Tirana mayor Erion Veliaj fractures leg playing football in prison, taken to hospital for treatment

Tirana mayor Erion Veliaj suffered a fractured leg while playing football during recreation time at the penitentiary institution in Durrës.

The incident happened about two weeks ago, requiring his transport to a private hospital in the capital for radiological examinations and the placement of the limb in a cast.

Veliaj has been in detention since February 2025, during which the trial against him also began. The Special Structure Against Corruption and Organized Crime (SPAK) has raised a series of charges against him including corruption, money laundering, concealment of assets, abuse of office, as well as bringing prohibited items into prison facilities. The municipality’s leader has rejected all the prosecution’s claims.

Most recently, on September 15, the High Court decided to uphold the security measure of “prison arrest,” after the file returned from the Constitutional Court in May.

Veliaj’s defense team called this decision unacceptable and is preparing to turn to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Meanwhile, the trial panel is obliged within two months to justify the refusal of a lighter security measure for the capital’s administrator.

Despite being in a cell, Veliaj continues to lead the country’s largest municipality through the signing of administrative acts, after the removal from office of the acting deputy mayor, Anuela Ristani.

/tvklan.al