Special Appeals Court releases Mariglen Qato from prison, changes measure to house arrest

Mariglen Qato, the former head of the Environmental Protection Inspectorate at the Municipality of Tirana, has been released from prison.

The Special Appeals Court decided to ease his security measure, changing it from “detention in prison” to “house arrest.” Under this decision, Qato must leave his cell and remain under house arrest.

For nearly two years, he has been held under the security measure of “detention in prison” as part of the investigation linked to the case known as “5D.”

With the decision announced this Tuesday, the Appeals Court accepted the appeal submitted by Qato and replaced the previous measure with “house arrest.”

A few days earlier, SPAK presented its sentencing request at the Special Court of First Instance, where it sought 9 years in prison for Qato. He is accused of passive corruption in four cases, money laundering, and concealment of assets.

Qato is under suspicion in the “5D” case, investigated by SPAK and sent to trial, where he is a defendant alongside other officials from the Municipality of Tirana.

Following this development, there are no longer any defendants in the “5D” case who remain behind bars, while the judicial process has entered the stage of the defendants’ defense conclusions.