The two faces of a disaster

Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj, arrested on 13 charges for 5 serious criminal offenses, has not stopped his attacks on the judiciary, prosecutors and judges.

The Municipality of Tirana has been held hostage for a year and Veliaj has been tied to the mayor's chair to intimidate justice in the hope that he will escape punishment for the serious criminal offenses he has committed.  

On March 16, 2026, CNA reported the scandal, revealing that the lawsuit filed by Erion Veliaj in the Administrative Court against prosecutor Ols Dado for his appointment also includes the Municipality of Tirana.

CNA sent, on February 13, 2026, an official letter to the Municipality of Tirana, requesting clarification on what the legal interest of the Tirana Municipality institution is in this lawsuit and why a public institution is officially included in an administrative lawsuit related to an individual, in this case the mayor, Erion Veliaj.

After almost 2 months and the case being reviewed in the Administrative Court, the municipality has still not responded to our official request for information.

CNA's letter to the Municipality of Tirana regarding the lawsuit case

CNA's letter to the Municipality of Tirana regarding the lawsuit case

The goal seems to be to divert attention from the criminal trial, as if Veliaj will escape unscathed because he filed an administrative lawsuit. Unheard of stupidity, where a defendant uses every means, propaganda, attacks, accusations and the media, with one goal, to continue his "show" by abusing yet another segment of justice.

There are many questions that arise about this administrative judicial process and this silence of the Municipality of Tirana so far. Is Veliaj's lawsuit a personal lawsuit or a lawsuit of the Municipality of Tirana? Veliaj, why didn't he file the lawsuit when prosecutor Ols Dado was appointed? Zdromsi remembered to sue the prosecutor now only for his personal troubles, in a pure conflict of interest.

Meanwhile, CNA made this request for information only to understand the plight of the Tirana Municipality, which became a party to this process.

Having received no reaction from the institution, CNA, on March 11, 2026, also addressed the Commissioner for the Right to Information, expecting him to reflect on the failure to provide information yet, regarding the request for making available the official practice regarding the administrative lawsuit against Prosecutor Dado.

CNA's letter sent to the Commissioner for the Right to Information

CNA's letter sent to the Commissioner for the Right to Information

Two requests in two months with no response. According to the law, the response should have been returned within 15 days. And while the trial is ongoing, the municipality does not have the courage to respond.

This silence shows complicity, as an institution like the Municipality of Tirana is involved in the process for Veliaj's personal interests.

The municipality must clarify on what basis it became a party to this and what is the damage that prosecutor Ols Dado has caused to this institution?

On what basis is this municipality dragging its feet, which should only serve the citizens of Tirana and not an individual accused 9 times of corruption?

The seal of the Municipality of Tirana cannot be placed on a personal process and one in conflict of interest.

The institution cannot become a party to someone who uses all kinds of methods to evade justice and fears punishment for the criminal offenses he himself has committed.  

From his Durrës prison cell, Veliaj is holding the municipality hostage, because if he had been interested in the well-being of the institution and the affairs of Tirana, he would have resigned and elections for a new mayor would have been held.

We will continue to demand official documentation and the responsibility of each individual in these actions that show that the municipality has been taken hostage and misused by a prisoner with 13 charges who does not go to court for his trial, but makes a public "show" and attacks on justice. /CNA

Erion Veliaj's postponed hearings under successive pretexts have become countless. Since July, when the file against Veliaj was sent for trial, strategies to avoid facing justice have also begun.

One of his methods of avoiding trials was to change lawyers. In the preliminary hearing on December 12, 2025, he dismissed lawyers Artan Gjermëni and Ermir Beta, claiming that they failed to prevent his imprisonment.

Another method found was to seek time to familiarize himself with the investigative acts, acts that his defense has received since July. This was also the reason for the postponements of the sessions of November 12 and 17, as well as December 2 and 5. Meanwhile, other postponed sessions were the one scheduled for October 28, which was postponed due to Veliaj's lawyers.

The preliminary hearing on October 21 was also postponed due to the lawyers' boycott following the arrest of the lawyer in Elbasan. The October 10 hearing was postponed under the same pretext: a boycott undertaken following the murder of Judge Astrit Kalaja in the courtroom. The preliminary hearing, scheduled for September 29, 2025, was postponed because some of the defendants had not been notified of the hearing.

