Ilir Proda will no longer be the Director General of the State Police. A much-discussed figure, who for years appeared in the news as a leader with a strong political profile, is leaving office at a time of high public and institutional tension.
In the mildest version of the reading, Proda was a leader openly aligned in the service of the government. In the harshest version, he remains the only police chief in these 30 years with visible and invisible threads connecting him to segments of organized crime.
Upon taking office, his phone was seized by SPAK, under suspicion of exposing an operation to capture gangs in Elbasan, at a time when Proda was leading the police in that city. An unusual act for a top-level leader of the State Police, which cast a strong shadow of suspicion over him, which never completely disappeared.
Meanwhile, his connection with the much-discussed Ergys Agasi did not simply remain in the territory of urban legends. Prode's name appears in the SPAK investigative file. And this, according to many sources, may be the real reason for his dismissal - more than the recent opposition protest.
The incident of the Molotov cocktail attack on a villa where artists were staying is undoubtedly a matter of security and responsibility. But wasn't the moment when Erion Veliaj's supporters violated the SPAK building, violating the security perimeter, while the mayor was aware of the arrest warrant, also a matter of security? At that time, there was no public alarm from the government. There were no strong tones. There was no "iron fist" reaction.
Today, the reaction is immediate and drastic.
Prode's dismissal can be read as a disciplinary measure after a security failure. But it can also be read as a preventive move at a time when the files are getting dangerously close to the police dome. If his name is under active investigation, then the departure is not just an administrative rotation – it is a protective act for the government and a belated distancing from a figure who for years carried not only the uniform, but also suspicion.
The question that remains is not why Ilir Proda was fired.
The question is: Why now?
