
Prime Minister Edi Rama has reacted after the Supreme Court's decision to keep Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj in prison.
Rama says in his reaction that Veliaj's ordeal is unique in all of Europe.
According to the Prime Minister, the costs of the decision to arrest Veliaj are being paid by the citizens of Tirana.
"Again Tirana without a head and again the newly elected president, christened by the Constitutional Court itself as the only one in office and immovable from office, cannot move from the cell where he is being held without trial!"
Yes, the rule is that court decisions are respected, and I always abide by this rule - I don't even comment on decisions before they become final.
But, beyond the fact that Erion Veliaj's ordeal is unique in the history of democratic Europe and also the fact that there is still no evidence of extreme dangerousness anywhere that could justify the endless imprisonment of a person elected by the people, there is another bitter truth:
"No one will care about the daily and increasing cost of the first capital in the world, which has been living with its head cut off for almost two years, and about the tribute that almost 1 million residents must pay daily to this unprecedented and unheard of legal, social and economic experiment," Rama said in his reaction.