Surround it when it doesn't convince you, use it when you need it/ Veliaj's Manual on the Courts

2026-04-02 21:09:00, Editorial CNA

Surround it when it doesn't convince you, use it when you need it/

In the Albanian legal theater, where seriousness is often just decorum, Erion Veliaj seems to have invented a new standard: “à la carte” justice. Not every court deserves his presence. Not every process is worthy of his protagonism.

In a criminal trial? No, thank you. There are cameras, journalists, and worst of all, evidence. There is also that awkward element of the “cage,” a symbol that doesn’t quite fit with the narrative carefully constructed over years. And so, with a finesse that would be the envy of any strategist of procedural procrastination, the criminal process is delayed, diluted, faded… until perhaps it itself tires of waiting.

Erion Veliaj does not want to be tried
January 19, 19:40

But here comes the dramatic twist: in the Administrative Court, where the case he raised affects one of the prosecutors who conducted the investigations, Veliaj appears in person, energetic, ready to talk endlessly, as if at a small rally, but with togas instead of flags. There he has no problem with exposure. On the contrary, there he seems to seek it. Perhaps also because the cage is missing. Long speeches, "persuasive" tones, attempts to impress the judge with the weight of the public office, as if the position were a legal argument in itself.

Veliaj goes to the Administrative Court to "scare" the judge
April 2, 20:58

The paradox is beautiful in its grotesque way: in one courtroom he avoids facing the accusation, in another he persistently seeks it, but not to protect himself from the evidence, but to attack the prosecutor who found it. A kind of selective justice, where the battle does not take place where it should, but where it seems most advantageous. This behavior is not simply contradictory, it is indicative of Erion Veliaj's personality.

At the very least, it shows a deeply personal relationship with the process, where the prosecutor is seen more as an adversary to be eliminated than as a party to a procedure that must be respected. And above all, it shows a blatant disregard for the very essence of criminal trial: confronting the facts.

Why Erion Veliaj seeks conflict with prosecutor Ols Dado
January 24, 15:22

In the end, only one ironic question remains: if justice is a stage, is Erion Veliaj an actor who chooses the role, or a spectator who avoids unpleasant scenes? Because so far, it seems that when he doesn't like the script, he simply doesn't go on stage. And in all this, one fact cannot be forgotten, which makes the irony even thicker, almost indigestible.

Because the same Erion Veliaj who today appears calm, restrained and "institutional" at the doors of the Administrative Court, once turned it into an arena of public pressure. Everyone remembers when he surrounded the administrative court at that time, when he filled the space around it with militants to impress Edi Rama, when he filled the space with voices, statements, insinuations and attacks on administrative judges. A not-so-hidden attempt to create a climate, to influence perception, to exert that old pressure of the crowd on the platoon.

Surround it when it doesn't convince you, use it when you need it/

May 2016 news

So, back then the court was a “problem” when it did not decide as it should. Today it is a “tribune” when it serves a personal battle against the prosecutor of his case. This transformation is not an institutional evolution, it is pure opportunism. From the delegitimization of judges to the attempt to impress them, within the same system that was once treated as an obstacle and today as a tool. From frontal attack to soft rhetoric, but always with the same objective: influencing the process.

What does Erion Veliaj want from SPAK prosecutors?
February 6, 14:47

And meanwhile, in criminal trials, where the weight is real, where evidence is not negotiated with rhetoric and where the decision is not won with speeches, the absence is constant. A contrast that speaks louder than any public statement. Essentially, we are dealing with a selective relationship with justice: when it is inconvenient, you attack it; when it is convenient, you use it and when it is really dangerous, you avoid it.

If he once surrounded the Administrative Court to put pressure on it, today he seems to be trying to "conquer" it with his presence. But the essence remains the same: not respect for the process, but an attempt to control it./CNA