2026-09-30 21:58:04AktualitetSHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Erion Veliaj
The arrest of Erion Veliaj shook Albanian politics to its foundations. His arrest was one of those developments that could redraw the architecture of the heavyweights in the majority and beyond.
This development brought an unprecedented situation even for the country's main municipality. Its employees gathered in a previously unknown format.
It was officially presented as a working meeting, but the content brought about a different perception.
While Veliaj faced the security measure verification session, hundreds of Socialist Party supporters gathered near the Special Court, with banners and calls in support of the mayor...
The protest in front of SPAK lasted only the day of the security measure assessment....
A few political messages were enough for the picture to change completely.
At first, many people close to Veliaj publicly sided with him.
Socialist MP Etjen Xhafaj reacted immediately after the arrest with an open message of support.
Other voices within the Socialist Party also spoke about the presumption of innocence and the measure of arrest, but this kind of support lasted very little....... It seems that Edi Rama personally took care of this through a message on the Socialists' WhatsApp...
"I do not want to hear any more statements that violate the independence of SPAK, regarding the case or specific cases, the content of the charges or the claims of the accused! STOP! Our support for SPAK remains unwavering and our principled criticisms remain possible."
From that moment on, the anti-SPAK protests stopped, although the first moments of Veliaj's arrest were considered spontaneous reactions by the militants...
Even Etjen Xhafaj was later forced to make a mea culpa as he stated in an interview that he had been misunderstood...
In politics, sometimes withdrawal speaks louder than declarations.
What until then seemed like support from a political family, very quickly turned into an organized silence.
"There is another theory that is from the critics of the SP and not only Velija and Rama, that in fact Rama is the one who put Veliaj behind bars by claiming control over SPAK, which I personally am saying that I do not believe in this theory," said analyst Alban Dudushi.
"We are talking about a policy and a governance not on rails, not on normal tracks, according to the rules of the game, according to democratic rules, according to the implementation of the law, here we are talking about a war of territories similar to illegal, criminal organizations, I would say. Power comes to you from politics from office is one thing, but recruiting through illegal means is another territory and is a different phenomenon ," said Arion Sulo, analyst.
The mayor was left alone facing SPAK in his criminal fate. And this silence continues to this day even though the official position of the majority considers Erjon Veliaj's detention unjustified.
InsideStory contacted some of the socialist figures considered closest to ErionVeliaj, among them Minister of Justice Toni Gogo, who is the man in charge of relations with the system, but no response...
His old friend Fatmir Xhafaj, the man who in the 2021 elections, after being put on the open list, had Veliaj's unlimited support to run for Parliament, has also passed in silence.
Also, this interest in commenting on Veliaj's situation was not responded to by his former right-hand man Arbian Mazniku, who was once promoted as number 2 of the municipality and later part of the government. Without forgetting their path in civil society. We have also addressed a request for an interview to the head of the socialist group Taulant Balla, the old socialists Blendi Klosi and Bledi Çuçi, the members of the municipal council Megi Fino and Alfred Muharremi, but no response...
No comments even from new public protagonists like Sara Mila, Briseida Çakërri or Aulona Bylykbashi, who considered themselves newcomers to the pink headquarters... Perhaps, the silence is a clear message of leaving Veliaj to his own fate...