On January 5 of this year, the hearing at the GJKKO was postponed due to the absence of Veliaj, who claimed that he had not been brought to the hearing on time, as well as his legal counsel. In the wake of the instruments to obstruct the process, it was postponed and the January 19 hearing was postponed again, as Veliaj requested to familiarize himself with the file documents and have contact with lawyer Valentina Teodorescu.

Even after the trial on the merits began, Veliaj has not given up on the delays in the judicial process. The first hearing on the merits was scheduled for March 9, where the mayor used the claim that there was no preliminary hearing. 

The next hearing was scheduled for March 24, which was also postponed. The third hearing was just two days ago, which had no surprises: “Veliaj did not appear, the lawyer is asking for time to familiarize himself with the documents.” The repeated refrain of the 8-month delay of a process that, if Veliaj had had the courage, would have ended.

The mayor, who is facing 13 charges for 5 offenses, is afraid to appear in trials that could end with his conviction, but he goes and appears in the sessions at the Administrative Court, for the lawsuit against the Special Prosecutor, Ols Dado.

This trial is in total conflict of interest, a fact acknowledged by Veliaj's own lawyer, Plarent Ndreca. Specifically, the latter, himself a defendant by SPAK, said that if Dado had not been in conflict with Veliaj's interests, there would have been no lawsuit.

Erion Veliaj's appearance in today's session shows his refusal to give up on the campaigns of insults and attacks against the prosecutor in question since he was handcuffed in his office in the Tirana municipality.

Another fact proven by the appearance in the Administrative Court was Veliaj's two standards for court hearings: He avoids one court, he goes to another. He goes to the latter only for his own interests. / CNA

The arrested mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, is reported to have said in today's session that his imprisonment has brought serious consequences for the capital.

" Putting people in positions when they do not meet the criteria, not only for me, but for the municipality of Tirana, has brought serious consequences ," Veliaj is known to have said.

Erion Veliaj has not caused any great harm to Tirana. He has simply been investigated and arrested on 13 serious criminal charges.

The damages will be seen during the criminal trial, which Veliaj avoids but instead goes to administrative trials as a "captain" against the prosecutor whom he attacked and accused of fraud.

Veliaj has not caused any harm to Tirana, he has only been found to have villas and apartments that he denied having, and he has 9 charges of corruption.

Veliaj has even been so harmless to Tirana that he paid his wife's companies, or her people, and all the money ended up in the NGOs of Veliaj's wife, Ajola Xoxa. Erion Veliaj is so harmless to Tirana. The rest is for the citizens to see.

The truth is that Erion Veliaj is not a defendant for the damage he caused to Tirana, but for the greater damage that Tirana suffered from him as mayor, who today, even though he holds the position of mayor, is in prison and is accused of 13 serious criminal charges. Erion Veliaj claims that if he were not the mayor of Tirana, he would become famous.

In fact, the damage to the Municipality of Tirana was caused by Erion Veliaj, who has taken the municipality hostage. Veliaj has taken the municipality hostage with his decision not to resign and to tie himself to the chair with the idea that he will escape punishment or use it to attack the judges.

The Municipality of Tirana is not the property of a Zdromsi, he simply hinders it and keeps it blocked, keeping it tied to the cell of Durrës, to the mayor's chair.

If Erion Veliaj had resigned, there would have been elections in the Municipality of Tirana, there would have been a new mayor and the work in the municipality would have continued. Life goes on with or without Erion Veliaj. /CNA

Erion Veliaj's lawyer, defendant Plarent Ndreca, has confirmed what CNA said. Veliaj's lawsuit against Ols Dado in the Administrative Court is for personal interests.

After the hearing ended, Ndreca was asked if this lawsuit would have been filed if Ols Dado had not been the prosecutor who investigated Erion Veliaj.

The defendant's lawyer, Plarent Ndreca, said that if Dado had not been in conflict with Velaij's interests, there would have been no lawsuit.

" If Ols Dado had not been in conflict with our interests, there would have been no lawsuit ," said Ndreca.

