TIRANA, Feb 12 /ATA/ – Taulant Balla, head of the Socialist Party’s parliamentary group, said on Thursday evening that the ruling majority will move to amend Article 242 of Albania’s Criminal Procedure Code to clarify that constitutional office holders cannot be suspended from duty by court decision.
Speaking in an interview with ABC News TV, Balla said it was Parliament’s responsibility to resolve what he described as a constitutional impasse created by the current interpretation of the provision.
According to Balla, the existing wording of Article 242 could lead to “legal absurdities”, potentially allowing for the suspension of the president, the prime minister, cabinet members or heads of independent constitutional institutions such as the Supreme State Audit.
“The Constitution clearly establishes that one branch of power cannot suspend another branch. That is the fundamental principle of checks and balances,” Balla said, stressing that the issue concerns suspension from office, not arrest.
He referred to the recent case involving Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku, saying that following a Constitutional Court ruling, the situation had reverted to the legal position of Nov. 20, when suspension measures were first applied.
Balla said the proposed amendments would explicitly state that the president, the prime minister, members of the Council of Ministers, the head of the Supreme State Audit, the Ombudsman and other single-person constitutional institutions cannot be suspended from office.
He argued that similar safeguards exist in other European countries and said Albania’s Constitutional Court had failed to resolve the matter due to a 4–4 split decision.
“The day a constitutional body suspends another constitutional body, democracy is over,” Balla said, adding that the amendments are ready and will be formally submitted within hours.
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