The former mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, has made strong accusations against the Special Prosecution Office during his speech at the Constitutional Court, where his request to declare his dismissal from office unconstitutional is being reviewed.
"If I told you that most mayors are under constant pressure to put relatives of special prosecutors to work. This also happens in the Municipality of Tirana. If they don't put the relatives of special prosecutors to work, then he says: 'I'll tell him,'" declared Veliaj, insinuating that SPAK prosecutors have exerted pressure on local leaders.
Veliaj compared the situation to the wild world, saying that "even nature has its own codes", while accusing the Special Prosecution Office of "monopolistic behavior" which, according to him, aims to "destroy someone's life even without a court decision".
He added that if he had been heard by the Council of Ministers before the dismissal decision, the situation would have been different.
"Would anything have changed if I had been invited to the Council of Ministers? I don't know. But when you hear it, something changes. Maybe you wouldn't be so hasty to act like that," Veliaj said.
According to him, the executive should have reflected:
"If I were to tell you that I am here because of a man who does not exist, the Council of Ministers would say that this is an extraordinary initiative to launch a justice process to protect the mayors."
Veliaj is accused by SPAK of a number of criminal offenses, while continuing to oppose his dismissal and the legal proceedings against him.