So Ndreca's statement clearly confirms that Erion Veliaj's problem is one and only, the fact that he was caught by prosecutor Ols Dado for the crimes he committed./CNA

Details have emerged from the debates in the session taking place at the Administrative Court, where the lawsuit filed by the arrested mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, against the Special Prosecutor, Ols Dado, is being reviewed. In his lawsuit, Veliaj seeks to declare the decree appointing Ols Dado as prosecutor invalid.

The representative of the presidency stated in court that the then president exercised his constitutional rights. Among other things, the representative of the presidency left the matter to the court's assessment.

"Bamir Topi exercised his constitutional rights. We have a proposal from the Prosecutor General, an accompanying letter and then the Presidency issues a decree. We are not clear whether this is a complete practice. Are there any acts that the Prosecutor General's Office may have there that we do not have.  We do not know how this act was reached. We leave this issue to your assessment. The President does not deal with the process of evaluating the criteria. From the Presidency archive it appears that we only have the proposal from the Prosecutor General's Office and an accompanying letter ," said the representative of the Presidency.

Meanwhile, in response to this, Veliaj continued with his offensive language, referring to the prosecutor with the words "Babatas and Aqif Kapertoni's donkey."

At this point, the court intervened, drawing attention to the use of inappropriate and offensive terms.

Veliaj's insults, slander, and derogatory language towards Dado have been going on since he was handcuffed in his office for 13 charges for 5 criminal offenses committed by him. /CNA

Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj, present at today's session at the Administrative Court, continued to "cry" again during the session.

The media reports that Veliaj has said that he is not in the hearing for mercy or for his family drama. But the truth is that Erion Veliaj has no drama, he is a defendant on 13 charges:

1. “Passive corruption of high-ranking state officials or local elected officials”, committed in collaboration, in relation to the irregular benefit received by “A... K...” sh.pk, provided for by Article 260 and 25 of the Criminal Code;
2. “Passive corruption of high-ranking state officials or local elected officials”, committed in collaboration, in relation to the irregular benefit received by “F...” sh.pk, provided for by Article 260 and 25 of the Criminal Code;
3. “Passive corruption of high-ranking state officials or local elected officials”, committed in collaboration, in relation to the irregular benefit received by “P...” sh.pk, provided for by Article 260 and 25 of the Criminal Code;

4. “Passive corruption of high-ranking state officials or local elected officials”, committed in collaboration, in relation to the irregular benefit received by “G...” sh.pk, provided for by article 260 and 25 of the Criminal Code;
5. “Passive corruption of high-ranking state officials or local elected officials”, committed in collaboration, in relation to the irregular benefit received by “K...” sh.pk, provided for by article 260 and 25 of the Criminal Code;
6. “Passive corruption of high-ranking state officials or local elected officials”, committed in collaboration, in relation to the irregular benefit received by “E...” NGO, provided for by article 260 and 25 of the Criminal Code;
7. “Passive corruption of high-ranking state officials or local elected officials”, committed in collaboration, in relation to the irregular benefit received from “M...” NGO, provided for by article 260 and 25 of the Criminal Code;
8. “Passive corruption of high-ranking state officials or local elected officials”, committed in collaboration, in relation to the irregular benefit received from “B...” NGO, provided for by article 260 and 25 of the Criminal Code;

9. “Passive corruption of high-ranking state officials or local elected officials”, committed in collaboration, in relation to the irregular benefit received from the “Frobolous” NGO, provided for by article 260 and 25 of the Criminal Code;
10. “Laundering the proceeds of a criminal offense or criminal activity”, committed in collaboration more than once, provided for by article 287/2 of the Criminal Code;
11. “Introducing or keeping prohibited items in the institution for the execution of prison sentences”, more than once, provided for by article 324/a/2 of the Criminal Code;
12. “Refusal to declare, failure to declare, concealment or false declaration of assets, private interests of elected persons and public servants or of any other person who has a legal obligation to declare”, provided for by article 257/a/2 of the Criminal Code;
13. “Abuse of office”, provided for by Article 248 of the Criminal Code.

 

Even in his statements, Veliaj claims that he has no one to report because Nesti Angoni does not exist. The truth is that the facts and criminal acts of Erion Veliaj were discovered from the phone of Adela Kondakçi, who was being investigated for the Jorgo Goro case.

