TIRANA, Aug. 6 – The prosecution launched on Tuesday an investigation into the past of the newly elected mayor of Shkodra, Valdrin Pjetri.
The prosecution’s ruling comes after the Democratic Party’s denunciation that Pjetri may have been convicted in Italy in the past and that he may have concealed the criminal past in a plea form.
The opposition’s Democratic Party wrote in a letter to the prosecution that Pjetri was arrested in Italy in 2001-2002.
“In 2001-2002, Valdrin Pjetri was arrested / detained in Italy (lived in Florence, Italy) and subsequently deported by the responsible Italian authorities. Verification of TIMS data shows that Valdrin Peter from 2002 to 23.03.2010 has not traveled in any single case to Italy, which is an indication of the accuracy of the data previously made public.”
If these allegations are substantiated by the prosecution under section 2 of the decriminalisation law, Pjetri cannot hold public office and run in elections, and therefore cannot be the mayor of Shkodra.
Meanwhile, Voltana Ademi, the former DP mayor, remains in office. She hosted on Tuesday OSCE Ambassador to Tirana Bernd Borchardt, with whom he discussed the June 30 elections.
The Decriminalisation Law was passed by parliament in the previous legislature under pressure from international representatives and the opposition Democratic Party, after the Socialist-led coalition fielded a few MPs who were later proved to have had criminal convictions outside Albania. The Democrats accused the Socialists of relying on the criminal underworld and its representatives to win elections.
