The council, chaired by President Bajram Begaj, took place at the Palace of Brigades in Tirana.

Vlora Hyseni, the former head of SHISH, is suspected of passing classified information to Ergys Agasi while he was on the run, according to the proceedings.

The meeting focused on national security matters and the protection of classified information.

The council comprises the heads of 13 institutions and is chaired by the president. Prime Minister Edi Rama also attended.

PM Rama said in a press statement a day ago that Hyseni would face justice on an individual basis, while describing the measure taken against her as extreme. He said a criminal investigation involving the head of the country’s intelligence service had implications for national security and the interests of the state.

The government head has said the council should discuss safeguards needed to protect security institutions and classified information when their heads become subject to criminal investigations.

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In a statement on social media while on a visit to New York where he is attending the U.N. General Assembly, the government head said he expects all suspicions raised by prosecutors to be fully investigated through an independent judicial process.

“I have been informed about the house arrest order issued by SPAK against the director of the State Intelligence Service, and I expect every suspicion raised by the prosecution to be investigated and clarified fully through an independent judicial process,” Rama wrote on social media.

He said that, despite his respect for Hyseni’s work and the positive assessments she had received from partner intelligence agencies, “we have chosen an irreversible path of judicial independence, under which anyone could be investigated and tried regardless of social status or public office.”

He also criticised what he described as a tendency in political and media circles to condemn public figures as soon as they become the subject of a judicial investigation or measure, before a court has reached a final decision.

“It seems inevitable that every investigation or measure taken by the justice system against public figures becomes a reason for political and media circles to condemn them before the court has had its say,” Rama said.

Rama said that independent judicial action and the principle of equality before the law should not be portrayed as an indictment of his governing majority, which he said had helped open the way for an independent judiciary in Albania.

He also rejected the suggestion that developments involving the justice system should be used against Albania as it pursues European Union membership, saying the country was undertaking reforms that would be judged more favourably over time.

Rama stressed that the principle of presumption of innocence remained in force, while no one was above the law.

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