TIRANA, Oct. 29 – Dritan Zagani – former chief of anti-drug operations in the city of Fier – and a key witness in the Habilaj cannabis trafficking case – has come back to front page news as part of the political debate over former Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri.
A statement made by the opposition leader, Lulzim Basha, noting that Zagani had not been convicted of anything in Albania, led to a reaction by the head of the Socialist Parliamentary Group, Taulant Balla, who published an official court ruling that said Zagani had been convicted of not showing up to court.
Dritan Zagani, who was granted political asylum and is now residing in Switzerland, was the first to go public with allegations that a vehicle owned by Tahiri had been used by alleged marijuana traffickers, who he said are the minister’s cousins.
At the time, Tahiri denied the accusations, saying Zagani was a man on the run facing criminal charges for leaking classified police materials. Zagani’s chase-and-run, in combination with his granting of political asylum, has turned him into the opposition’s media hero.
It was exactly in this light that Basha described Zagani’s story in detail in parliament last week. Basha claimed that Zagani was unexpectedly taken from his house one night, after having it searched without any warrant or order, kept in custody for 3 days without the right for a lawyer and was ultimately accused of abusing his post. According to Basha, Zagani’s treatment came as a result of him speaking out about the links among criminal bands and Tahiri and Rama.
Responding to Basha through a Facebook status, Balla declared that the Court had given the decision to jail Zagani after an investigation from the Serious Crimes Prosecutor’s Office.
“Remand in prison has been issued by the Serious Crimes Court for Dritan Zagani by the request of the Serious Crimes Prosecutor’s Office on grounds of revealing sensitive information related to a police raid. Thus, Lulzim Basha’s claim that Zagani has never been condemned is a pure lie,” Balla wrote.
