Clash in the Defense Committee: Balliu sends a letter to the SHISH chief, Çuçi insists the matter should be left to the courts

The decision concerning the head of the State Intelligence Service, Vlora Hyseni, caused tensions during a meeting of the Committee on Internal Affairs and Defense.

Democratic Party representative Klevis Balliu said he had officially written to Vlora Hyseni and invited law-enforcement bodies to come to Parliament to obtain the answers she had given. Meanwhile, Bledi Çuçi, who chairs the committee, proposed that the matter be referred to the justice system and that the meeting continue according to the scheduled agenda.

In his remarks, Balliu stressed that he had sent a letter to Vlora Hyseni at the very place where she had previously been, asking her directly whether she had communicated with Ergys Agasi on 26.01.2026. He added that law-enforcement bodies had been invited to Parliament to hear her statements. According to him, it was unheard of for the head of SHISH to have ties to criminal organizations, and he recalled that she had been dismissed in Kosovo for the same reason. Balliu accused Prime Minister Edi Rama of entrusting her with a senior position instead of viewing this as an obstacle to her appointment. He asked how it was possible for the head of government not to be aware of these circumstances and cited the example of footballer Igli Tare, who is now at SPAK after a brief meeting with him.

The DP lawmaker went on to link the situation to the serious events in the country, citing daytime killings in Sarandë and the wounding of passersby as consequences of the erosion of citizens’ security. He insisted that the priority could not be the agenda, but national security, which he said had failed. Balliu repeated his allegations that the country had been governed for years by people who were implicated, such as former director Ilir Proda, and added that secret information had now leaked to trafficking groups. He called on the committee to take immediate action and described the executive as part of a “narco-state,” casting doubt on data security and demanding that the discussion of national security replace the agenda.

For his part, Çuçi responded by stressing that institutions are not defined by individual names, but have their own structures and mechanisms. He recalled that every official bears personal responsibility and that no one can be considered guilty before a court declares them so. According to him, it should be acknowledged that Albania today has a functioning state with independent branches of government, and that this has come about thanks to the will of the current majority. Çuçi proposed leaving the rest to the justice system until the facts were fully clarified, in order to avoid unfounded assumptions.

Balliu replied that he did not question the independence of the justice system, but was referring to a matter raised as early as 2023 concerning Vlora Hyseni’s relations with Ergys Agasi. He urged members of the Socialist Party group not to support what he called unacceptable conduct and warned that security information had ended up in the hands of drug cartels. When Çuçi once again insisted that the matter be left to justice, Balliu challenged him to apply the same logic to the “Lubina” case, refusing to raise the voting cards and calling for sincerity in their positions. He concluded that it was precisely for these reasons that Edi Rama should not remain prime minister.