TIRANA, May 9 – Izet Haxhia, a bodyguard of Albania’s former President Sali Berisha during the 1990s and one of the people convicted for the 1998 assassination of Democratic Party founder Azem Hajdari, was extradited from Turkey on Tuesday night.
In 2002, Haxhia was given 25 years in prison by the Albanian Court for premeditated murder committed in cooperation and attempted premeditated murder, despite him never pleading guilty to the court.
Turkish authorities arrested Haxhia in 2006 and, rejecting several requests to extradite him to Albania, obliged him to stay within Turkey’s borders until this year’s February, when the court decided to extradite him.
In a Facebook post from some days ago, Haxhia wrote he gave himself in to Turkish authorities, while in a number of interviews and public announcements from past years he’s said he will ask for his case to be re-opened.
“The court session and decision took place without his presence. Haxhia hasn’t had a chance to express himself and give his stand. We will ask for the case to re-open,” his lawyer Fran Dashi said.
Haxhia has often been interviewed in Albanian media. Over his years in exile, Haxhia has blamed Berisha for Hajdari’s murder — at the time, Berisha was the head of the Democratic Party.
Berisha, on the other hand, said concerning Haxhia’s return to Albania in a recent TV talk-show that he is no more than an additional criminal on Prime Minister Edi Rama’s side.
“He is a criminal facing 25 years of prison in Albania and life imprisonment in Greece, according to media, and now he comes to stand beside Edi Rama,” Berisha said.
