Prime Minister Edi Rama has reacted to today’s decision of the Supreme Court, which rejected the appeal of the mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, to ease the security measure and release him from detention.
According to Rama, “Erion Veliaj’s ordeal” is a unique case in the history of democratic Europe and he claims that it has not yet been made clear the existence of an extreme dangerousness that would justify, according to him, the prolonged detention of a person elected by the citizens.
The Prime Minister also shifted his attention to the functioning of the capital, arguing that the absence of an elected mayor is creating a cost for Tirana and its residents.
He described the situation as an “unprecedented and unheard-of legal, social and economic experiment,” claiming that its cost is burdening nearly one million residents of Tirana.
Edi Rama’s full reaction:
Once again Tirana is headless and once again the newly elected president, christened by the Constitutional Court itself as the only one in office and immovable from office, cannot move from the cell where he is being held without trial!
Yes, the rule is that court decisions are respected, and I always abide by this rule – I don’t even comment on decisions before they become final.
But, beyond the fact that Erion Veliaj’s ordeal is unique in the history of democratic Europe and also the fact that there is still no evidence of extreme dangerousness anywhere that could justify the endless imprisonment of a person elected by the people, there is another bitter truth:
No one will care about the daily and increasing cost of the first capital in the world, which has been living with its head cut off for almost two years, and about the tribute that almost 1 million residents must pay daily to this unprecedented and unheard of legal, social and economic experiment.