Letter from Erion
Dear friends and supporters,
As you prepare to spend time with your families on vacation, I kindly ask for a few minutes of your attention, to respond to your many kind letters of support during these seven months of pre-trial detention in Durrës.
Last week, five NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) agents arrived at Durrës Prison to formally present me with an indictment even though I had already authorized my lawyers to collect the file in Tirana. Curiously, the media arrived an hour earlier - clearly tipped off in advance - while neither I nor my lawyers had any advance knowledge of this visit.
This came as no surprise. The special prosecutors have made a habit of leaking information to selected media outlets before even informing the accused. This blatant violation of investigative confidentiality, the presumption of innocence, the Constitution, and basic human rights, totally undermines the dignity of anyone who is subjected to such treatment, regardless of who they are or the work that they do.
I took the time to read the indictment. It was a copy-paste of the request for pre-trial detention, with added wiretaps of conversations with my family from the prison phone and transport van. Following three gruelling days of hearings, I had to calm my loved ones, distressed by this forced separation and the stigma cast on the city I love and serve. These additions, suggesting “agitation and propaganda” from behind bars, only serve to underscore apparently how flimsy the initial charges are, how shallow the evidence is, and how uncomfortable the prosecutors must feel about their case. They have built their case on nothing more than innuendo - gossip, anonymous letters, fabrications, and baseless claims to script a wild-West, sheriff-style thriller that I am confident will not hold up in a court of law.
At the end of a personal, family, and tribal vetting spanning 2004–2025, paired with a two-year-long character assassination coincidentally launched right after I won Tirana’s mayoral race for the third time with nearly 60,000 votes, they concluded their investigation with this:
No violations found in two years as minister or ten years as mayor. No single project or decision in breach of the law. There were no findings against me regarding the incinerator, the National Theatre, Skanderbeg Square, the New Bazaar, the Pyramid, the stadium, Astir, the Boulevard, or the new neighbourhoods in Kombinat and “5 Maji”; nor for “Xhon Belushi” Street or the thousand-plus other streets; nor for “Sami Frashëri” school, or the other 50 schools and 110 kindergartens and nurseries. Not for the hundreds of thousands of trees planted or the 91 new playgrounds. And, not for the free bus passes for pensioners and students, nor for the procedures initiated for free school lunches in Tirana. All of which SPAK investigated.
In short: nothing connected to my duties as a three-time elected mayor or the widely discussed projects mentioned above.
The good news is that I’ve passed an unprecedented 21-year vetting process - unmatched by any other politician in Albania. Add to that the absurd voyeurism, intimidation and humiliation by dozens of government agents who two weeks ago attended my medical procedure to ensure that, beyond institutional vetting, I was subjected to a full internal exam - oesophagus to rectum - under surveillance by 30 officers from various police forces.
I believe that this is has all been part of an intentional and degrading campaign of innuendo - where the victim is chosen first, and when no evidence of criminal conduct has been found in their professional conduct, the investigation expands to include their entire life’s history - from travels at age 25 (long before holding public office) to a colonoscopy in 2025. And when still nothing is found, they move on to investigating my spouse, brother, late father-in-law, mother, cousins, and social circle - every single one busy with their own private lives.
What drug lord has been subjected to this? Which serial killer has seen their entire family and network dragged into an investigation? Which criminal’s mother and cousins were interrogated?
Today, only my son remains without a case file, but they still have 12 years to prepare one for him once he reaches adulthood. And yet, now everyone knows that I live in a modest 2-bedroom apartment on the fourth floor of an ordinary building, peacefully coexisting with many of my fiercest critics in the neighbourhood.
No villas. No resorts. No towers.
But while the charges have no connection to my work in the municipality or ministry, many questions remain unanswered:
1. Who is Nesti Angoni? And for how many other politicians have 20-year investigations been initiated based on anonymous letters as my case has been? Is this investigation and prosecution being used as a political elimination tool disguised as a legal procedure?
2. Why do all competent judges assigned to my case at the Special Court of First Instance (GJKKO) suddenly fall ill? Is there coordination between prosecutors and the court to orchestrate this assault on an elected mayor?
3. Why has no investigation been opened into the systematic leaks of confidential case files to media outlets close to SPAK—clearly distinguishable from the files given to lawyers? Such serious violations cannot occur without SPAK’s knowledge and consent.
4. Is there a conflict of interest when one of the prosecutors has been openly disgruntled about the scope of building permit he received from the Municipality? In a democratic society shouldn’t every defendant be entitled to a conflict-free prosecutor?
