At the end of the press conference, Prime Minister Edi Rama also spoke about the detention of Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj, describing his imprisonment as unjust.
Rama said that it has never happened in any country that the mayor has been kidnapped and left in a cell without trial.
"There is still a year and a half until the elections. I tried to give Tirana a mayor, it didn't work because the Constitutional Court said that Tirana has a mayor. Tirana has one, but where does it have one? So they should take him out, take him there to do his duty and then if he is found guilty, go and serve his sentence. What is happening here like this? This is not right," said Rama.
Edi Rama: Erion Veliaj in the cell, he is locked in a cell without trial and in the meantime the search for evidence continues. I still haven't found out what he did specifically. I haven't understood what he did. I haven't seen corruption in the case of the word. I know one thing that every citizen of the Republic who is not part of criminal organizations. Exclude cases where corruption is involved in flagrante delicto which again it is quite natural that he ends up in detention, all other cases must be very well-argued.
I have not seen any arguments other than what the Council of Europe says. As they did to Hashim Thaçi, they took him and locked him inside, but he turned out to be innocent, who can turn back those years? Mayor, the technique of taking the mayor, as in the case of the one in Tropoja that you did not sign, no you did not sign. He was elected by the people, take him, judge him, he has the right to a trial, and in the end, with evidence, put him in prison. But you cannot imprison him because you want to, because you feel strong, no country does that.
There is still a year and a half until the elections. I tried to give Tirana a mayor, it didn't work because the Constitutional Court said that Tirana has a mayor. Tirana has one, but where does it have one? So they should take him out, take him there to do his duty and then if he is found guilty, go and serve his sentence.
What is happening here like this. This is not right. These are problems that need to be taken seriously by everyone, from the judiciary, the ILD, the Council, the protagonists themselves. Here are the people, to be investigated, judged and the wheat from the chaff to be separated. What are these house inspections for things that happened 5 years ago? How can this happen? House inspections have rules if you look at the law, not to go in there and grab whatever you can grab and see…
