Sky ECC: SPAK's 'Weapon' against Organized Crime is Challenged in the Constitutional Court

In Albania, the fight against organized crime has been transformed by a technology previously used by criminal groups to communicate in secret. Sky ECC, an encrypted app that advertised absolute privacy, has become the main weapon of the Special Prosecution Office in recent years, revealing thousands of conversations linking criminals, politicians and businessmen in Albania.

Thanks to the dismantling of the Sky ECC system, SPAK has cracked down on at least nine powerful criminal organizations, made dozens of arrests, and shed light on serious events of recent years.

These communications are also considered by prosecutors as an advantage to more broadly understand the extent of Albanian organized crime and its penetration into public administration and law enforcement agencies.

"Sky has helped us understand the scope of Albanian organized crime, which includes Albania, Europe, but also Latin, Central and South America. It has helped us understand the level of organization, the financial power that criminal groups have," says SPAK prosecutor Klodian Braho.

"It has also helped us understand their penetration into public administration, the police, the prosecution, as well as judicial bodies," he added.

Sky ECC is an application developed by the Canadian company Sky Global. This application offered advanced encryption and was widely used by criminal organizations for illegal activities, such as drug and arms trafficking.

However, in March 2021, French, Belgian and Dutch authorities managed to decrypt the communications. Prosecutor Braho says that among the Sky ECC users were thousands of Albanians, both in Albanian territory and abroad.

“The Albanian language is one of the most used languages ??on the Sky ECC platform,” said Braho.

But not everyone agrees with treating Sky ECC data as judicial evidence.

One of the users is suspected to be businessman Pëllumb Gjoka, a strategic government investor, who is accused of premeditated murder as part of a structured criminal group that was hit during Operation "Metamorphosis" in July 2023.

Gjoka has appealed the decision to keep him in prison to the Constitutional Court, challenging his arrest as illegal based on evidence obtained by Sky ECC.

Former Minister of Justice, Ylli Manjani, and also Gjoka's lawyer, defends the idea that using this data as judicial evidence constitutes a violation of human rights and privacy rules.

"We are faced with the fact that we have massive interceptions. With a listening device, between two communication servers of Sky devices, all the information has been taken. Whatever you find there, you can use it for national security data, but not as judicial evidence," said Manjani.

"We are not in a debate with Sky ECC. We are in a judicial debate with the Albanian prosecution and the Albanian courts. The data obtained by Sky ECC must be subject to legality control in the country where it is used. If even a court decision is issued in France authorizing the wiretapping of Pëllumb Gjoka, then we can accept the evidence," he stressed.

Gjoka's appeal to the Constitutional Court is not the first judicial challenge against the use of data from the encrypted application as evidence. Similar lawsuits have also been filed in the European Courts.

Former Minister of Justice, Eduard Halimi, explains that all decisions have been unanimous and, according to him, converge on three main components.

"First, the right to protection of the privacy of individuals is very important, even if they have engaged in criminal activity. Secondly, the authority and the state responsible for collecting the data and respecting the standards is where they were collected. So, France is responsible, it collected them and then transmitted them. The Strasbourg Court says that these data were collected in accordance with French and European standards," said Halimi.

"Thirdly, each state must analyze and use this data in accordance with its legislation. Also, this data must be subject to judicial review to be considered legal," he stressed.

Although the use of messages decrypted by Sky ECC has given prosecutors a significant advantage in the fight against organized crime, documenting the criminal events associated with these messages remains a complex investigative process.

For prosecutor Klodian Braho, this process requires time, care and professionalism.

"In Sky you can find communications that have evidentiary value, but you can also find opinions, conjectures and rumors. The challenge of the investigation team, the prosecutor and the investigators is to make the most accurate assessment of these communications. This is done by combining the Sky ECC communications with other evidence, documents and testimonies from witnesses," Braho emphasized.

On December 19, the Constitutional Court’s judicial panel will rule on this issue, determining whether the use of Sky ECC data as evidence complies with the Constitution and international standards. This decision will have a significant impact on the future of the fight against organized crime in Albania. / BIRN