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The GJKKO has imposed the security measure "House Arrest" for the prison guard of Lushnja, IL

Accused of "Passive corruption of persons exercising public functions", he was arrested on September 16.

A prison employee in Lushnja was caught accepting a sum of 700 euros in exchange for granting a 5-day leave to a prisoner.

IL was arrested in collaboration with SPAK./ CNA

Erion Veliaj has submitted a request today, through which he wants to be heard by the Tirana Municipal Council before the members of this capital's Council recommend his dismissal to the Prime Minister.

In fact, this also seems to be one of those moves by Veliaj that could be called a fraudulent move, as in the case when we asked him to show us the document of the request made by Ols Dado for an addition to the one with permission or as we have publicly explained regarding the issue of foreign lawyers.

Erion Veliaj has asked to be heard by the Municipal Council. The question is very simple. What should the Municipal Council hear him about? And does this institution have any responsibility regarding the dismissal of the mayor?

First, the mayor is not dismissed by the Municipal Council, he proposes him. The institution that dismisses him is the Council of Ministers. This has also been said by his lawyers. Why should the Council listen to him? So that the Council does not implement the proposal for dismissal?

Secondly, Erion Veliaj is asking to be heard in the Municipal Council, but there must be a decision for this. Let us recall here the case of Fredi Beleri, who was not allowed to go and take the oath for 5 minutes in the Municipal Council of Himara. Why does Erion Veliaj need permission to go and "tweet" in front of his councilors? Meanwhile, it is these same councilors, most of them members of the Socialist Party Assembly, who have approved his dismissal.

On the other hand, the proposal will be submitted to the Council of Ministers and if it decides for or against, it is this institution that dismisses him, that is, the Council of Ministers. The Municipal Council has no reason to listen to Erion Veliaj. Erion Veliaj must be heard by the Council of Ministers, but Edi Rama has no reason to listen to Erion. In the Assembly, it was Rama who announced Veliaj's dismissal.

Therefore, these are deceptive moves by the mayor of Tirana, which do not give him any political benefit. Simply and only the latest scheming of a multiple defendant./ CNA

A 37-year-old man has been arrested by Elbasan police, suspected of abusing minors.

The arrested BB is suspected of having forcibly had sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old girl, the daughter of his cohabitant.

Police notification

Specialists for the Investigation of Serious Crimes arrested citizen BB, 37 years old, resident of Elbasan, for the criminal offense of "Forced sexual relations with minors aged 14-18", after he is suspected of sexually abusing his cohabitant's daughter, 15 years old.

The Mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, who is expected to be dismissed on Tuesday, September 23, has made a request to the Municipal Council.

Veliaj demands to be heard before a decision is made on his dismissal.

Request

Honorable Mayor and members of the Municipal Council,

I have been informed by the media that, on September 23, 2025, a meeting of the Tirana Municipal Council will be held, with the aim of approving the proposal addressed to the Council of Ministers for my dismissal from the position of Mayor, with the justification of my absence from duty for over three months.

I want to clearly emphasize that this absence is not a consequence of my will, but the result of a disproportionate security measure and that will be challenged in every judicial instance, up to the European Court of Human Rights.

This measure has not only isolated citizen Erion Veliaj, but has paralyzed the governance of the capital, leaving over 1 million citizens of Tirana without elected leaders. The judicial system, in the absence of full responsibility for the power and consequences of its decisions, did not take into account that the security measure had to balance the public interest of the criminal investigation with the equally major interest of guaranteeing local government. This is the real reason that has produced today's political, institutional and constitutional crisis. Its cause is neither the Chairman of the Socialist Party, nor the Socialist Party, nor you councilors, but a judicial decision-making that has unjustly interrupted a constitutional mandate. Any attempt to hide this truth does not serve the solution, but diverts it.

Absence imposed by a precautionary measure, not by a final decision of guilt, is neither a voluntary absence nor a serious constitutional violation, but a blatant violation of the principle of democratic representation and a dangerous precedent for local government.

I understand your concern to seek a political solution. But I cannot understand that this crisis, caused by the court and where the “victim” is the local self-government, should be “solved” with another violation of the Constitution by the local government itself. Such a decision would replace the will of 160 thousand voters, who have spoken politically, with a legally unjustified act, creating a dangerous precedent for local democracy.

I have said it and I repeat it, and I want you to believe me as you have all these years: it is not about my personal interest. The mandate is not mine, but of the citizens of Tirana, who for the third time have given me the honor of my life by entrusting me with the leadership of the city. The mandate has not protected me, on the contrary, it is the reason why I am isolated today, but it obliges me to defend the four-year contract that the citizens have signed with their vote. I have the obligation to defend every drop of sweat that we have shed together to earn that trust.

The Mayor of Tirana is a constitutional body that has the right and the Tirana Municipal Council has the obligation to respect due process in every decision it makes. For these reasons and in respect of the constitutional principle of due process and the right to be heard, I request to be present and heard at the meeting of the Municipal Council, to provide the necessary clarifications before the decision is made on the proposal for my dismissal.

The High Inspectorate of Justice has not launched a disciplinary investigation against prosecutor Elsa Gjeli, whom Prime Minister Edi Rama has accused of dismissing complaints about illegal construction in Theth.

According to the ILD, no legal or factual elements have been previously established that would give the ILD reasonable cause to initiate a disciplinary investigation against magistrate Elsa Gjeli, a prosecutor at the Prosecutor's Office at the Court of First Instance of General Jurisdiction in Shkodra.

For this reason, archiving has been decided after verification of the complaint, based on article 122, point 4 of Law No. 96/2016 on the status of judges and prosecutors in the Republic of Albania./ CNA