" I'm not here for mercy. I'm not here for my family's drama. I'm here to show what this caused the Municipality of Tirana. Nesti Angoni doesn't exist, I don't know who to report ," the media reported Velaij as saying at the hearing.

With Nesti Angoni's lawsuit, the "Veliaj" case was dead. Mayor Erion Veliaj was caught wiretapping the phone of Adela Kondakçi, his wife's economist.

During the investigation into Jorgo Goro, the phone of citizen Adela Kondakçiu was taken. By handing over her phone to the courts, communications were revealed. The communications resulted in data on the couple Ajola Xoxa and Erion Veliaj. So, during the investigation into Goro, the phone of his financier Adela Kondakçiu was taken, who is the former financier of Ajola Xoxa, the wife of the arrested mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, and data on the activities of the Veliaj-Xoxa couple were discovered.

So, this is the beginning of the investigations against Erion Veliaj and Ajola Xoxa, these are the data that were found on the phone of former financier Adela Kondakçiu, who has become a fugitive from justice.

It is not Nesti Angoni as Erion Veliaj claims, nor attorney Ols Dado, but the beginning is an investigation that has led to another investigation. This is the truth. There is neither drama nor Nesti Angoni. There are facts and evidence./CNA

Special Prosecutor Ols Dado, in today's session at the Criminal Court of Kosovo, opposed the request of Erion Veliaj's lawyer, Plarent Ndreca, who requested time to familiarize himself with the documents.

Dado said at the hearing that the request is inadmissible as he had time to familiarize himself with the documents and speak with his client.

Regarding Abula's request for a separate trial, the prosecutor stated that the request should be dismissed as it is up to the Special Court to continue the process.

As for the request for a summary trial, Dado said that the prosecution agrees to separate the case due to the request for a summary trial.

" The request for time for Plarent Ndreca is unacceptable after they had the opportunity. We have respected the judicial process according to the law. He has had the opportunity to speak with his client. For Elman Abule for the request for the declaration of subject matter incompetence. But this request must be rejected as it is a proceeding that belongs to this court to continue the court process. So it belongs to the Special Court as competence. For the summary trial, it must be accepted and the separation of the cases must be done if they accept the summary trial. We agree on the separation of the cases due to the requests for summary trial ," said Dado.

Hearings have begun at the Special Court for the file of Mayor Erion Veliaj, arrested for more than a year on 13 charges for 5 serious criminal offenses.

A session in which Veliaj is not present, thus continuing his machinations to postpone the trial and his double standards towards justice. The arrested mayor claims that he has not yet been acquainted with the acts, while his lawyers have received the acts for 7 months and this justification of familiarization with the acts continues and continues, endlessly. 

Veliaj refuses to go to court and face the charges against him, while later today he will go to another hearing.

At 1:00 PM, he will be present at the Administrative Court, for the lawsuit filed against prosecutor Ols Dado, seeking the invalidity of Dado's appointment.

Tomorrow, the Administrative Court will hold a hearing on the lawsuit filed against special prosecutor Ols Dado by the mayor arrested on 13 serious charges, Erion Veliaj. A hearing in which, CNA has learned, Erion Veliaj will be present. The man who does not go to face justice in the Criminal Court will go to administrative court.

The same person, in 2016, surrounded the Administrative Court for certain interests. Tomorrow he will be present at the session in the court that he surrounded 10 years ago. The question that arises is: Will Erion Veliaj surround the Administrative Court tomorrow as well?

The mayor, accused of 5 serious criminal offenses, is going to the Administrative Court, supposedly for principles, to "surround" the prosecutors. While in 2016 he surrounded the Administrative Court for certain interests, today he is surrounding it for personal interests.

In May 2016, Erion Veliaj, then mayor of Tirana, surrounded the Administrative Court by organizing a rally before this institution issued its decision, regarding the lawsuit filed by a construction company for works on a building in the capital.

News published in May 2016

At that time, the Administrative Court was forced to postpone the decision due to pressure from outside. Now the pressure is being exerted directly from within the court. Mayor Veliaj 10 years ago declared that the trial in the Administrative Court was over and demanded the resignation of the judge.

"The trial is over, let's demand justice. Let's all be together, let's demand that the panel of judges be changed and that they set another date for the hearing, let's have the court resign, it's a family of concrete," Veliaj declared in May 2016.

