TIRANA, Dec. 27 – Two weeks after having his right to travel abroad revoked by a court, former Minister of Interior Saimir Tahiri appealed the decision and won back access to his passport and identity card.
Tahiri and his lawyer appealed the decision on the grounds the court did not have enough evidence for the decision. The arguments were made during a court session closed to the media.
After the session, Tahiri remained silent while his lawyer confirmed the court had made the decisions dated Dec. 9 and Dec. 13 invalid, granting Tahiri his rights back.
The Tahiri-Habilaj case has been under investigation since October, when Italian authorities busted a criminal gang of marijuana traffickers led by alleged distant cousins of Tahiri – the Habilaj brothers. The Italian wiretapping file included conversations between the brothers in which Tahiri’s name and bribery were being mentioned.
The situation got more complex when Orest Sota was added to the case. Sota, a young businessman, was found with €863,000 in his car – a sum he said was a direct payment to a company he was doing business with, but which the prosecutors suspected to belong to Tahiri, as the two men allegedly have close ties.
Parallel to Tahiri’s case today, Sota’s appeal asking to be granted house arrest also took place; Sota’s appeal was denied.
The Tahiri-Habilaj case has dominated the news for the past three months in Albania, because it has greatly influenced the political scene as well. A meeting of all major opposition parties unanimously asked for the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama following the revelation of the Tahiri-Habilaj case and recently held protests against the appointment of a temporary chief prosecutor by the socialist majority, saying Rama is looking to control the chief prosecutor to avoid investigation about the alleged ties between the government and criminal gangs.
