In Albanian politics, memory is often selective and short. But rarely have the contradictions been so obvious, so documented, and so irrefutable as in the case of Ervin Salianj and the way Sali Berisha has redefined his figure in just one year.
In September 2024, a few days after the Court of Appeal upheld the one-year prison sentence for former MP Ervin Salianji for the criminal offense of false reporting, Berisha publicly declared him a symbol of political repression.
"We send a heartfelt greeting to the deputy, Ervin Salianji. Who is today the only citizen of Europe imprisoned, because he dared to denounce the trafficker brother of the criminal Fatmir Xhafa, Geron Xhafa. This act proves once again that Edi Rama is a loyal son of the executioner Kristaq Rama, and that Edi Rama wants an Albania without opposition, just like his father who, as an executioner, signed the executions and hangings of political opponents."
At that time, Salianji was not just a convicted former MP. He was, according to Berisha, the only political prisoner in Europe, a living testament to the government's revenge against the opposition and the continuity of a regime that, according to him, inherited the violence of the dictatorship.
The narrative deepened further in another public reaction by Berisha, where the sentencing of Salijanj was described as a frontal attack on the entire opposition.
"The political trial of Ervin Salianja is an ugly act, a blind political revenge by Edi Rama and Fatmir Xhafa. It is a blow to every opposition member who considers crime, considers drugs as a major threat to his being, his existence. This blow, in the series of blows to the opposition, of political arrests and imprisonments, is a blow, it is an appeal to the entire opposition, to stand up today or never."
Salianji had become a cause. A flag. Proof that the opposition was being persecuted and that anyone who dared to denounce the crime would end up behind bars.
But it only took one calendar year for the same political figure to experience a brutal transformation in the discourse of the same leader.
Today, Ervin Salianji is declared by Sali Berisha no longer as a political prisoner, but as an enemy of the democrats and an accomplice of organized crime.
"That a corrupt member of the Presidency and a member of the National Council organized a meeting with Suel Çela, the most dangerous criminal of Elbasan, the head of one of the most powerful cartels in Europe, is absolutely unacceptable and can never happen. In this context, whoever undertakes such an action crosses the red line and is responsible for himself. Regarding the meeting you mention, we have had not one but several pieces of information that claim that Suel Çela was the main organizer of this meeting", says Mayor Sali Berisha about what a year ago was the symbol of opposition resistance.
Thus, from a symbol of resistance to crime, Salianji was transformed into its collaborator. From a victim of the regime, into a danger to the Democratic Party.
This change of course is neither accidental nor the first in the history of the DP. It is part of a well-known pattern of Sali Berisha's behavior towards figures within the DP who dare to oppose him. It only took a few meetings of the former MP with the grassroots democrats, where responsibility for the May 11 defeat and changes in the party leadership were demanded, for the full arsenal of accusations to be put into operation.
In this context, political exclusion is always accompanied by moral demonization.
However, what really stands out is not the usual punitive actions against "internal enemies", but the open public paradox. The same man, with the same history and the same criminal case, is depicted within a year as a hero and a traitor, as a political prisoner and as a cartel associate.
It no longer matters what the Democrats think of Ervin Salianji. Those who officially adhere to the DP will hardly be able to vote for the former symbol of resistance to the regime. Along with others, Sali Berisha has thrown Salianji into the bin of internal enemies of the DP. And this happens at a time when every opposition element, party or movement must unite in a single front to face a government crippled by scandals and riddled with the filth that has invaded it in 13 years of governance.