5. Why are meetings with my international lawyers who are preparing my case for the European Court of Human Rights being blocked even though the European Convention - of which Albania is a signatory - clearly guarantees the right to defence and to freely choose and access legal representation.
6. Was the year-long wave of Molotov-cocktail attacks and arson outside Tirana’s City Hall committed by masked individuals reportedly transported from other districts ever investigated-? Who coordinated this violence to coincide with my illegal vetting? Who financed this 45-week campaign?
7. If the investigation is over, why am I still being detained - far from my family and the City I serve? How does it make any sense that I – the current Mayor of Tirana – would flee when I have such close family, political and community ties in Tirana and have returned to Albania from abroad on several occasions knowing that I was the subject of this criminal investigation? Does it really make sense that as the three-term Mayor of Tirana, I would commit dangerous offences while out on bail knowing that I am under unprecedented and intense surveillance and scrutiny? I have had an unblemished record until this character assassination, and I currently have the overwhelming trust and support of the majority of Tiranian’s – so why isn’t it just fanciful to suggest that I would commit further offences? Indeed, when I was able to serve the people of Tirana, the City was flourishing.
I hope SPAK’s press office will provide serious answers to these seven questions. I demand the same level of seriousness with which they’ve leaked my entire file to the media over the past two years. If SPAK cannot answer these seven questions in a credible and legitimate manner, I will not only reject the baseless charges, I will continue to fight for what is right and will not let these egregious abuses of power continue without exposing them and the damage that they have caused the citizens of Tirana and Albania.
The unchecked power of the prosecution, acting in coordination with other actors has unreasonably and disproportionately overridden the authority derived from the people’s vote - brutally violating the Constitution and local government autonomy.
This unchecked power which has operated for over two years in a synchronized media-political campaign ultimately to publicly destroy the sitting Mayor of Tirana is antithetical to principles of democracy and the rule of law. Now imagine what happens daily to people who have no support, no resources, and no public voice having to face this kind of unchecked superpower. Unless such abusive conduct is exposed and reformed, can Albania ever reach its true potential will it ever be admitted into the European Union without meaningful legal safeguards? Will investors and tourists continue to flock to Albania where they could be subjected to such lawless sub-standards?
To all the zealots in “disco-news” media, who speak with such confidence it sounds like they share my prison bunk - my lawyers will see them in court for defamation. Thus far, we've won 100% of our lawsuits - from Ahmadinejad’s son to the empty barrels of burnt-out journalism.
And as long as I’m under 24/7 surveillance - one camera on my door, another on the window - let them rest assured: I’m more monitored in prison than I ever was in Tirana, after every inch of my life has been ransacked. They’re ruthless in vetting others, never themselves.
As for those who mock me for shedding tears over my son - I say: worry more about men who don’t cry, than those whose hearts still beat and break from longing for their children. Having built 50schools for Tirana’s children and yet being unable to walk my own son to his first day of school is a heartbreak that cuts deep.
But I am not alone.
In prison, I have encountered dozens of cases of injustice. Across the country, thousands of people are being held in pre-trial detention - without a verdict - the highest percentage in all of Europe.
Thousands of families are burdened emotionally and financially simply because a husband, son, or father is held for unreasonably long periods without conviction. Families that grow poorer each day, bearing the “pre-trial tax” to feed and clothe the man of the house - who, until yesterday, had been their family’s the provider.
So, I will also raise my voice for them - for the thousands who suffer under this punitive penal tyranny.
And to my opponents, who couldn’t defeat me at the ballot box and now delight in this temporary hysteria and public lynching – remember this:
Every decade, I have rebuilt my life from scratch. At 10, I was left alone and started anew as a migrant, selling figs at the market. In my 20s, I left America and founded MJAFT, the country’s largest civic movement. In my 30s, I represented Gjirokastra and reformed the Ministry responsible for labor, pensions, and the marginalized. In my 40s, I led Tirana as European Capital of Youth, Sports, and Culture.
So whether it’s in my 10s, 20s, 30s, or 40s - I will never abandon the causes I believe in and hold dear. And the cause of social justice - against the tyranny of the powerful over the powerless - will always drive me forward. I will always continue to fight for Tirana – the city that I love so much, and for Albania – the country I love with all of my heart!
Thank you for reading.
Enjoy your holidays.
Hug your family and children - you never know when you might be taken from them without recourse, as has happened to me.
With love
EV