The trial of Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj and 18 other co-defendants at the Special Court has failed to take place.
Today's hearing was postponed due to the absence of some of the defendants' defense lawyers, which led to the interruption of the trial. Under these conditions, the court has also decided to suspend the pre-trial detention periods for Erion Veliaj.
During the hearing, Veliaj's lawyer, Plarent Ndreca, raised the claim that 24 files of the investigative file were not made available to the defense.
According to the court, the missing files are related to the notification of the indictment for the other defendants in this voluminous case and do not constitute a substantial obstacle to the development of the process at this stage. The panel emphasized that Veliaj's right to defense has not been violated so far.
However, to guarantee a fair process and full transparency, the court decided that the requested files should be officially made available to the defense before the next hearing, which is expected to be scheduled soon.