Meanwhile, now he speaks differently. He is not fighting with judges, but with prosecutors, for his personal troubles.

The same man who declared that SPAK should be supported, and who then made a thousand and one attacks and accusations against SPAK, once surrounded the Administrative Court, while tomorrow he is going to this court for the lawsuit filed by himself. This is the same man who does not go to court for his criminal troubles./CNA

In the Albanian legal theater, where seriousness is often just decorum, Erion Veliaj seems to have invented a new standard: “à la carte” justice. Not every court deserves his presence. Not every process is worthy of his protagonism.

In a criminal trial? No, thank you. There are cameras, journalists, and worst of all, evidence. There is also that awkward element of the “cage,” a symbol that doesn’t quite fit with the narrative carefully constructed over years. And so, with a finesse that would be the envy of any strategist of procedural procrastination, the criminal process is delayed, diluted, faded… until perhaps it itself tires of waiting.

But here comes the dramatic twist: in the Administrative Court, where the case he raised affects one of the prosecutors who conducted the investigations, Veliaj appears in person, energetic, ready to talk endlessly, as if at a small rally, but with togas instead of flags. There he has no problem with exposure. On the contrary, there he seems to seek it. Perhaps also because the cage is missing. Long speeches, "persuasive" tones, attempts to impress the judge with the weight of the public office, as if the position were a legal argument in itself.

The paradox is beautiful in its grotesque way: in one courtroom he avoids facing the accusation, in another he persistently seeks it, but not to protect himself from the evidence, but to attack the prosecutor who found it. A kind of selective justice, where the battle does not take place where it should, but where it seems most advantageous. This behavior is not simply contradictory, it is indicative of Erion Veliaj's personality.

At the very least, it shows a deeply personal relationship with the process, where the prosecutor is seen more as an adversary to be eliminated than as a party to a procedure that must be respected. And above all, it shows a blatant disregard for the very essence of criminal trial: confronting the facts.

In the end, only one ironic question remains: if justice is a stage, is Erion Veliaj an actor who chooses the role, or a spectator who avoids unpleasant scenes? Because so far, it seems that when he doesn't like the script, he simply doesn't go on stage. And in all this, one fact cannot be forgotten, which makes the irony even thicker, almost indigestible.

Because the same Erion Veliaj who today appears calm, restrained and "institutional" at the doors of the Administrative Court, once turned it into an arena of public pressure. Everyone remembers when he surrounded the administrative court at that time, when he filled the space around it with militants to impress Edi Rama, when he filled the space with voices, statements, insinuations and attacks on administrative judges. A not-so-hidden attempt to create a climate, to influence perception, to exert that old pressure of the crowd on the platoon.

May 2016 news

So, back then the court was a “problem” when it did not decide as it should. Today it is a “tribune” when it serves a personal battle against the prosecutor of his case. This transformation is not an institutional evolution, it is pure opportunism. From the delegitimization of judges to the attempt to impress them, within the same system that was once treated as an obstacle and today as a tool. From frontal attack to soft rhetoric, but always with the same objective: influencing the process.

And meanwhile, in criminal trials, where the weight is real, where evidence is not negotiated with rhetoric and where the decision is not won with speeches, the absence is constant. A contrast that speaks louder than any public statement. Essentially, we are dealing with a selective relationship with justice: when it is inconvenient, you attack it; when it is convenient, you use it and when it is really dangerous, you avoid it.

If he once surrounded the Administrative Court to put pressure on it, today he seems to be trying to "conquer" it with his presence. But the essence remains the same: not respect for the process, but an attempt to control it./CNA

The Directorate of Prisons has announced that tomorrow it will accompany citizen Erion Veliaj, the prisoner from Durrës with 13 serious charges in SPAK, to attend the court session at the Administrative Court in which he has requested the invalidity of the appointment of prosecutor Ols Dado to office.

In fact, here we are faced with a clear conflict of interest because Erion Veliaj is a defendant with 13 charges in SPAK, charges that have actually gone to court and the case has begun to be examined on its merits. Erion Veliaj is the same person who does not go to the Criminal Court and postpones the hearings endlessly. He is the same person who, with his lawyers, refuses to have a media presence, while tomorrow he will go to the Administrative Court against prosecutor Ols Dado, where he has also involved the Municipality of Tirana in an unprecedented way.

