By Lapsi
Edi Rama has come out openly and branded Erion Veliaj a coup plotter, part of a conspiracy to overthrow him, and, after having him banished to Fier Prison, has decided to silence even the few Socialists who dared to seek explanations for the treatment of Tirana’s mayor.
Të lidhura
None found
Lapsi.al has learned that, at a meeting with cabinet ministers and the political leaders of the country’s regions, the prime minister put an end once and for all to the debate that had just begun within the Socialist Party following Erion Veliaj’s unexpected transfer from the Durrës pretrial detention facility to the one in Fier.
For Rama, the issue is no longer about the rights of a pretrial detainee or the legality of the decision to transfer him, but about a conspiracy against his power, at the head of which he has now placed his former close associate.
“I have received accurate and verified information that Erjon Veliaj wanted to overthrow me and that he financed groups of people to take part in the protests in recent weeks,” Rama is said to have told those present at the meeting.
They listened to him in silence. Some were not at all surprised by what they were hearing. Rama reportedly did not elaborate on what information he had received, who had provided it, or why it had not been made public, but he asked those listening to maintain complete silence on the matter.
“I don’t want to hear any more about whether Veliaj has rights or does not have rights regarding his treatment in prison,” Rama said, according to Lapsi.al’s source. “Anyone who deals with that is with him,” he said, putting an end to the discussions with a threat that left little room for interpretation.
The message was brief but clear. Anyone who dares to seek further explanations about Veliaj, or raises doubts about the way he is being treated, risks ending up on the same list of enemies.
That Rama is governing through the political paranoia characteristic of autocrats who feel power slipping from their hands was evident from the way he described the participants in the protests in recent weeks. The prime minister found enemies in all four corners of the world, as well as within the country.
He included in the conspiracy the Russians, encouraged by Putin; the Iranians of the Khomeinist republic; Antifa, which has put all of Europe in difficulty; organized crime, which attacked the police; as well as dinner-table analysts, the media, opposition parties, and others.
Erion Veliaj is simply the latest character in this story, on a list that grows longer whenever the protests take on greater proportions.
Rama’s behavior is typical of paranoid autocrats, who begin to see every expression of discontent as a conspiracy, while dividing people into just two categories: loyalists and enemies.
The voices whispering in Rama’s ear
But, like all power paranoiacs, Rama has another characteristic. In their political delirium, they need someone to whisper in their ear, feed their suspicions, reveal intrigues to them, and serve as their compass in battles against conspirators. Within Rama’s inner circle, that role appears to have been consolidated by Belinda Balluku.
Lapsi.al previously reported that Rama spent several consecutive days in Belinda Balluku’s company, in one-on-one meetings at Villa 31 in Tirana. These meetings, held in the final days of the protests, took on particular significance after Erion Veliaj publicly expressed support for the student revolt, prompted by political developments in Serbia and the fall of Aleksandar Vučić.
“Student movements and protests are not the ‘end of the world,’ but the end of ‘a world.’ The sooner we understand this as citizens and policymakers, the better we will know how to respond to the needs and expectations of this generation,” Veliaj wrote on Facebook.
These words were enough to place Veliaj among the traitors who were trying to overthrow him. The short text served as confirmation for Rama of all the rumors about Lali Eri’s behind-the-scenes maneuvering as he refused to relinquish Tirana City Hall.
It was no coincidence that Erjon Veliaj was stripped of all privileges and urgently transferred, without any official explanation, to a cell in Fier, where he was housed alongside several prisoners serving life sentences.
Once one of the most important figures in the Socialist government, and one of Edi Rama’s most favored people, he deserved no other treatment than that reserved for coup plotters. And Socialists—the party’s zealous admirers who until yesterday applauded both leaders from the stands—must now be careful when they mention his name. /Lapsi.al
