Tirana, March 6 – Arrested last week and later released by the court, the publisher and owner of the European University of Tirana (UET), Henri Çili, held a press conference, during which he publicly denied the prosecution’s allegations on various charges, including those related to fraud, falsification of documents, concealment of property, and illegal influence.
Çili said he has the majority stake in a law firm called ‘Legal Studio’ and as such he has provided legal consulting and mediation services, like any other law firm, to his clients.
He is suspected of having intervened for the reversal of the decision on a person’s life imprisonment, over the killing of a police officer in Lazarat, in the cases of Aliko brothers. But Çili claimed that talking to their family members was a preparatory phase as the law firm was new and made no profit.
“I have not committed any unlawful act and for the first charge, I have not deceived anyone for any reason, and for any case. It is a service relationship between the legal firm and the contact persons, relatives of the persons in litigation in the third instance of justice system. Contacts and conversations have been made in order to reach a second service contract, legal services and legal defense for third-instance,” Henri Çili told journalists.
According to the documents of the prosecution office requesting his and others’ arrest, Çili is said to have talked with a senior justice official to expedite the Supreme Court’s review of convicts’ cases.
“Count 4: for exercising unlawful influence; in relation to these two cases for which I have allegedly committed a legal offense, I have not met any judge, or senior justice official, neither me nor my law studio attorneys. Also, in my life, I have not met any judge or justice official to influence future court decisions,” he said.
Publisher Henri Çili added he will fight to prove that he is innocent and also appeal the court’s decision.
The prosecution office says Çili received a donation of two service units in Velipoja, in northern Albania, as part of the payment for the Aliko brothers’ case. But he insisted the truth is different and that the donation made by businessman Seit Fishta was lawful; taxes were paid, and it had no connection with the Aliko affair.
The prosecution however insists that the donation was made just after the conversation the father of the Aliko’s brothers had with the businessman over the fee, he had to pay Çili.
The Përmet prosecution has filed six charges against publisher Henri Çili, who was detained in late February along with 27 others in the wake of police operation “Mezhgorani”.
The prosecution office suspects that he intervened in the cases of two persons with life imprisonment, in exchange for money. The first case, which Çili is accused of tampering with, is the one of the two brothers – Arbjon Aliko – sentenced to life in prison and Alban Aliko – sentenced to 18 years in prison for the killing of a police officer in Lazarat, during the 2015 police operation against cannabis cultivation in the area.
He is also accused of allegedly interfering in a second case for another convict with a life imprisonment sentence. In both cases, the amount paid to Çili is estimated to be around 780,000 euros; 280,000 euros cash and another 500,000 euros in real estate.
The father of the two convicted brothers, according to prosecution records, talked to the businessman from Shkodra, Sait Fishta, and it is believed that the two properties in Velipoja, Fishta donated to Çili, are rewards for the justice interventions.
The businessman, the father of the convicts, the lawyers and the family members, are also among the 28 people arrested during the police operation.
