The preliminary hearing, in which the request for the transfer to trial of the criminal case against spouses Erion Veliaj and Ajola Xoxa, as well as 16 other defendants for corruption and money laundering, is being reviewed, is expected to conclude in the next hearing.

Edmond Hoxhaj | BIRN

The preliminary hearing for the review of the request of the Special Prosecution Office, SPAK, for the transfer to trial of the criminal case for corruption and money laundering against the mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, his wife, Ajola Xoxa, former socialist MP Klotilda Bushka and 15 other people, including owners of construction companies and associates of the capital's first couple, is expected to end on Monday, February 9.

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. However, the postponements continued.

According to data BIRN obtained through a request for information to the Special Court of First Instance, the hearings of November 12 and 17 were postponed to give lawyers time to prepare their requests for the preliminary hearing. The hearing of December 2 was postponed to give the lawyer time to consult with the defendant, while the hearing of December 12 was postponed to give them time to prepare their requests for the preliminary hearing.

In this session, Veliaj removed lawyer Gjermëni as his defense attorney 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 5 hearing was postponed due to the absence of a lawyer, while the January 19 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 on Monday.

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.”

SPAK announced on September 10 that it had sent a request to transfer this criminal case to trial, which resulted in an exceeding of the deadline by nearly four months.

Through a press release dated December 5, 2025, SPAK accused Veliaj and his defense attorneys of having, through unjustified absences and unfair requests, prevented the completion of the preliminary hearing to move the case to trial within the deadlines set forth in the Code of Criminal Procedure.

According to SPAK, the defense attorneys of the defendant Erion Veliaj received a copy of the criminal proceedings on July 24, free of charge. It was also highlighted that the same lawyer for Veliaj, who signed the receipt of the acts, in a subsequent request for making available a copy of the acts for additional investigations, states in his letter that on July 23 they were notified of the conclusion of the investigations and that a USB with copies of the acts of this criminal proceedings was made available to them.

The prosecutors in the case then emphasized that the subsequent manner of interaction, after this procedural moment, between the defendant and his chosen lawyer, belongs to the relationship built between them and does not involve the prosecution.

Veliaj's defense attorney, Artan Gjermëni, has a different assessment, noting that the defendant requested to familiarize himself with the documents in the file, which he claims was denied by the court. "There is professional and personal defense. Not everyone has to trust the lawyer. The court says that the lawyer has familiarized himself with them and there is no need for the defendant to read them," attorney Gjermëni told BIRN during a telephone conversation on Friday.

He explained that the materials were provided to them in electronic form and are 61 thousand pages. According to him, the General Directorate of Prisons does not allow Veliaj to familiarize himself with these acts, raising claims for prohibitions in regulations and protocols. Gjermëni explained that they have asked the court to order the Directorate of Prisons to enable the installation of a computer not connected to the internet and for Veliaj to be monitored while reading the acts, but according to him, such a thing has not been enabled.

Gjermëni said that in the last session, the court was asked to act as in the case of Ilir Beqaj, who was allowed to familiarize himself with the acts in the court premises.

Lawyer Gjermëni stressed that the Code of Criminal Procedure clearly defines the procedural rights of the defendant. According to him, the defendant has the right to a summary trial. “But how can Mr. Veliaj request a summary trial when he has not been familiarized with the acts?”, Gjermëni told BIRN, adding that if the process is conducted in this way, violations will definitely be found by the European Court of Human Rights.

The Special Court of First Instance for Corruption and Organized Crime did not comment on these circumstances and on the claims of Veliaj's defense. "Regarding your request for comments on the criminal file in the preliminary hearing with defendant Erion Veliaj etc., we inform you that the court has no comments to give. The court speaks with decisions on concrete issues," the court said through the coordinator for the right to information.

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, money that was mainly used for luxury online purchases by Ajola Xoxa.

Erion Veliaj's successive requests to leave his cell have been rejected by courts of all levels. Meanwhile, on January 26, the Meeting of Judges of the Constitutional Court decided to transfer for consideration in a plenary session Veliaj's appeal against the decision of the Special Court of First Instance on the personal security measure "Arrest in prison" imposed on him on February 9 of last year, as well as against the three subsequent decisions up to the High Court, which left it in force. According to the announcement of the Constitutional Court, the case will be reviewed on the basis of documents.

Meanwhile, on November 3, the Constitutional Court overturned the decision of the Council of Ministers to dismiss Erion Veliaj from the position of Mayor of Tirana, finding it incompatible with the Constitution.

For his defense, Erion Veliaj added to his group of lawyers the studio "Mishcon de Reya LLP" - a British law firm with offices in London and Singapore.

The mayor's wife, Ajola Xoxa, is defended by lawyer Maksim Haxhia.