Today, with three votes in favor and none against, the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court decided to uphold the “remand in prison” security measure against Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj.

Judges Sandër Simoni, Valbon Cekrezi and Gent Shala issued their verdict, upholding the decision of the Special Appeals Court dated March 13, 2025, which had imposed the detention measure on Veliaj.

Prime Minister Edi Rama also reacted to the ruling, saying that once again Tirana is left without a head, and once again the elected mayor, recently declared by the Constitutional Court itself to be the only person in office and irremovable from his post, cannot move from the cell where he is being held without a trial!

Rama: Once again Tirana is left without a head, and once again the elected mayor, recently declared by the Constitutional Court itself to be the only person in office and irremovable from his post, cannot move from the cell where he is being held without a trial!

Yes, the rule is that court decisions must be respected, and I always abide by this rule. In fact, I do not even comment on decisions before they become final.

But beyond the fact that Erion Veliaj’s ordeal is unique in the history of democratic Europe, and also the fact that there is still no evidence anywhere of the extreme danger that could justify the endless imprisonment of someone elected by the people, there is another bitter truth:

No one seems to care about the ever-increasing cost of having the world’s first capital city live without a head for nearly two years, or about the toll that almost 1 million residents have to pay every day for this unprecedented and unheard-of legal, social and economic experiment.

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