27 Jun On the Eve of the 10th Anniversary of the Justice Reform, Which Turned into the “Rama Reform” (Regime)
Since the day before yesterday I made public my official request to the Special Court Against Corruption and Organized Crime (SPAK/GJKKO), asking it to address its questions directly to the U.S. Department of Justice—questions that would conclusively clarify the investigation into the LSI-GSIS lobbying contract, I am publishing today the letter sent to me by the U.S. Ambassador, Mr. Donald Lu, on June 14, 2016.
In this letter, Ambassador Lu expresses the United States’ gratitude for the decisive support that the Socialist Movement for Integration (LSI), through Mr. Petrit Vasili, provided to the approval of the Justice Reform in the Parliamentary Ad Hoc Committee. At the time, the Democratic Party (PD) was legitimately boycotting the committee because Edi Rama refused to accept Recommendation No. 88 of the Venice Commission, which was designed to safeguard the independence of the new justice institutions.
To better understand the context of these two letters, which demonstrate nothing more than my complete consistency, and that of the LSI, regarding the Justice Reform, I must explain that on the morning of June 13, 2016, I received an absurd text message on my mobile phone, purportedly sent on behalf of the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Mr. Hoyt Brian Yee. At that hour, according to Washington time, he would have been fast asleep.
My response was unequivocal, not only because I knew Mr. Hoyt Brian Yee could not possibly have sent such a message after a long working day, but also because I clearly understood that behind it stood the individual who would later hijack the justice system, someone who had no interest whatsoever in seeing the Justice Reform adopted through consensus, but rather through the purchase of opposition MPs.
Ambassador Lu himself assumed responsibility for the alleged “uncertainties” that Mr. Hoyt Brian Yee was supposedly expressing.
In reality, only a few days earlier I had personally briefed Mr. Hoyt Brian Yee in detail at the U.S. Department of State. I had also met with Assistant Secretary of State Ambassador William Brownfield, who was not only the highest-ranking State Department official overseeing the Justice Reform, but also the most principled and consistent public official insisting until the very end that the reform be approved through consensus.
As is widely known, Recommendation No. 88 of the Venice Commission was ultimately adopted but not in the manner Edi Rama had intended.
That is why the Justice Reform was approved with full political consensus, through the historic and unprecedented unanimous vote of all 140 members of Parliament.
Afterward, however, Edi Rama retaliated. With the assistance of Charles McGonigal, he succeeded in capturing the “New Justice” system, beginning with the appointment of the Prosecutor General by only 69 votes (instead of the 84 required by the Constitution), blocking the Justice Appointments Council for three consecutive years, leaving the country without a Constitutional Court, and committing many other similar abuses.
Today, I invite you to read these two unedited letters for yourselves.
