After 9 months of isolation and his absence from the media, Mayor Erion Veliaj used the podium at the Constitutional Court to speak about the allegations and express his frustration with justice. Veliaj described the decision to dismiss him for "three months' absence from duty" as the most serious insult of his life that has come from his associates.
"The reason for dismissing me for three months of absence from duty is the worst insult of my life, because it came from my colleagues, those who know me better than anyone else, and they neither informed me nor listened to me. May God forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing. I pray for them every night," Veliaj said.
He further did not spare the propaganda words, saying that the only person who could complain about his absence was his mother and family, since, as he said, "they have met the boy more in prison than in freedom."
Veliaj also said that going to Durres prison was not his choice, but that of those who wanted to see him behind bars and not with a shovel in his hand.
"My absence was not a choice. I did not choose to self-intern in the Durrës prison, but it was imposed on me by the state. They wanted to see me with handcuffs in my hands, not with a shovel in my hands, as Tirana has seen me for a decade," he said.
Veliaj's communication was the first after so many years, live and without tapes prepared for the media.
Meanwhile, the Constitutional Court is expected to decide in the coming days whether to accept Veliaj's appeal or to uphold the government's decision to dismiss him as mayor of Tirana.
