NEW YORK, March 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Kasowitz LLP today released a report examining the fundamental due process defects underlying the continued detention and prosecution of Erion Veliaj, the Mayor of Tirana, Albania. Today's report supplements and updates prior reports issued on June 24, 2025 and October 28, 2025.
The Updated Veliaj Report addresses two key updates in Mayor Veliaj's case. First, it spotlights the attempts by the prosecutor - Albania's Special Structure Against Corruption and Organized Crime (SPAK) - to impair Mayor Veliaj's right to a fair trial. SPAK has repeatedly blocked Mayor Veliaj from accessing and reviewing nearly 60,000 pages of evidence to prepare for his trial. Moreover, SPAK has restricted the manner and means through which Mayor Veliaj's state-appointed lawyer can speak to him about the evidence and prepare his defense. Just yesterday, the Trial Court comprised of a three-judge panel rejected SPAK's conduct, directing SPAK to send its evidence file to Mayor Veliaj for his review and postponing the trial by two weeks. While this decision represents a step in the right direction, it remains to be seen whether Mayor Veliaj can realistically review and process a significant volume of evidence within a short period of time.
Second, SPAK continues to make spurious arguments to justify Mayor Veliaj's continued pretrial detention. Most recently, SPAK cited Mayor Veliaj's lobbying activities as a basis to prolong his detention. Lobbying, however, is not among the defined criteria to justify the detention of a defendant. There is only one reason why SPAK has used it to do so: to punish and retaliate against Mayor Veliaj for expressing his democratic right to petition, which has effectively exposed SPAK's numerous due process violations in his case.
"SPAK's reliance on lawful advocacy and lobbying to justify Mayor Veliaj's continued unlawful detention in Albania is deeply troubling," said Daniel Fetterman, a partner at Kasowitz LLP and international counsel to Mayor Veliaj. "Petitioning governments and speaking publicly about one's case is a fundamental democratic right and not a basis for imprisonment or punishment. After more than one year of pre-trial detention and other serious due process violations in Mayor Veliaj's case, it is appropriate for the American government - which helped to establish and advise SPAK - to look into what has been going on and why this is occurring. By letters to the U.S. State Department and Department of Justice, that is exactly what we are asking them to do."
A copy of the report is available in its entirety here.
The Kasowitz team representing Mayor Veliaj includes partners Daniel J. Fetterman and Brian S. Choi in New York, and senior counsel Clarine Nardi Riddle and special counsel David Miller in Washington, D.C.
Contact Information:
Shannon O'Reilly
(212) 547-1290
SOReilly@kasowitz.com
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