Albania court overturns president’s impeachment

By LLAZAR SEMINI
Associated Press

TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albania’s Constitutional Court has overturned parliament’s impeachment of President Ilir Meta for allegedly inciting instability and showing bias before the country’s parliamentary election last year. In a ruling issued late Wednesday, the court said the evidence against Meta did not amount to “a grave violation of the Constitution,” which is a legal threshold for discharging a sitting president. Albanian lawmakers voted 104-7 to impeach Meta after a parliamentary investigation concluded he had violated 16 constitutional articles and incited violence with his bias against the ruling Socialists during campaigning for the April 2021 election. Meta’s term in office ends in July. He had denounced the investigation and impeachment, arguing they were illegal.