The trial against Italian businessman Francesco Becchetti continues to drag on at the Court of Appeals of General Jurisdiction.
The hearing, which was scheduled to take place this Monday at 09:00, was postponed to May 12 at 09:00 because the defense attorneys are requesting audio of the hearings that took place in the first instance court for several consecutive hearings.
After being withdrawn for trial, the black platoons accepted the lawyers' request. From January 2024 to now, the hearing at the Appeals has been postponed 20 times.
The process has not yet begun as Francesco Bechet's lawyers have submitted numerous requests, such as this Monday's hearing where audio recordings of the sessions during the first instance process were requested.
The panel of judges Genti Shala, Brikena Ukperaj and Dritan Hasani decided to accept the lawyers' latest request, stating that they would make the requested audios available via email as soon as possible, but also that they would no longer accept requests of this nature.
It was Bechet's lawyers who appealed to the Court of Appeal, following the first instance decision that sentenced the Italian businessman to 17 years in prison on charges that he, through his companies, had created a VAT fraud and money laundering scheme.
Becchetti was charged with 4 criminal offenses: "Theft by abuse of office", "Laundering of proceeds of crime or criminal activity", "Forgery of documents", "Creation of fraudulent schemes related to value added tax".