Full testimony/ What Erion Veliaj told SPAK prosecutors in the courtroom

New details have emerged from the testimony of Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj in yesterday's session at the Criminal Court for the assessment of the security measure.

During his testimony, Veliaj raised several strong questions regarding the reasons that led to his hasty arrest.

Veliaj has addressed the prosecutor of the case, Ols Dado, accusing him of imprisoning him for political reasons, at a time when the country is heading into an election campaign and he is the Political Director of the Socialist Party for the Tirana Region.

"You imprisoned me in the middle of the campaign and this is a pure political act ," Veliaj is reported to have said.

"You forcibly removed me from the campaign. But, I am freer than you because you have imprisonment in your head. From the window of my cell, I look at the "Jeronim de Rada" school, which we have rebuilt with the Municipality of Tirana, it is one of the thousands of my works that I have done in this city. And you from the window of your office look at the prison ," he added.

Veliaj also expressed surprise at the reasons for his detention and that there was no explanation for this.

"In 11 hours of hearing, I still don't know why I'm under arrest; I still don't know why I'm here. You haven't explained it to me," Veliaj said.

Veliaj has stated that there is no reason for him to be held in prison because he is not dangerous.

"Where is my danger, that you keep me in prison? That I will go out and open daycare centers and kindergartens? What I asked the judicial officer is not to notify my wife with intimidating text messages, but to notify her according to procedural rules, and this was taken as a threat and you keep me in prison."

During the preliminary court session that lasted about 11 hours, the mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, confronted the prosecutor in the case, Olsi Dado, about the lack of facts for his arrest.

Veliaj said that the figures that SPAK has published in the media are untrue and that they have dug into his wife's and his own entire lives, producing tables and figures that do not correspond to reality:

"Ajola's family is an old family with a name in society, which has had its own businesses since 1995 and cannot abuse a family's income and expenses by billing the daughter and son-in-law."

He also referred to several messages exchanged with one of the BKH agents, who had asked him via SMS for his wife to appear at SPAK. At this moment, prosecutor Olsi Dado, raising his voice, addressed Veliaj with the words:  "You are pathological!"

After this, Veliaj said that "you have made up your mind what you will do and this entire session is formal. The fact that the judge is asking you in front of us what measure to take clearly shows the standard of this trial."

In the late hours of February 12, 2025, after more than 11 hours at the GJKKO, where the hearing for the assessment of the security measure was held, Judge Erion Bani decided to leave in force the measure of 'prison arrest' for Erion Veliaj, and businessman Elman Abule, while changing the security measure from 'house arrest' to 'compulsory appearance' for his wife, Ajola Xoxa. 'Compulsory appearance was also given to the 5 businessmen under investigation as part of this file./ Shqiptarja.com