Mayor Erion Veliaj's lawyers held a media conference where they answered journalists' questions.

Ben Brandon, Veliaj's lawyer, during his speech emphasized that they are assisting Erion Veliaj in his application to Strasbourg.

He also emphasized that the issue is of high importance and that after many requests they were allowed to meet with Veliaj.

"We are international legal representatives and we understand that it has a high public importance in Albania and outside Albania. We are to assist Mr. Veliaj in his application to the European Court of Human Rights. We will return in early September to continue with the application. We have been legal representatives since the beginning of Veliaj's detention and together with co-legal representatives in the US, we have requested to meet, but our requests have been repeatedly denied. After a late change in decision-making, we were finally granted the right to meet after 14 months of denied requests," he said.

He also emphasized that the long time taken to evaluate the arrest is unacceptable and that there are inexplicable and unacceptable delays in the trial of Erion Veliaj.

"All the delays are part of it, his detention on February 9, 2025, the review by the Constitutional Court, in a closed session that authorized the detention of Mr. Veliaj who immediately filed an appeal, which was dealt with on March 11 of last year. Thanks to July 1 of this year, the constitutional court was asked to resolve some issues, but some were returned. But there needs to be an acceleration of the handling of the issue regarding Mr. Veliaj and the detention. There is a delay of 16 months and unexplained. Albania must address the issue of deprivation of liberty as soon as possible," Brandon added.