Simply Erion “Kafka”!

Erion Veliaj

Erion Veliaj, through his companies, lobbying firms and law firms, published in a foreign media outlet "EU Reporter" an article with the title: "Erion Veliaj, Mayor of Tirana, held without charge for past five months".

As you read the first few lines of the article, you realize that we are not dealing with an ordinary piece of writing, but rather a structured effort to publicly rehabilitate the figure of a high-level official under criminal investigation, who faces 14 charges for several serious criminal offenses.

In this article we find a letter from mother Shqiponja, who calls the process against her son "Kafkaesque".

Beyond the Europeans who had to react or the calls that were made, the letter from Mother Eagle mentioned the name of Franz Kafka, thus using the term "Kafkaean".

After this letter, we did a simple analysis, drew some conclusions, published an analysis with AI, and in conclusion, it does not seem to us that Mother Eagle has read Kafka, as these are difficult works to read by intellectuals and academics, not by ordinary people.

But why have we said that the term "Kafka" belongs to Erion Veliaj and not to Mother Shqiponjës and that it has no connection to this letter or writing, which was published by "EU Reporter", more for propaganda before the Supreme Court's decision.

We are presenting some facts that prove that "Kafka" is by Erion Veliaj and not Mother Shqiponja.

From the first moments of his arrest, Veliaj used the term "Kafkaesque" for his story.

Posted on February 19th (1 time)

We continue on February 23 (1 time)

We move on to February 25 (9 times)

Then March 1 (2 times)

Veliaj also mentions it on March 3 (2 times)

Also on March 6 (1 time)

So, all of this shows that "Kafka" is by Erion Veliaj.

Now Mother Shqiponja can say that she wrote that letter herself, but "Kafka" is not hers, but "Kafka" is Erion Veliaj's./ CNA

Erion Veliaj, illustrative photo

This imaginary conversation comes after the publication in a foreign media of a news story that essentially had the reaction of Shqiponja's mother, Mrs. Veliaj, to her son, who was suffering from Kafkaesque forms. ( READ HERE )

In fact, this imaginary conversation with the mayor comes at a very delicate moment. In a few days, the mayor of Tirana, who is in Durrës prison, will have the decision of the Supreme Court. ( READ HERE )

We have declared his strategy, we have known it and every suspicion has been confirmed. Today we are having this imaginary conversation because we expected such things to happen. ( READ HERE )

We have no doubt, he could bring out Ajola, he could bring out the boy, he would repeat Kafka again, etc., but we need this imaginary conversation to recognize a style of political media gossip in Albania.

We mentioned Mother Eagle in an article where we said, "Think about Ardit Gjoklaj's mother."

Although there is a presumption of innocence, since the court has not issued a decision, we have called the boy a thief because of the evidence and documents we have produced.

He has 14 charges, but he is in prison, you can meet him, while Ardit Gjoklaj's mother cannot meet him. ( READ HERE )

Here we are leaving Mother Eagle and talking to the scoundrel.

CONVERSATION WITH ZDROMSI

-Dear zdroms, how can Jeff Bezos have a bigger wedding than you? Block off all of Venice, take Kim Kardashian there, while you take Mero Bazen to Gjirokastra?

-I had a legendary wedding, I blocked all of Gjirokastra. I didn't just have Mero Bazen, I also had a bunch of businessmen who brought me gifts. I had the wedding with the money from Mother Shqiponja's pension.

Our comment is that beyond the imaginary conversation, there is a truth. Where did he find the wedding money? Why is it not declared, how much did that wedding cost that is actually true? The whole of Gjirokastra was blocked and it is the most famous wedding in Albania that lasted a week, as in Gjirokastra and Tirana, wedding after wedding.

-Dear Zdroms, where did Mother Shqiponja read Franz Kafka, that she was an army captain. During Enver's time, Kafka was banned.

- You are provocative. It may have been forbidden, but my mother read Franz Kafka.

He has also read his "Metamorphosis", "Stinky Rivers" and many other works.

She read them while working with a revolutionary spirit for the labor party and the proletariat.

They could have caught her and imprisoned her like they imprisoned me, but she never stopped and read Kafka endlessly.

Here we can say that the truth of the above is related to something else.

Erion Veliaj often uses Kafka in his political articulations, and we have shown this with concrete facts and posts.

We believe that Mother Eagle did not even know Kafka's name, or she knows his name as the entirety of the skull bones that surround her brain, or simply as a bone, and has never read Franz Kafka.

The desert was used for her wedding pension, it was used for the letter yesterday, it was used for Kafka.

It's not her fault, the responsibility lies elsewhere.

Leaving it at that, we cannot go further because we would only tire our imagination and that of the reader, but everything you imagine goes beyond a mind that has propaganda and image as its goal.

