Rama on the Veliaj Ruling: Once Again Tirana Is Headless — the Mayor Cannot Move from the Cell Where He Is Held Without Trial

Prime Minister Edi Rama has reacted after the court’s decision to keep Tirana mayor Erion Veliaj in prison.

In a public reaction, Rama criticized the decision, calling Tirana “headless.” He said the decision to keep Veliaj in his cell has had consequences for the capital.

Full reaction:

“Once again Tirana is headless and once again the elected mayor, newly christened by the Constitutional Court itself as the only one in office and irremovable from office, cannot move from the cell where he is held without trial!

Yes, the rule is that court decisions must be respected and I always submit to 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 nowhere is there yet any evidence of the extreme dangerousness that could justify the endless lockup in a cell of a people’s elect, there is another bitter truth:

No one wants to know about the daily and ever higher cost of the first capital in the world, which for almost two years has lived decapitated, and about the tribute that nearly 1 million residents must pay daily to this unprecedented and unheard-of legal, social and economic experiment.”