Jailed Tirana mayor Erion Veliaj being accompanied to the Constitutional Court in October 2025. Photo: LSA.
Albania’s High Court ruled on Tuesday that Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj, who is accused of corruption, money laundering and concealment of wealth, should remain in jail after his arrest was challenged in several courts.
Veliaj’s defence has strongly challenged the enforcement measure that has kept him in detention for about a year-and-a-half. After losing an appeal in the Court Against Corruption and Organised Crime of First Instance and Appeals and in the High Court, the case was taken to the Constitutional Court with the argument that the arrest was disproportional.
The Constitutional Court redirected the case to the High Court, which has decided that Veliaj should stay in detention.
The ruling was “an extremely concerning development for the rule of law, legal certainty, fundamental rights, and, above all, for democracy in this country,” his lawyer, Plarent Ndreca, told the media.
Veliaj was arrested in February last year. The Special Prosecution Against Corruption and Organised Crime, SPAK, accused him of creating “a complicated scheme” whereby public money was transferred to a group of NGOs “de facto” run by his wife, Ajola Xoxa, using several local businessmen.
His wife faces the same charges. He and his wife both deny the accusations.
Although his trial is ongoing, there have been no significant developments because of repeated delays.
Only a few days before the latest court ruling, on August 28, Veliaj dismissed Tirana’s acting mayor, Anuela Ristani, and his lawyer declared that he would run the city from pre-detention, asking for “practical conditions” to be provided for this.
Many saw this as an attempt to put pressure on the court by portraying his role in the city as too important to be exercised from a jail.
Albanian analyst Andi Bushati said on Tuesday that following the court decision against Veliaj, he should resign.
“The court decided to keep Veliaj in jail. And now the entire strategy devised in recent weeks risks backfiring on him. If the primary concern up to this point was serving the residents, caring for the city, and ensuring the smooth running of Tirana, shouldn’t Veliaj consider resigning for the sake of these very causes?” Bushati wrote on the Lapsi news site.
Veliaj was dismissed by the Municipality Council in September last year after Prime Minister Edi Rama declared that Tirana needed an active mayor.
New elections for Tirana were called and a campaign started – but the Constitutional Court then ruled in November that the way in which Veliaj had been dismissed was unconstitutional. Therefore he remains mayor of the city.