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"Changes to the Criminal Code, a tool of fear and political control"/ Hoti: Protest, the only way out against the regime

2026-01-28 16:11:00, Aktualitet CNA

"Changes to the Criminal Code, a tool of fear and political control"/

Democratic Party MP Elda Hoti spoke today regarding the changes to the Criminal Code, which were approved in the plenary session.

Invited to Syri TV, she said that these changes increase penalties and use criminal law to intimidate citizens and hide the failures of this government.

"Absolutely, such an approach leaves the media defenseless and exposes it to attacks, pressures and indirect interference. Today, in the Assembly, the majority approved amendments to the Criminal Code that unfairly burden citizens and the media, even though they were presented as approximation with European Union laws. In reality, these amendments increase penalties and use criminal law as a tool of fear and political control.

Exemption from criminal liability was provided only for registered or known journalists, at a time when Albania does not and should not have a legal system for registering journalists, because establishing such a registry would be contrary to European standards of freedom of expression and would pave the way for control and restriction of the exercise of the profession.

This government, instead of solving real problems, such as, as was the most absurd example, the criminalization of double parking with a sentence of up to three years in prison, which has nothing to do with public safety, but serves to cover up the failures of this government. Because this government, instead of solving the real problems that affect Albanian citizens today, such as the lack of parking and urban chaos, goes and chooses the easiest path: prison for citizens and amnesty for those responsible.

"An incorrect parking cannot be equated with serious crimes that endanger social order. The criminal law is being used, therefore, and these changes introduced in the Criminal Code are serving as a means of intimidation for citizens, to mask the institutional failures of this government. These changes turn the Criminal Code from a law that protects society into an instrument of pressure and fear against citizens. So, you punish a citizen for double parking and protect the rampant corruption of Belinda Balluku. This is the standard that this majority has today," the MP said.

Hoti spoke, among other things, about the January 24 protest, saying that the protest is a way to show the government that the regime is the people.

She added that Albanians will continue to protest because living conditions are becoming more unaffordable every day.

"Protest is a way to show this regime that the sovereign is the people. Protest is the only way left for Albanians in the face of a regime. As we saw in the protest on the 24th, Albanians stood up against corruption, against a prime minister who is implicated in corruption and no longer has the legitimacy to be called the prime minister of Albanian citizens, but an advocate of a rotten system, where, anywhere in the world, when a prime minister is caught in corruption, he leaves.

But we have a prime minister who is holding on to power to protect himself and his corrupt people. Albanians have 1001 reasons why they are protesting and will continue to protest, for the increased prices, because life is becoming more and more unbearable every day; they are protesting for the insecurity in schools, where every parent lives with anxiety for their children; they are protesting for the ruined education; for the young people whose only way out is escape, because this state has abandoned them.

They are protesting for a prime minister who has taken justice hostage, has turned the state into private property, and the protests will continue. Neither tear gas nor the violence exerted by soldier Ilir Proda of gangs and organized crime can stop us; nor can the propaganda of this majority, which on social networks displays an Albania with a 3D appearance, while the difficult reality in which Albanian citizens find themselves today is seen and touched by everyone.

The people's revolt has continued, will continue and no one can stop it. We will continue to protest until this government leaves and Albania returns to the tracks of democracy; so that Albanians can continue to live in their country, have security for their lives and for their children. Albania belongs to everyone, it does not belong only to a handful of individuals who have taken it hostage and are exploiting it for their personal interests", she said. /CNA