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From praise to hate speech/ The two faces of Erion Veliaj for SPAK

2026-02-22 13:36:00, Aktualitet REDAKSIONALE
From praise to hate speech/ The two faces of Erion Veliaj for SPAK
Erion Veliaj

Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj has demonstrated extreme instability in relation to the new justice institutions.

From an "ardent" supporter of Justice Reform, he has transformed into its main attacker, using lobbyists, international media, and personal attacks on prosecutors as soon as the hand of the law fell upon him.  

The attacks have increased day by day, and recently he has presented himself as a victim of "political persecution", forgetting the praise he once sang for the same institution and the same prosecutors. 

Veliaj's propaganda machine has attempted to build an international alibi through costly lobbying. The manipulation scenarios have reached the US Congress and Senate.

Untrue reports were distributed there, claiming that the prosecutor in the case, Ols Dado, was a DP activist or that he had a personal vendetta due to construction permits.

There have also been endless articles in the international media, where Veliaj attacked SPAK. Finally, an article commissioned by the "EU Reporter" portal attempted to cast doubt on the judicial process, describing the arrest as a violation of the rule of law.

However, the editor-in-chief of this media outlet, Colin Stevens, officially distanced himself, clarifying to CNA that the article was an external opinion and not their editorial position.

The attempt to use the names of EU officials also failed. The rapporteur for Albania in the European Parliament, Andreas Schieder, exclusively stated to CNA that SPAK plays a crucial role and their work is essential for integration.

Meanwhile, the European Parliament's draft report for 2025, published last week, calls for strengthening penalties specifically for high-level management, definitively refuting Veliaj's claims.

When summoned as a person with knowledge of the incinerators on April 30, 2024, Veliaj emerged from the Special Prosecution Office building with a smile. He described the investigators as "professional colleagues" and boasted that SPAK was an important investment for Albania. At the time, Veliaj mocked anyone who attacked the prosecution, declaring himself a collaborator of justice.

"I thank my colleagues at SPAK, an institution that I had never had the opportunity to work with before. After this meeting, I was convinced that an investment has been made in Albania for good. I was with two investigative colleagues, professionals, and I say that we must strengthen the institutions. I was here as a collaborator. The two investigative colleagues asked me that for investigation and investigative secrecy issues, since the Municipality of Tirana has brought some other evidence, I was kindly asked not to share it with journalists. It will be part of the clarification of my testimony," said Veliaj.

 
 
 
 
 
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Everything changed on February 10, 2025, when, after a voluminous investigation, Veliaj was arrested on 13 serious charges. As soon as he faced justice, the SPAK "professionals" turned into "lunatics", "ignorants" and "perverts". At first, Veliaj described the prosecutor in the case, Ols Dado, as a "lewd" individual and claimed that the indictment was a concocted "scoundrel".

"It's not easy to remain silent when your skin burns like cigarette butts being extinguished on your body from the idiocies that a prosecutor says, like the one who didn't leave a witness without blackmailing. I did it with the belief that this is how it should be and I don't regret gritting my teeth. I don't believe that the media will have the courage to unravel the idiotic accusations one by one and I am terribly sorry that some entrepreneurs have fallen into the hands of that lustful defendant, because they sponsored cultural activities for Tirana," said Veliaj.

After his arrest, but also during his time in prison, in the wiretaps published by CNA, he sought to raise public fraud by attacking prosecutor Ols Dado and judges Erion Bani and Engert Pëllumbi, who were attacked by Veliaj's media in a criminal manner with unfounded accusations, slander and insults, which showed the other side of Erion Veliaj's face, not the one of April 2024 when he called SPAK prosecutors his beloved colleagues.

After this, Veliaj's discourse and vocabulary became even more degrading towards SPAK and its prosecutors. 

Today, while Erion Veliaj is lobbying with hundreds of thousands of dollars in the US and Europe to attack SPAK, he continues to drag out court hearings in Tirana for 7 months, inventing procedural maneuvers out of fear of facing the 60,000-page file./ CNA





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