Snatched “Secret” Document and Ran Off, SP Seeks Agron Shehaj’s 60-Day Suspension and Refers Case to SPAK

The Socialist Party parliamentary group has asked the Speaker of Parliament and the Secretariat for Procedures, Voting and Ethics to take disciplinary action against MP Agron Shehaj, as well as to refer the case to the Special Prosecution Office (SPAK).

The request comes after Opportunity Party MP Agron Shehaj today snatched the only copy of the agreement with the US on military equipment and then ran off.

According to the SP, MPs had been informed that the document could be read only in the “Gerti Bogdani” hall, after signing a confidentiality declaration, and that they were not entitled to take copies of it outside the designated premises.

The request states that Agron Shehaj refused explanations from Parliament staff, forcibly took the physical copy of the document and left with it.

According to the Socialists, a Parliament adviser who tried to stop him and retrieve the document fell on the stairs and sustained injuries.

“Through his repeated violent and aggressive behavior, MP Agron Shehaj endangered the adviser, who was left defenseless in the face of this violent and unacceptable conduct. Such conduct seriously and intolerably jeopardizes the safety of Parliament staff while they are performing their duties. The MP’s act of forcibly taking the classified document and removing it from the hall constitutes a serious violation of legislation on classified information,” the request states.

The Socialist Party is also asking for the case to be referred to SPAK for the possible assessment of several criminal offenses, including the misappropriation or unlawful obtaining of classified information, forms of unlawful appropriation of the document, obstruction of a public official in the performance of their duties, and other offenses related to the protection of classified information and national security.

“Furthermore, pursuant to the provisions of the Criminal Code, Articles 139-142, 294-296 and 235, the case should be referred immediately to the Prosecutor’s Office, in this instance the Special Structure Against Corruption and Organized Crime, on suspicion that citizen Agron Shehaj has committed the following criminal offenses:

the misappropriation or unlawful obtaining of classified information, given that the document contains information protected by law;

(ii) theft or other forms of unlawful appropriation, due to the manner in which it was taken;

(iii) robbery, because the document was taken through the use of force or threats against the person holding it;

(iv) obstruction of a public official in the performance of their duties, because force was used against a public employee while carrying out their duties;

(v) the document relates to a state secret, and in this case specific provisions on the protection of classified information may also be examined, which provide for more serious criminal offenses, especially when the act jeopardizes national security and the suspect may have intended to hand this material over to other actors, who have not been identified by us but should be investigated by prosecutors,” the request states.