Violand Braçellari’s name reappears in the investigations of the Korça Prosecutor’s Office in 2020. He was again suspected of cultivating cannabis and the Prosecutor’s Office put him under surveillance. Prosecutor Edmond Shytko, based on the reports sent by the Maliq Police Commissariat, registered the criminal proceedings and on March 26, 2020, authorization was granted for his surveillance. These investigative actions, in the period from March 28, 2020 to April 13, 2020, revealed that the information was accurate.
The information dated May 15, 2020 raises suspicions that Violandi was studying the terrain on Mount Bode to cultivate narcotics, continuing with the information of June 8, 2020, where it is suspected that Braçellari had cultivated 500 cannabis sativa plants in the river that passes near the village of Shipskë, where the two branches that flow into the village of Gjinikas join. Referring to the investigations, on June 24, 2020, in the stables where citizen Violand Braçellari was suspected of living, three citizens were working the land to prepare for planting narcotic plants. The prosecution ordered searches in the stables where his mother and father lived, as well as in the place where Violandi was hiding, but nothing illegal was found.
In the file provided by Inside Story for this case, photographs of the environment of the stable, the place where the livestock were kept, and the adaptation of the sleeping and cooking rooms are clearly visible.
“The person has been wanted for many years and it does not appear that he has left the Republic of Albania. The way in which he carries out proceedings after proceedings, security measures are imposed, sentences are imposed and they are never executed by the State Police, leads to two important elements. Either there was corrupt cooperation with state employees who are responsible for his capture, or he had a superhuman ability to hide from the eyes of the State Police”, said former prosecutor Eugen Beci.
“In my opinion, we must accurately assess every piece of information and every case before carrying out such operations. A very thorough risk assessment and analysis must be made, in order to avoid sending unqualified and untrained police officers to these types of interventions, because it gets in their way,” said lawyer Gjergj Nikolli.
The searches carried out at the apartment of Violand Braçellari and his family did not bring any evidence for the Prosecution. For this reason, the case was dismissed, without charges being brought against the wanted man. However, if the file is carefully analyzed, some very interesting details emerge, especially regarding the wiretaps on the way Violand Braçellari terrorized the residents of the area. He even considered himself untouchable, since the state had not managed to arrest him, despite being wanted. However, there were also suspicions about the people who could inform him about the movements of the Prosecution and the Police. The wiretaps reveal that he threatened the residents of the area.
Violand Braçellari lived with his family in the village of Lozhan, in the Maliq administrative unit. He had recently bought and was raising 13 cows. Three days earlier, Violand had threatened an unidentified person on the phone that he would kill him if he brought him moldy feed for the cows again. The resident from Libonik had agreed to bring him more food free of charge. The investigative file reveals that Violandi also maintained contact with the village headman, Sabri Braçellari. The latter not only did not denounce him, but it is suspected that he may have helped him hide from the police or cultivate narcotic plants. In one of the wiretaps of the Prosecution, regarding suspicions of cultivating narcotics, this conversation of interest to the investigation was recorded:
Violandi: Did the shepherd come to you?
348: Yes, yes.
Violandi: He only has those 20 with grass.
348: Yes, and how many do you need?
Violandi: Yes, they are needed, they won’t hurt me, as long as there are 50, 100. Has anyone harvested them?
348: They’re harvesting the alfalfa now, it’ll take a week or so to dry. I talked to that guy and he said there might be 2 and he said 4500. If you want, I’ll go out tomorrow and ask others, I’ll find you.
Violandi: Okay, but those 20 aren’t moldy.
348: No, there are a lot of them. There might be about 40, but these are good ones with grass.
After the conversation, police officers conducted searches, but no illegal items were found in his apartment.
Perhaps the wiretaps did not provide sufficient evidence, according to the prosecution, but there were suspicious conversations, such as this one on May 13, 2020, which took place at 2:17:32 PM.
Violandi: I have an unfinished trial… it seems to be about to be settled.
Person: Well, I’m sorry, God willing.
Violandi: What a waste of time. These prisoners… the police threw, look, two grams of hashish.
Person: Yes, for fun. For anger.
Violandi: But how can I keep it for the old woman, without them I would have packed it in time. I would have given it to them, I would have given it to my sister, but the old woman: amen, amen.
Person: Come on, what are you going to do, better.
Violandi: They were right.
This conversation reveals Violand’s hatred of the police and his thoughts of revenge against the officers. According to his statements in the conversation, only his mother’s intervention had prevented him from taking action against the police officers who had participated in the actions against him. He claimed that the conviction was based on fabricated evidence, despite the evidence and wiretaps administered in the file.