A woman judge rules against injured women in a battery case

TIRANA, Sept.22 - Yesterday the Distric Attorney’s office in Tirana requested that Florenc Hoxha, Chief of Municipal Police, who assaulted and beat up two female employees of City Hall tax office few days ago, be suspended from his job until a full investigation of the incident was carried out.

But everybody was sure that the court would reject this request, because the chief is a big gun in the prime minister’s private entourage and it’s a known fact now that court system is under complete control of these private fraternity-like societies. Therefore, the decision of the court today came as no surprise to the Albanians.

The pity, though, was that the judge who ruled against the battered women was a woman herself. She didn’t experience the feeling of empathy for the pains and humiliation suffered by same-sex peers like a woman judge in Europe and the United States would do, where the chief would have found himself behind bars minutes after the incidents and risked up to ten years in a maximum security prison for a number of charges ranging from aggravated battery to abuse of power. The rights of women are just hollow statements in Albania that really means nothing to the system.

I hope Ms. Judge never goes through the ordeal the two former City Hall employees did, although no one is safe in this country and with this government.

A.K.