The Court of Appeals upheld this Friday measure of suspension for the leader of the Albania Football Association (AFA), Armand Duka. 

Armand Duka and his lawyers appealed the decision of the Court of Tirana that suspended the latter from office, a measure which will remain in force, as the Court of Appeals has rejected the request of the latter. 

Before being re-elected president, in the March 15 Assembly, Duka was suspended from duty by the Tirana Court while the way was opened for the Prosecution to investigate him after he was accused of abuse of office and forgery of documents. Duka thus continues to be under investigation and suspended. The enactment of this measure came this Friday, where earlier his lawyers had requested the change of the trial panel, a request which was not accepted. 

The Appeal also upheld the measure of suspension from duty for the other two officials of the AFA, Ilir Shulku, and Ardian Haçi. The Court of Appeals, at the end of the trial of the case regarding the appeal against the decision of the Tirana Judicial District Court, which imposed the restrictive security measure "suspension of the exercise of a duty or public service", did not accept the applicants' request for exclusion of the judge of the case on the grounds that he was elected to the National Chamber of Conflict Resolution, as the judge has never exercised this function, which was possible only with the permission of the High Judicial Council, permission which was not given in the present case. 

Secondly, regarding the trial, the case was examined with the appeal of three persons under investigation Ardian Haçi, Ilir Shulku and Armand Duka, who requested the change of the decision and the rejection of the prosecutor's request for imposing a detention measure. According to the complainants, there is a lack of reasonable suspicion based on evidence, for the commission of a criminal offense, and none of them has been taken as a defendant nor exercises a public function, referring to the organization in the form of an NGO (association), which operates independently of the state. Also, the prosecutor himself has requested the suspension from exercising a professional or business activity, which according to the annullers, shows that the prosecution body was convinced that the persons under investigation are not public officials. In relation to this allegation, the applicants' counsel referred to a number of norms of international and domestic law. 

Subsequently, the defense submitted allegations on the investigation, which according to it is based on several articles in the media, while there is no evidence regarding the object of the investigation and the criminal offense of forgery. 

Against the allegations of the appellants, the appellate prosecutor Genti Xholi, asked the court to approve the appealed decision, as a fair decision. The prosecutor maintained that the court of first instance had responded to all allegations made by the complainants. The Prosecution has initiated a criminal proceeding in accordance with the procedural law, while the certain measure guarantees the investigation and the law determines it for a period of three months. 

At the end of the trial, in assessing the allegations raised in the appeals of the persons under investigation, the Tirana Court of Appeals decided: Approval of decision no. 492/1 act, dated 04.03.2022 of the Tirana Judicial District Court.