Head of the Freedom Party, Ilir Meta, accuses Prime Minister Edi Rama of being behind the conflict between the Special Court for Organized Crime and Corruption (GJKKO) and the National Chamber of Advocacy, which he says is being used to keep him in pretrial detention. Meta opposes postponing today’s hearing and suspending the detention deadlines, insisting that he is ready to defend himself in court.
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Justice with a script reaches its highest levels. Today’s hearing in the trial against me was delayed by about 40 minutes because none of the prosecutors was present at 10:00, as had been set last week, with the agreement of 2 of the 3 prosecutors in the case. But finally the door opened and a gentleman in a black suit appeared with great solemnity.
I assumed he must be one of the lawyers appointed by the court from the list of the Ministry of Justice (Rama 4 Government) to defend me. But I was soon disappointed, because instead of coming to sit beside me on the glass platform, he sat opposite me in the place of the 3 missing prosecutors. Before he had even properly sat down, the door opened again and the judicial panel immediately took the bench.
The prosecutor, who has no connection to my case, introduced himself and then said he had come only to read the request of his 3 colleagues to halt the hearing’s postponement and to suspend my detention deadlines. Wishing all 3 prosecutors of my case full health, since it is the flu season, I again asked the panel, as I had already requested in an official letter the day before, that my trial continue, because I was and am able to defend myself, and this right is granted to me by law and by the European Convention on Human Rights.
The panel withdrew to deliberate and, after consulting among themselves, declared briefly that the hearing would be postponed not only because my lawyer, Atty. Bujar Musta, was absent from the defense bench (he was present in the courtroom), as he cannot take part because of the conflict between GJKKO First Instance and the National Chamber of Advocacy, since his license is automatically suspended.
The court also found fault with the two lawyers it had itself appointed, without asking me at all, selected by it from the list of the Ministry of Justice (Rama 4 Government), for not appearing. Of course, the court approved the request of the delegated prosecutor, who could not return empty-handed to his 3 colleagues who had more important work, to suspend my detention deadlines. Still, the court at least gave us some good news: under the European Convention on Human Rights, which takes precedence over domestic laws, at the next hearing I will defend myself, without a lawyer.
What I still do not understand is why today’s court hearing was cancelled, when the European Convention on Human Rights recognizes this right for me, which I expressed verbally and officially in writing to the panel before every hearing. And why the trial should not have taken place today when the prosecutor was there, I was there (I have never missed any hearing), and I have the right to defend myself without a lawyer, and when the panel was there. Likewise, I ask myself why these hearings were cancelled when they could have proceeded without the lawyer’s presence?
I got the best answer when I saw in the media that the Assembly today decided not to include in its agenda the legislative initiative of the Chairman of the Freedom Party’s Parliamentary Group, Mr. Tedi Blushi, to resolve the deliberate conflict with a clear political script between GJKKO First Instance and the National Chamber of Advocacy, which, as we have consistently stressed, is being shown to be a conflict orchestrated by Edi Rama.
But this is not merely a problem of the violation of Ilir Meta’s rights, although I have the privilege of having the name ILIR, but the fact that this conflict is producing very serious consequences. Since 1 September 2026 until now, about 600 trial hearings have been postponed, of which only 6 concern Ilir Meta. The most serious consequence is that, in order to keep Ilir Meta in pretrial detention unlawfully and criminally, hundreds of other citizens who are defendants and deprived of liberty are suffering: their court proceedings are being delayed, and their detention deadlines are being unjustly suspended.