Ping-pong with proportionality, the decision on Veliaj, the Supreme Court follows it to the Special Appeal

2026-09-15 14:32:56Politikë SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Ping-pong with proportionality, the decision on Veliaj, the Supreme Court
Erion Veliaj

When the Constitutional Court returned to the High Court for review the request of Mayor Erion Veliaj to abolish the security measure of imprisonment, the decision was accompanied by the condition that this court must justify whether the measure of arrest is proportional to the charges and the dangerousness of the accused, as well as the impact of this measure on the exercise of Veliaj's mandate as a local elected official.

But, the Supreme Court, with its decision taken this Tuesday, seems to have turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to the order taken by the Constitutional Court, which stands at the top of the Albanian justice pyramid.

Not only that, the criminal panel of the Supreme Court states in the reasoning of the decision to leave the security measure of imprisonment in force, that 'the Court of Special Appeals has expressed its opinion on the proportionality of this measure'.

Rather than providing a legal basis to support the decision, the Supreme Court has played ping-pong, removing responsibility from itself and returning this responsibility to the SPAK courts.

With the logic followed by the Supreme Court, then the Court of Appeals can also reason in decisions on requests and similar matters that the 'proportionality, or dangerousness of a person under indictment' was reviewed by the first instance of the GJKKO, without considering the new circumstances of the complainant, or even the fact that the investigations may have been closed, the case may have gone to trial and the accused no longer poses a risk of evidence tampering, as in the case of Erion Veliaj.


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