TIRANA, June 16 – During a hearing Thursday, the Court of Tirana granted a motion for reconsideration and resentenced the controversial mayor of Kavaja to house arrest, Rroshi’s attorney Theodhori Sollaku told Tirana Times. Rroshi was arrested earlier this week after being charged with failing to reveal his criminal past in the questionnaire submitted to authorities in the framework of the implementation of lustration law.
The general prosecution office announced that Rroshi had hidden a sentence for rape in Italy, two eviction orders from Italy and Switzerland during 1993-1995 as well as another arrest in Switzerland in 1997. The official investigation into Rroshi began on June 1st after the mayor submitted the self-declaration forms which according to the decriminalization bill are mandatory for all civil servants and government officials. On the questionnaire, Rroshi admitted to a detention order in Munich, Germany but he wrote that “he did not remember the reason why he was detained.”
In addition, data presented in court revealed that Rroshi used at least five different names in several European countries such as: Elvis Rroshi, Ervin Rroshi, Enver Rroshi, Bashkim Halluli and Enver Proshi. The mayor has used all the five names in different countries and has criminal records for the five of his identities. Switzerland was Rroshi’s favorite place as he often used his identities to enter the country and seek asylum although he was arrested there for distribution of drugs.
After his arrest earlier this week Rroshi made an official statement on his Facebook profile saying that “the Prosecutors proved nothing but what I declared on my own.” Rroshi resigned in May as he admitted to being convicted in Italy, but later changed his mind on the resignation. In his resignation note, Rroshi said that he was convicted in Italy “while he was under age.” Rroshi was the first senior official to step down after the approval of the decriminalization bill whose aim is to rid politics and administration of people and civil servants with criminal records.
Rroshi has often made headlines after being accused of a criminal past and sentenced for several counts of murder, human trafficking and drug trafficking. If Rroshi is found guilty he can be sentenced from six months to four years in prison.
Rroshi who was first elected mayor of Kavaja in 2011 along hundreds of other civil servants was forced to declare all charges and convictions to the Central Election Commission under the Law “On the Integrity of Persons Elected or Nominated in Public Offices.” The bill, approved in 2015, became a necessity after a series of scandals involving members of parliament that had criminal records, convictions or even facing serious charges. These cases included Socialist MP Arben Ndoka, convicted in Italy for human trafficking, or Christian Democratic Party MP Mark Frroku facing murder charges in Brussels.
The international community got involved and pressed the government to approve a bill which would ban people with criminal records to hold public office. It took Albanian officials almost two years to discuss and approve it.
The law forced nearly 1836 officials, politicians and civil servants to provide information about their criminal past and authorizes General Prosecutor’s Office to check their statements with the authorities of other countries. According to the law, people who have committed offences such as murder, rape, genocide are permanently banned from holding public office while those who committed lesser offenses will be imposed to minimum periods of probation. In addition, people who have faced jail for up to two years are banned from public office for 10 years while those sentenced on corruption charges are banned for 20 years. The law stipulates that if politicians are accused of serious crimes or if they lie in these questionnaires they must resign.
