002.
II. Monographs and Textbooks (Albanian Language)
Monograph, “Rule of Law in the Albanian Constitution”, Co-author, Tirana, 2011, published on http://www.kas.de/albanien/sq/publications/22897/, ISBN 978-99956-32-09-0
“Constitutional Law”, textbook for the students of the Law Faculty. Co-author, Tirana, 2010, ISBN: 978-99956-01-41-6.
“Gender equality and non-discrimination”, textbook for the students of the Law Faculty, Co-author, Tirana, 2012. ISBN 978-9928-162-04-5
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I would like to follow an intensive French language course.
Yes, I confirm that I will take up permanent residence in Strasbourg if I am elected as a judge.
Name, forename: Berberi, Sokol
Sex: Male
Date and place of birth: 07.01.1967, Cairo, Egypt
Nationality/ies: Albanian
Pre-Mission Course for Human Rights Field Officers organized by the Foreign Affairs Department of Switzerland-May 2000, Geneva
International Legislative Drafting Institute-June 15-26, 1997 International Program on Legislative Drafting
The Public Law Center, New Orleans, USA
Institute of Social Studies-Development Law and Social Justice Program- September-October 1994, The Hague, Netherlands
Global Legal Information Network- February 3-21, 1997
The Law Library of Congress, Washington DC, USA
Graduate Public Administration Training Program-September 1995, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
Promoting Justice through Professional Development-May 1998, The leadership Institute, Memphis, USA
Participated in many international training programs and Seminars on Rules of Procedure, Constitutional Law and Human Rights
Advisory Body of the Minister of Justice of Albania, Tirana
Legal Advisor to the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights, Tirana
Project of the Albanian Helsinki Committee in cooperation with Netherlands Helsinki Committee for monitoring prison and pre-detention sites in Albania
Local Key Expert, World Bank Project on Judicial Reform
Legal Advisor to the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights
Member of the Constitutional Court of Albania
None
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c. Other language: |
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I confirm
I confirm
Name, forename: Muskaj , Aleksander
Sex: Male
Date and place of birth: 06 January 1969
Nationality/ies: Albanian
No
No
No
No
No
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I can read English very good and also I can write and speak it as well but, I may have some difficulties on official professional language of Court and because of that, I am following intensive English language classes, in order to be to meet the appropriate level of English language.
I also confirm my intention to follow intensive French language classes in order to meet the same level of the first language.
I confirm that I will take up permanent residence in Strasbourg, if I will be elected a judge on the Court.