Yesterday, Interior Minister Albana Koçiu dismissed Deputy Minister Andi Mahila from his post because he was photographed smoking a cigarette inside a bar, in violation of the law.
Today on "Albania Live", Bledar Hasa , the person who photographed the deputy minister, spoke , expressing his feelings after the dismissal and how he managed to take that photo.
He said that he does not like a person being fired for this reason, but a senior state official cannot violate the law in this way.
" I was in a bar on the block with my family and this man, without asking at all, without responsibility, lit a cigarette. I tried to approach him to tell him to put it out, but the waiters told me to please leave it alone because he is the Deputy Minister of the Interior. That's when I understood. I felt sorry for those guys who didn't know what to do. I couldn't get the fact that a high-ranking state official was breaking the law in such a way out of my mind. I sent the photo to the Prime Minister and the Ministry of the Interior. The photo is old. I didn't know what had happened, a friend told me yesterday. I was surprised by the reaction of people who say that it could have been tolerated. When you are a high-ranking state official, you are responsible for what you are doing and that you are breaking the law. It is not pleasant to see people fired for such things, but I am glad because our society must enforce the rules. If the rules are not enforced from where they come from, what can we expect from society in the future ," he said.