Relations between Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj and Prime Minister Edi Rama have become strained again following a statement by the mayor from pretrial detention in Fier. Veliaj alleges political pressure, threats of further criminal charges and attempts to link him to the organization of student protests.
In his public statement, he sets out the answers he says he gave Justice Minister Toni Gogu when the minister visited him at the detention facility. According to Veliaj, Rama is using his transfer to prison, along with warnings of further criminal consequences, to pressure him into stepping down as mayor.
Të lidhura
None found
One issue the mayor addresses is the student protests, which have been taking place for months in Tirana and other Albanian cities. He denies any role in organizing or financing them and says that claims of terrorism and attempts to overthrow the constitutional order have also been raised in conversations with him.
Veliaj denies organizing or financing either the Flamingos or the students. He compares these claims to accusations made during Enver’s era and says the state has ended up searching for an enemy within.
To counter the accusations, the mayor recalls a period when, he says, he defended Tirana from violence for 54 weeks. He says that although the municipality was set on fire and Molotov cocktails were thrown at BT without anyone intervening, he did not accuse the people he was speaking to.
Noting that he is behind bars, Veliaj asks how he could direct efforts to overthrow the constitutional order from there. He questions whether those relaying the claims are serious and asks whether they are saying these things merely to reassure the prime minister. He laughs at the mention of terrorism and urges them to understand the weight of the words they use.
The mayor also argues that he would not attack institutions to which he has devoted years of work. He says this applies not only to the PS but also to Tirana, which he considers his home and at which he would not throw stones.
He cites his work on every traffic light, the paving stones in the square and road signs, saying he cares more about the municipality than the people he is addressing. Veliaj also criticizes the government cabinet, claiming that none of the current ministers has spent even a day in opposition and that, as a result, they do not know the political struggles the socialists have faced.
By contrast, he lists his participation in the January 21 protest, the hunger strike and the events of “January 28,” which he says the prime minister knows about in full. Veliaj also recalls the summer of 2011, during the local elections, when Edi Rama was mayor of Tirana and, according to him, had been abandoned by everyone.
As for his meeting with Toni Gogu, Veliaj says he sees the minister as the person delivering Rama’s instructions, not as their author. He says he does not blame Gogu and still considers him a friend, despite the role he has taken in this exchange.
Veliaj describes the prime minister’s personal involvement in what he calls his exile as shameful. He says that if Rama believes he gains stature by moving him away and keeping him isolated from his family, he is actually diminishing himself and becoming an object of ridicule even among prison guards. He adds that after dealing a major blow, those responsible have appeared very small, which he calls regrettable.
Veliaj further alleges that the prime minister is interfering in the criminal proceedings against him by discussing with prosecutors how many charges will be brought and how many years in prison he might face. He asks what gratitude he is supposed to owe Rama if Rama is negotiating the number of charges and the length of his sentence.
The mayor also asks for an explanation of the phrase “the last time as a father,” questioning whether it is a threat. He calls it shameful that these conversations also convey claims that prosecutors want to eat him alive or see him dead.
Concluding his statement, Veliaj insists that neither isolation, separation from his family nor transfer to another pretrial detention facility will make him surrender. He says they can even send him to Spaç, but he will not give in to blackmail or bow down.