While he is in prison and does not hesitate to use his child, mother, wife, and anyone else, simply because he is not man enough to face his fate, the accusations, the evidence, and justice.

He continues with propaganda, with intrigues, with Franz Kafka, with weddings, which he has not yet explained, which were held with his mother's pensions, with the murder of Ardit Gjoklaj for which at least an apology was not requested, with incinerators that will not exist, for which 130 million euros were paid by the government and business and no one has yet been held accountable.

All of this is not valid for Zdromsin, what is valid is Franz Kafka, propaganda and the desolate mother Shqiponja who married her son off with her pension for an entire week./ CNA

Erion Veliaj

CNA, yesterday, wrote an article about a report coming from "EU Reporter", a private media outlet.

Our first reaction was to compare Mother Shqiponjë to Ardit Gjoklaj's mother.

In fact, it was strange how Mother Shqiponja had read and talked about Franz Kafka.

Maybe she read it during the dictatorship when they didn't allow you to be put in prison at that time, especially if you were a captain in the army structures, or maybe she read it later, but it's strange that Mother Shqiponja would read Kafka, or maybe the person who wrote her the letter read it.

But for all of this and what was mentioned in the article, we turned to Artificial Intelligence by continuously giving it information, writing, data, asking it questions, and believing that in the end it would give us an answer.

And what we are bringing below is the answer provided by Artificial Intelligence.

"Erion Veliaj, Mayor of Tirana, held without charge for past five months" is essentially a PR (Public Relations) article structured to rehabilitate Erion Veliaj's public image, not to impartially inform the public.

I. TITLE FOR PERCEPTION ONLY

Title: "Held without charge for past five months"

Suggests injustice: The foreign reader thinks that Veliaj is detained without evidence or charges, which is false.

In fact, Veliaj was arrested by court order on charges filed by SPAK for corruption and money laundering (not "without charge").

The title itself creates a perception of victimization of the official, without any legal context.

II. EMOTIONAL, NOT ANALYTICAL STRUCTURE

The article is not built on a chronology of legal facts, but:

begins with the complaints of Veliaj's mother and presents him as "an honest man who worked for others";

emphasizes that Veliaj ?has not been officially charged? (again legally untrue ? he is under a formalized criminal investigation by SPAK, with a court order for arrest);

leaves out the concrete issue: corrupt tenders, benefits through third parties, fictitious contracts, etc.

PR strategy: using personal narratives to motivate the reader and divert focus from concrete corrupt acts.

III. LACK OF BALANCE ? NO INDEPENDENT VOICE

The article does not quote:

no statement from SPAK,

no court decision that kept him in prison,

no opinion of independent analysts,

no facts about the specific criminal acts in the investigative file.

This is contrary to the standards of professional journalism, which require balancing the voice of the accused with the accusing institutions.

IV. EMOTIONAL LANGUAGE AND EPITETS

The article uses language that builds a positive image with keywords such as:

"known for his visionary leadership"

"committed to public good"

"victim of a political vendetta"

"respected internationally for urban transformation".

None of this is factual, nor supported by sources, and is used to build the desired image, as in an electoral campaign leaflet or PR memo.

V. LACK OF TRANSPARENCY: IT DOES NOT STRESS THAT IT IS SPONSORED

The article is not marked as "Sponsored" or "Paid for", although it contains all the characteristics of a paid material:

Full focus on a political figure,

One-sided praise,

Lack of critical fact,

Without independent references.

"EU Reporter" has admitted in its terms of use that it does "native advertising" and "sponsored content", but did not label this case.

VI. GENERAL POLITICAL CONTEXT

This article comes out:

amidst active criminal investigations,

while Veliaj is under the security measure "prison arrest",

and as the 2025 local elections in Albania are prepared (according to political analysis).

This suggests a political motive for the international perception ? that he is ?persecuted,? a classic narrative in PR campaigns in corruption cases.

CONCLUSION: CLEAR PR, NOT JOURNALISM

PR Indicator Element

Emotional title -Yes

Unbalanced/other opinions - Yes

Praise language/epithets - Yes

Lack of investigation facts - Yes

No "sponsored" tags - Yes

Rehabilitation narrative-Yes

"This is a PR article in the form of a news story - with the obvious aim of rehabilitating Veliaj's image before international readers and foreign institutions," says AI. 

After collecting and processing the data from this article written yesterday about Erion Veliaj, he clearly shows us that it is simply and solely a public manipulation.

