Sali Berisha today lashed out against the Constitutional Court and the President of the Republic, speaking of an “institutional coup” and “violation of the Constitution” after the end of Judge Sonila Bejtja’s mandate. He described this as “the most flagrant act of the political and legal mafia linked to the government,” while sarcastically calling the President “Bajram Limioni.”
But in his attempt to turn Bejtja into a symbol of persecuted justice, Berisha forgets an essential fact: in November 2024, Sonila Bejtja and Genti Ibrahimi were the only two judges who voted in favor of the "Marina Bay Saranda" company, in the case that had to do precisely with the port of Limioni.
In decision no. 79, dated 12 November 2024, of the Constitutional Court, Bejtja and Ibrahimi held the same position, that the preventive seizure of the property was disproportionate, unjustified and violated the right to private property. They argued that the company had acted in good faith on legal grounds and that the state had imposed an excessive burden on a subject that had legitimate expectations of investment.
So, the judge that Berisha is defending today as a “victim of the political mafia” was, together with Genti Ibrahimi, on the side of private business in the port of Limioni – the same Limioni that Berisha is now using as a pseudonym to attack President Bajram Begaj. The irony is complete: Bejtja and Ibrahimi were “pro-Limioni” for real, while Berisha is now inventing the political “Bajram Limioni”.
If Berisha had read their decision, he would know that Sonila Bejtja is not a victim of power, but a judge who has defended the principle of proportionality and economic freedom. And perhaps he would understand that, in this country, “constitutional coups” often do not occur in institutions, but in the selective memory of politics.
