Court releases arrested protesters – Two people under house arrest, others placed under reporting obligation and charges dropped! Citizens chant: Victory!

The court this afternoon issued its decision on the 19 citizens and young men arrested during the mass protest against the government. After a lengthy hearing and heated arguments between the parties, the judges rejected the prosecution’s requests for jail detention, leaving the vast majority of those detained free.

In a statement to the media immediately after the hearing ended, one of the defense lawyers outlined the security measures imposed, describing it as a partial victory, while insisting that the arrests in flagrante were entirely political and unlawful.

“For the 19 people arrested at the protest, the prosecution initially requested ‘prison arrest’ for 3 of them, and then changed its position by requesting ‘house arrest’ for one of them. For all the others, it requested the measure of ‘reporting obligation.’ After lengthy debates, the court decided that only two people would remain under the measure of ‘house arrest,’ specifically the citizens with the surnames Bardhi and Gega,” the lawyer said.

All the others were left under the measure of “reporting obligation” (some required to report once a month and others once every two months).

Although the court deemed the arrest lawful in principle in order to continue the proceedings, the defense voiced strong objections to the court’s reasoning, saying that the police acted without legal criteria and in a disproportionate manner in the square.

“The court considered the arrest lawful in principle for procedural purposes, but from our professional and constitutional point of view, for the overwhelming majority of these young men the arrest was completely unlawful and without any concrete evidence,” the lawyer concluded before reporters.