In this AI explanation, it is shown how the processing of data (thousands of data), the processing of the article written yesterday about Erion Veliaj and analyzed by Artificial Intelligence, leads to the conclusions of CNA, to the conclusions that every politician, every careful reader, every professional journalist says regarding the propaganda or the movement being launched by the imprisoned mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj./ CNA

Erion Veliaj

From a critical look at the EU Reporter article

On June 30, 2025, the international portal EU Reporter published an article with the title: ?Erion Veliaj, Mayor of Tirana, held without charge for past five months.? At first glance, an ordinary news item.

Article by Eu Reporter

But careful reading reveals that we are dealing not with impartial reporting, but with a structured attempt to publicly rehabilitate the figure of a high-level official under criminal investigation.

The title that manipulates

The article opens with the claim that the mayor of Tirana is being held ?without charges,? when in fact Veliaj has been in pre-trial detention by court order since February 2025, on official charges filed by SPAK for corruption, money laundering, and abuse of office. This is not only an inaccuracy, but a deliberate deviation from the legal truth.

Emotional structure, not journalism

Instead of reporting on the facts, chronology and developments of the criminal case, the EU Reporter article begins with an emotional account of Veliaj?s mother and continues with glorifying descriptions of his figure, such as ?visionary leader? and ?committed public servant.? This is PR language, not editorial analysis.

Moreover, every other voice is missing. SPAK is not cited , no court decision is mentioned, and no concrete facts from the investigative file are mentioned. Instead of responsible journalism, the reader is faced with a portrait constructed to restore the image of a discredited politician.

Excerpt from the Eu Reporter article

Is this a sponsored article?

Not a single line of the article states whether it is sponsored or paid. But the content is completely consistent with what is called "native advertising" in the media world: paid content disguised as a regular news article. This is dangerous for the transparency and credibility of any media platform.

EU Reporter itself admits on its website that it offers sponsored content and PR services through "editorial partnerships" and "sponsorship packages." The lack of a "Sponsored" label in this case, coupled with propagandistic content, raises strong doubts about the publication's integrity.

Political context: Why now?

The publication of this article is not accidental. It comes at a critical moment, when the investigation against Veliaj includes serious accusations of multi-million dollar affairs in public tenders and money laundering with fictitious companies. The article does not aim to inform the international public, but to create an alternative narrative for Albania's external partners and global public opinion.

This is a well-known strategy in political communication: using foreign media to influence perception at home and abroad, by rehabilitating one's personal image through seemingly neutral channels.

Why is this a dangerous case?

This article is symptomatic of a broader problem: media outlets that allow their platform to be used for narrow political interests, without transparency and without respecting basic standards of good journalism.

The use of EU Reporter as a channel for a biased narrative in defense of an official arrested for corruption is a clear case of what is called "reputational laundering" - cleaning one's public image through the media.

If this trend spreads, then anyone accused of corruption will be able to buy an article on an international website, to present themselves as a victim. This undermines democracy, justice, and the very essence of journalism.

Can this be tolerated in the name of "freedom of the media"?

No. Media freedom also means responsibility, balance and transparency. When a media outlet uses its reputation to distribute paid content that is not identified as such, it loses credibility. And in the case of EU Reporter, it becomes complicit in distorting reality.

cONcluSiON

The EU Reporter article is not journalism. It is propaganda on an international scale. It is a case of the media being used as a political instrument. And for this, there must be public accountability.

In Albania, justice has taken an important step with the investigations of high-ranking officials. The media should not be an obstacle to this process, but an ally in protecting transparency.

The Albanian and international public deserves to know the truth. Not its paid versions./ CNA

On July 8, a court hearing will be held at the High Court for the mayor arrested for serious criminal offenses, Erion Veliaj.

Mayor Veliaj, who has been caught in several corruption cases, has requested a change in security measures.

Mayor Erion Veliaj faces 13 charges for 4 serious criminal offenses: Charges of "Active and passive corruption of local elected officials", "Laundering the proceeds of crime", "Bringing prohibited items into detention cells", "Refusal to declare, failure to declare, concealment or false declaration of assets, private interests of elected officials and public servants or of any other person who has a legal obligation to declare".

Thanks to the developments, CNA has created a survey asking citizens: "Should the Supreme Court release Erion Veliaj?"

To express your opinion, you have three options available: "Yes", "No" and "I don't know".

Erion Veliaj was arrested on February 10 and was initially charged with 2 criminal offenses: corruption and laundering of proceeds of crime.

He was then charged with bringing prohibited items into detention cells.

On May 22, SPAK added another charge of "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."

Veliaj's villa in Kodra e Diellit was also seized.

He has also been given access to the state-run media, which Veliaj uses as a tool, which is trying to blackmail and send messages to the Supreme Court, which is expected to make a decision on July 8 regarding the arrested mayor Erion Veliaj./ CNA