For the second day in a row, the administration of the Tirana Court continues its boycott due to the impasse over August salaries. Employees and judicial secretaries of the Civil and Criminal Chambers are not providing services, while seeking clarification on when their salaries will be executed. In order not to penalize the arrested persons, only hearings on security measures will be held. A day earlier, the administration of the Court of Appeals also joined the boycott.
The impasse with salaries in the justice system also brought about a meeting of court presidents at the Supreme Court yesterday, where it was decided to convene an extraordinary General Meeting of Judges on September 10. The Prosecutor General, Olsian Çela, also gathered yesterday the heads of prosecution offices, representatives of the KLP and the Prosecutors' Association. The meeting emphasized the need for a quick solution by the Assembly, in compliance with the decision of the Constitutional Court.
The General Prosecutor's Office announced that "it was agreed to continue to address this issue through legal instruments, in order to guarantee the independence and normal functioning of the justice system." The impasse began after the Parliament failed to approve the new formula for magistrates' salaries by the July 31 deadline, as requested by the Constitutional Court. After the deadline passed, the Supreme Court of Justice and the Supreme Judicial Council argued that they were obliged to implement the Constitutional Court's decision themselves and set the new reference salary at 222,425 lek, up from the previous 156,800 lek, plus an additional 14,000 lek for the level of qualification.
The Ministry of Finance did not execute the payrolls calculated with the increase, arguing that determining the salary formula is the competence of the Assembly and requested that they be resentred according to the previous methodology. As a result, not only judges and prosecutors, but also employees of the administration of the courts and prosecutor's offices have been left without their August salaries.
