The appeal left him in prison, Veliaj: I wish I was hugging my son, the fight for justice continues

The Mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, has reacted after the Appeals Court's decision to leave him under the measure of "prison arrest", stating that it was a decision by those who treated him as if he were "the country's sworn enemy".

Veliaj says he wishes the measure against him had been changed so that he could be hugging his son, whom he says he misses very much.

He states, among other things, that the American lawyer provided by his brother has expressed surprise as to why Veliaj remains in prison after his trial. In the end, Veliaj says that his fight for justice will continue.

Veliaj's full reaction:

Dear friends and well-wishers,

Today's decision was not what I wanted, but what those who have framed me as if I were the sworn enemy of this country wanted.

I would have loved to have won this battle and now be hugging my son, whom I miss so much!

But they set another trap for me, eavesdropping on my conversations with my wife and brother from prison, and they turned my confessions into a new file!

It's all like a bad dream, like a Soviet movie, with security guards sewing the prisoner to the point of humiliation. But it's neither a dream nor a movie, it's an event lived in the skin of a family about the imaginary dresses of the wife and deliberately fabricated files for the Mayor of the Capital.

Is there anyone out there who needs to listen and see what nonsense all this is?! The American lawyer, who my brother assured me of, couldn't understand a thing, as he listened to me and asked: "Okay, but why in prison without a trial?" I have written to the High Inspector of Justice, but it seems to me as if I have thrown a letter in a bottle into the sea, which who knows on what deserted shore it has ended up.

However, this is not the end and there is no way it will be! I will continue the fight for justice and I will do it until the end, as I promised you. Because throughout my life I have shown that I know how to get back up. Defeats make us stronger and are the prelude to victories.

I hope I'm not bothering any of you, however, with this absurdity that my family and I are living through. But this is truly inhumane.

Thank you for every encouraging message and every heartfelt support.

I hug you all!