Prime Minister Edi Rama appears to have launched a campaign of public pressure and intimidation against citizens who speak out in anti-government protests. In a post on social media, Rama published a photo of a protester, labeling her a “lawbreaker,” a “grotesque character,” and a “militant,” simply because she had protested and called for the mobilization of the diaspora.
In his post with a photo that is not real, but identifying, the prime minister published an image of an unauthorized building in Durrës, claiming that it is of the protester who held the microphone during the protest. Rama writes that the woman is the builder of the unauthorized building and accuses her of manipulating public opinion by presenting herself as an activist for the environment and cultural heritage.
Prime Minister Edi Rama’s post to a protester raises serious questions about the use of power and the way it is intended to intimidate citizens who oppose the government.
Instead of pursuing the legal path for an unauthorized construction, if the case is real and proven, the prime minister chooses to publish the case on Facebook, identifying and publicly attacking a citizen.
This turns the post into a pure act of intimidation. Because if the object is truly unauthorized, the state has institutions, procedures, and laws to act. The law is not enforced by Facebook statuses or public exposures of protesters.
The message being conveyed is clear: anyone who protests and raises their voice against the government may become the object of public targeting by the prime minister himself.
This is precisely where the biggest problem in this case lies. The Prime Minister did not speak as the head of institutions that enforce the law, but as a political leader who uses power and public exposure to discourage protest.
In a normal democracy, the state investigates and acts according to the law. It does not use Facebook to warn citizens who take part in protests against the government.
