The reason for the postponement of this court session is because the defence lawyers of the former Prime Minister Sali Berisha, Genc Gjokutaj and Sokol Mêngjezi, have not yet filed the verbally articulated motion on Wednesday for the recusal of judge Irena Gjoka, as according to them there is bias in decision making.

“As we were informed yesterday, the motion for the recusal of the judge, articulated by us, has a deadline of three days for its written submission. We have received part of the evidence in the secretariat and because we are still within the court deadline for filing our motion for the recusal of judge Gjoka, the court postponed the decision until Saturday and let’s see if the decision will be delivered. Today we have received a good part of the evidence that will accompany our request for the recusal of the judge”, said Gjokutaj.

“We think that the evidence supports the motion for the recusal of judge Irena Gjoka. The evidence is such that it proves the bias of the judge’s decisions. I will not reveal any other details of the hearing that is taking place behind closed doors and I cannot say more than that,” Gjokutaj said in a media briefing upon exiting the court session held at SCCOC, which lasted about 30 minutes.
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