A preliminary hearing for the Erion Veliaj case was held today at the Special Court. It has been learned that it has been decided that the case of the mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, will go to trial.
Journalist Klodiana Lala told News24 that "After four months of delay in the preliminary hearing, the special court decided to consider the decision of the special prosecution complete. Throughout these months, Mr. Veliaj's lawyers have been continuously absent."
The first hearing took place on September 29, 2025, but was postponed due to the lawyer's failure to appear. For the same reason, the hearings of October 10, October 21 and October 28 were also postponed, when Veliaj replaced the lawyers who had represented him during the preliminary investigation and the personal security measure hearing. He then agreed to be represented by lawyer Artan Gjermëni.
The hearings of 12 and 17 November were postponed to give the lawyers time to prepare their requests for the preliminary hearing. The hearing of 2 December was postponed to give the lawyer time to consult with the defendant, while the one of 12 December was postponed to give him time to prepare the requests for the preliminary hearing. At this hearing, Veliaj removed lawyer Gjermëni as his defense counsel and the court primarily assigned lawyer Valentina Teodorescu to defend him.
The preliminary hearing failed to conclude in January of this year, when the January 5th hearing was postponed due to the absence of a lawyer, while the January 19th hearing was postponed to allow time for consultation with the defendant.
The hearing held on February 2 was postponed for the announcement of the decision, which will be notified to the parties in the process today.
Article 332 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, “Scheduling the preliminary hearing”, stipulates, among other things, that: “The court shall decide on the request to send the case to trial within 30 days from the date of its filing.”
Erion Veliaj was arrested on February 10, accused of having, together with his wife Ajola Xoxa, built a complex corruption and money laundering scheme to illegally benefit from the capital's municipality funds and bribes from its businessmen contractors, using a network of companies and non-profit organizations.
According to SPAK, the mayor of the capital and his wife have benefited from around 1 million euros from this corrupt scheme.
