Kurti's hearing/ Lawyer: We will continue to seek innocence

2025-05-19 16:42:00, Kronika CNA

A hearing was held at noon today at the Korça Court of First Instance for the requalification of the criminal offense against Dritson Kurti, who, after marrying a minor from the Roma community, gave birth to a child.

Family members and members of the Roma community have protested for the third time in front of the court, demanding Kurti's release, because this community has a tradition of early marriage. The minor and her father, in an interview with the media, have requested Dritson's release, stating that they are unable to make a living and are in debt to raise the baby.

" Release my husband. There is no one to feed me, as I have always said. I have no job. These months have been very difficult, my grandmother has taken on more debt from the store that supports me and my child. I just want you to release me. This is the third protest ," said the minor.

" We want her to be freed. We have the old laws of our grandparents, our old traditions, we have followed them too. The state has the power to free her an hour or so ago. We also have no way to help her. We work with scrap metal and garbage, we are raising our children. We want her to be freed, to create her own family with her own children ," said the father of the minor girl.

In the court session held today, it was decided to reclassify the criminal offense from Article 100/2 to Article 100/1, and the summary trial was accepted for judicial economy, while according to lawyer Enea Cenko, they will continue to seek acquittal.

" Today the hearing at the Korça court went very well. Up until this procedural moment that we are at, a previous hearing was requested, the requalification of the charge, article 100/2 of the criminal code, and the court had withdrawn to make a decision. It accepted the requalification of the charge. Now in today's hearing, in the preliminary hearing, the court accepted it as requested by the prosecution from article 100/2 to article 100/1. We requested the part of the summary trial, which was accepted by the court. A colossal amount of work has been done to create conviction and to request the prosecution to requalify the charge. In the next hearing, we will hear the conclusions of the prosecution. The minor girl, the victim of this process, spoke, insistently requesting that her husband return home and provide for himself. I call on all institutions to make the most just decision, considering that there is a special convention for the Roma community and to look more rigorously at the European Convention on Roma. If we were to go by the first qualification made by the prosecution, Dritson Kurti would risk up to 25 years in prison. At this procedural moment, we are dealing with a request for a sentence of 7-15 years.

I believe that the court will take into account the mitigating circumstances and it should be emphasized that it is a very important fact that the victim did not file a complaint against this person. Another fact is that in today's process, she spoke what her soul wanted. This is a big alarm in case this person is still in these conditions, it means that many members of the Roma community are married young and today the state police should make a plan of measures and arrest a significant part of this community. The summary trial was requested by our side for judicial economy and until the end we will insist on innocence. We appeal to all institutions to react to this issue, and in particular the court, the prosecution, to look at the decision-making with great rigor and I think there will be something mitigating ", said the lawyer.

For the Roma community, this hearing was a positive step because from the 25 years that Kurti was risking, now with Article 100/1 the sentence reaches 7-15 years in prison.

Among other things, the defense attorney has appealed to law enforcement agencies to react rigorously to this issue./ CNA