CNA has sent an official letter to the Municipality of Tirana regarding this issue, but has not yet received a response, violating the law, an issue for which CNA has officially addressed other responsible institutions. Erion Veliaj, why are you going to the Administrative Court?

The man who has 13 serious criminal charges, involving 20 or so people in his case, does not go to the Criminal Court after the SPAK charges, but goes to the Administrative Court.

It is clear, we are writing this today, let it remain as evidence, the strategy seems simple: go to the Administrative Court, take bundles of letters, speak, give speeches to impress, without using the term intimidated, the judge in office and his word, where he will continue to speak at length regarding a case where Erion Veliaj is in principle in a clear conflict of interest, since prosecutor Ols Dado is the man who investigated him together with prosecutor Altin Dumani.

But the issue is also very simple. Erion Veliaj thinks that by taking administrative actions he will make people look bad, but he is not a prosecutor. The case has two prosecutors even though Altin Dumani is afraid to mention his name. Veliaj continues to treat his criminal case, the serious accusations by SPAK, as electoral campaign propaganda, a political issue, when in fact it is an investigation with a file of over 60 thousand pages that Erion Veliaj has had in court for seven months, which his lawyers have been informed of, which documents have been sent and it has been proven not only by wiretaps but also by actions taken at the GJKKO that he seeks to create schemes to postpone trials and does not appear in court.

On the other hand, CNA learned from official sources from the General Directorate of Prisons that tomorrow Veliaj will go to a case in the Administrative Court. Meanwhile, on the other hand, we can emphasize that for weeks Erion Veliaj has been required to go to the Criminal Court of Tirana for various cases that journalists and politicians have reported him to, and he has not appeared, just like the fact that he does not even go to the Criminal Court of Tirana, while he is ready to go to an administrative court where he is in a clear conflict of interest, simply and only to impress the judge.

He will go on and on, talking endlessly. In the end, we will see a scenario of a man who wants to act like a showman, while he has 13 serious criminal charges in the Criminal Court./CNA

Today's trial session on the merits for the arrested mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, and 29 other defendants has been postponed again.

This is the next delay in a process that has been postponed for 8 months, while Veliaj has used every method to achieve his goal.

"We want an open trial and the case to be public," declared the SPAK defendant, also Erion Veliaj's lawyer, Plarent Ndreca.

Meanwhile, the doors of the court are not closed to anyone who wants to attend or go see it. It is even better to do it at the Sports Palace or the Congress Palace, there is no problem for the public to attend.

No one has stopped Erion Veliaj from doing this. The problem is that Erion Veliaj himself is not going to court, because if he had appeared at the hearings, the trial would have ended.

With 13 charges for 5 serious criminal offenses, Erion Veliaj has evaded justice, with 1001 tricks, ways and maneuvers to drag out the process.

We emphasize that Erion Veliaj's file has been going to trial since July, and we are currently in April. So 8 months since Veliaj's file went to trial, it would have been judged, the trial would have been over. But Erion Veliaj is a coward and a coward who is afraid of facing justice, trying to postpone the moment as much as possible.

Meanwhile, if he were to face the evidence and justice after 8 months, he would not even need to request a change in his security measure, because he would either have been declared innocent or convicted and would have done his job. / CNA

The trial session on the merits of the arrested mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, his wife, Ajola Xoxa, and 28 other people, has been postponed again.

The session was accompanied by debates regarding the continuation of the trial process. The lawyer for the defendant Fatmir Bektashi, Sokol Hazizaj, requested that the case be divided.

"I request that the case be separated as it cannot continue in this way," the lawyer said.

Meanwhile, Special Prosecutor Ols Dado has stated that Veliaj and his lawyer are strategizing to delay the process. He has also described Hazizaj's request as unfounded in law.

"It is a strategy to postpone the process, we have been unable to enter the process for 8 months. It is the behavior of Erion Veliaj and his lawyer. We see the request for separation of the case against Fatmir Bektashi, requested by lawyer Sokol Hazizaj, as unfounded in law", Dado is reported to have said. /CNA