“A new law for old troubles” – Rama’s proposals for changes to the Criminal Code, DP accuses: He doesn’t care who stays in detention

The Democratic Party has reacted to Edi Rama’s proposals for changes to the Criminal Code.

According to the head of the DP parliamentary group, Gazment Bardhi, Rama is tailoring a law that suits his own measure.

Gazment Bardhi’s post:

“A new law for Rama’s old troubles!

Edi Rama doesn’t care who stays in pre-trial detention rightly and who doesn’t. If he really cared, he would not have proclaimed and pursued “PRISON” as the short road to solving every social problem in Albania from the first day he came to power. Prison for illegal construction. Prison for energy. Prison for undeclared work. Prison during COVID. Every time he failed to keep an electoral promise, the political answer was the same: more punishment, more prison.

In October 2014, during the energy operation, more than 1,000 people were arrested in the first months alone. A policy that also had tragic stories. Qamil Zela, 52, a father of three, spent two months in pre-trial detention over a debt of 35 thousand old lekë and, on 28 December 2014, hanged himself in his cell.

That is why Edi Rama cannot today bring up the Council of Europe as if he has just discovered that Albania has a problem with pre-trial detention. The Council of Europe had said this in the first months of his government. On 16 January 2014, the Council of Europe warned of “excessive reliance on pre-trial detention” and recommended that this measure be used only as a last resort, giving priority to alternatives. The Council of Europe report found that, from October 2013 to February 2014, the number of people in pre-trial detention had doubled, reaching around 2,300 people, or approximately 40% of the entire prison population.

So Edi Rama knew. The European warning had been issued and the cause had been identified: the government’s policy.

So when did Edi Rama remember that freedom should be the rule and prison the exception?

Certainly not in 2014, when the Council of Europe raised the alarm. Not when, as soon as he came to power, pre-trial detentions doubled. And not when Qamil Zela hanged himself in pre-trial detention over electricity.

Edi Rama remembered that he had caused this problem in February 2025, after the arrest of Erion Veliaj.

On 12 February 2025, two days after the arrest, Edi Rama spoke of Veliaj’s “imprisonment without trial” and said the trial could continue while he was free. Only then did he also discover the Council of Europe’s “area of freedom”.

Not because he feels sorry for Veliaj. Edi Rama is working for himself. Ergys Agasi has much to say. Belinda Balluku has much to say. I believe everyone remembers the public statement that SPAK could not take Edi Rama’s phone.

Today’s changes explain everything.

Until now Edi Rama has made tailor-made laws for others. Today, he is tailoring a law to his own measure.”