The Mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, has reacted after his arrest on Monday.
Veliaj said in a Facebook post that a prosecutor "has not left a witness unblackmailed."
"I am not surprised by this absurd end to this long chapter of dragging on, both in the mouths of the media and in the hands of a lunatic prosecutor, which is a living insult to human intelligence. But this was only the first chapter. Now I no longer have the obligation to remain silent about what my eyes have seen in my behavior with my family and my ears have heard under the roof of SPAK. I have respected, like everyone else, our political line, not comments on an open process by justice. Believe me, it is not easy to remain silent when your skin burns like cigarette butts are being extinguished on your body from the idiocies that a prosecutor says, like the one who did not leave a witness without blackmailing. I did it with the belief that this is how it should be and I do not regret gritting my teeth," Veliaj wrote.
Veliaj said that he and his family have nothing to do with the word corruption and that the truth "is stronger than any wall."
"I don't believe that the media will have the courage to unravel the idiotic accusations one by one and I am terribly sorry that some entrepreneurs have fallen into the hands of that lustful unknown, because they sponsored cultural activities for Tirana. I feel sorry for Ajola, who didn't even let her son go to school, but this doesn't surprise me either. I feel sorry for my mother, who, heartbroken by my every battle these 20 years, did not share the vicissitudes of a life of sacrifice. I feel sorry for all the collaborators, colleagues, employees of the Municipality of Tirana and I want them to know that I have nothing to do with the idiocies written in the pachavura, unfortunately also initialed by Altin Dumani," Veliaj wrote. "I feel sorry for the sisters and brothers of the Socialist Party and for the mayor, who, after so many years of joint electoral battles, if he does not have me on his side this campaign, as seems likely, while they throw me in jail without trial 3 months before the elections. I tell everyone what I told the mayor and whoever else asked me: My family and I have nothing to do with the word corruption. This story of ours is so tragicomic that people will not believe it when they hear the idiocies of that accusation broken down one by one. It will not be easy, because under these conditions you cannot explain how you want and how much you want, but I have great faith that the truth is stronger than any wall and than any idiot who becomes a barricade to it by abusing the power of justice."
