The President of Albania Ilir Meta declared today that the shooting episode in Elbasan, where one person was killed and 4 others were wounded could have been avoided if the institutions would have investigated a lawsuit deposited by the Democratic Party much earlier. According to Meta, on the 7th of April, the Democratic Party submitted on SPAK a criminal charge requesting the investigation of 40 citizens who are attached to the ruling party and back then were consuming criminal charges such as electoral crime and other crimes in the city of Elbasan. “If you see the list of names in the charges made by the Democratic Party, you will see that in the list are all the names which have been involved in the episode of 21 April in Elbasan,” said Meta.
The President continued by saying that “Instead of starting the investigation for this case, SPAK after 8 days of receiving the charges, through a letter dated April 15, forwarded it for competence to the Elbasan Prosecutor’s Office. This material should have been investigated by SPAK and not by the Elbasan Prosecutor’s Office. If SPAK had acted in time and without any delay, these 40 people would have been in prison and we would not have had any victims or injured people,” said the President. Meta gave further details about the charges made by the DP, saying that the Prosecutor’s Office of Elbasan, one week after receiving the letter from SPAK, on the 20th of April, sent a request of appearance to the General Secretary of the DP Gazment Bardhi to discuss the charges on the 30th of April, 5 days after the elections.
For this reason, the President directed 5 questions to the Elbasan prosecutor’s office and its leader Kreshnik Ajazi. “Mr. Prosecutor of the Elbasan district, why was delayed the administration of the charges made by the DP sent by SPAK and why the plaintiff Gazment Bardhi has been called to appear only on April 30, 5 days after the election? How can such slow investigative actions consciously help in the prevention of electoral crimes? […] Does your brother, Besian Gezim Ajazi, run for MP in these elections for the ruling party in the Elbasan region? Do you think this represents a conflict of interest for you, and if yes, have you ever considered resigning or requesting a transfer from the Elbasan prosecutor’s office?” asked the President, concluding by asking the prosecutors of Elbasan, whether they had any conscience that the shooting in Elbasan happened on 21st of April, one day after they sent the request to Bardhi to appear for clarifications in the Prosecutor’s Office on April 30.
The President invited also the General Prosecutor of Albania, SPAK, the High Council of the Prosecution, the High Inspector of Justice, the Embassies and the Member State to take note of the questions, asking for the authorities to shed light on the episode as soon as possible.
