High Court keeps him in jail — Veliaj’s lawyer reveals the “next battle”: We have two options

Albania’s High Court on Tuesday upheld the prison arrest security measure for Tirana mayor Erion Veliaj.

The Appeals Court had on March 13, 2025 upheld the decision of the Special Court of First Instance for Corruption and Organized Crime (GJKKO).

Lawyer Ili Gërdupi, invited on the “Opinion” show on Tv Klan, stressed that to better analyze the High Court’s decision, one must first look at the reasoning of the decision.

“We don’t know whether the High Court respected the Constitutional Court’s decision or not, but we’ll see it in the reasoning. The High Court has a very standard format — it sees itself as a court of law,” he said.

Tirana mayor’s lawyer, Plarent Ndreca, said Veliaj exercises his competences, but within the framework allowed by the circumstances of detention.

“He exercises them, but within the framework allowed by being behind bars. He does not meet MPs, politicians, officials or staff. He signs through couriers brought by the secretary general, deputy mayors and through me. Of course he is limited. He meets only his lawyer, his mother, his wife and his two children. He has no daily work meetings with staff,” he said.

He stressed that they will first wait for the High Court decision’s reasoning to be published, and then explained the two paths they will follow.

“We have the possibility of appeal, of course. We will assess it, because we will look at the reasoning. Based on the reasoning we have two theoretical options: either to go to the Strasbourg Court or to the Constitutional Court immediately. This decision, the first thing it does is nullify the effectiveness of the Constitutional Court’s decision,” Veliaj’s lawyer said.

Mayor Veliaj was arrested on February 10, 2025, suspected by the authorities of corruption and money laundering, and is currently in detention.