12 thousand immigrants from the Middle East were caught red-handed in Albania during this year, using our country as a path to EU countries. But the story of the journey through Europe of the Algerian Hamza Ben Mabrouk and his handcuffing in Tirana, was accompanied by a court battle of several months after on the one hand the police suspected that he had tried to steal a mosque, but in the end they did not provide evidence.
On the other hand, the suspect insisted that he was nothing but an illegal immigrant who entered Albania through Kosovo and who was stuck in the Balkans trying to go west. During this journey, he chose to rest at midnight on August 30 in a mosque, but the people who were in the cult object suspected him of being a thief.
"I saw the two-story mosque in Bërxulë, said Mabrouk, and I didn't know that the first floor was inhabited, I was tired and needed to rest, and moreover, I was going to be treated with medicine, since in Serbia I was raped and they caused me bodily harm," he said.
Taking into consideration this confession, the Court of Appeal in Tirana ordered the immediate release of the Algerian and demanded that the mechanism of the event be clarified.
The Algerian was held in prison from August 30 this year after the staff of the religious attaché of the Turkish embassy who lived on the first floor of the mosque heard noises about the opening of the mosque. Erl Yolcuk told police he then saw someone try to speed away and asked him what he was looking for in the middle of the night. The stranger replied that he wanted to pray
The Court of Appeal estimates that it is up to the prosecution of Tirana to prove beyond any reasonable doubt whether or not the Algerian is guilty of theft.
The inspection of the mosque door shows that there is no damage and no stolen items are accepted by the police who confirm for the court that Hamza Ben Mabrouk illegally entered Albania the day before he was arrested. But during this time no evidence was found against the immigrant to confirm the suspicions
By ordering the cancellation of the security measure of arrest and imprisonment, the appeals court forces him to appear before the prosecutor's office twice a month, which is investigating him for theft and illegal crossing of the border./Tch