Prisoner died in IEVP "313"/ Berisha: State crime, UN and CoE to investigate

2025-08-08 20:37:00, Politikë CNA

Prisoner died in IEVP "313"/ Berisha: State crime, UN and CoE to

The Chairman of the Democratic Party, Sali Berisha, through a post on social networks, reacted to the serious incident in the "313" detention center in the capital, where one of the prisoners died as a result of cardiac arrest.

Democratic Leader Sali Berisha blames officials of the "Jordan Misja" Penitentiary Institution for the fatality of Besnik Koçiu, citing the Albanian Helsinki Committee report published the day before on this event, which emphasized that the cause was negligence and the lack of a visit for about 9 hours by doctors, even though the deceased had reported health complications.

Detainee lost his life at "Jordan Misja"/ Helsinki Committee reacts
August 7, 15:02

Berisha states that the prisoner died due to the negligence of the "313" staff and considers it a state crime.

"Besnik Koçiu died within a few days in the black cell under extremely suspicious circumstances. The series of deaths of prisoners in the cells of the narco-state, a cruel feature of the Ramaduro drug prisons!

Dear friends. The next victim of the psychological and physical terror against citizens that is exercised in the hellish cells of the narco-dictatorship is Besnik Koçiu, a 57-year-old detainee who died on July 24, 2025 under completely unclear circumstances at the “Jordan Misja” Prison for the Execution of Criminal Decisions (IEVP), just eight days after being taken into custody for the criminal offense of involuntary wounding. According to the media, the injured person had not filed a lawsuit against the deceased. The Albanian Helsinki Committee has reacted today and raises questions regarding the case of Koçiu, regarding the medical treatment of persons deprived of liberty. Besnik Koçiu, this Committee informs, was admitted to the Prison on July 16 and at the first moment had reported serious and medically recognized diagnoses such as: type 2 diabetes (under insulin), advanced hypertension, dyslipidemia and a stroke that occurred only six months ago.

Despite these conditions, he was not sent to a hospital facility, but was kept in ordinary detention conditions. So in fact, criminals in uniform in prisons, directly or indirectly, contributed to his death. Expressing my deepest condolences to the family, I declare that in this human drama we are facing another state murder in the black cells, with clear implication, action or inaction of the narco-personnel of the prisons of the narco-dictatorship.

"Condemning in the strongest terms the series of deaths in the prison cells of the Ramaduro narco-state, I call on the UN Human Rights Commission and the Council of Europe's Committee Against Torture to undertake a broad and in-depth investigation into the infernal conditions in the prisons and cells of Albania's narco-police stations, the animalistic behavior of uniformed officials with prisoners and detainees in these prisons and death cells," Berisha writes.

The incident occurred on July 24, 2025. Besnik Koçiu was arrested in early July for unintentionally injuring a person in the Valiasi area of Tirana and possessing a weapon without a permit./CNA