Anti-Corruption asks 12 years prison for Saimir Tahiri

 Saimir Tahiri responding to reporters after leaving court

 Former Minister of Interior Saimir Tahiri again faced today in the Special Court of Appeals against Corruption and Organized Crime with the accusations that the Special Anti-Corruption Structure (Known in Albanian with the acronyms 'SPAK) has filed against him for alleged links with the so-called Habilaj Group, brothers accused of trafficking of large quantities of marijuana from Albania to Italy. The former Interior Minister is related to Habilaj.

Even in today's session, SPAK stood by the accusations raised from the beginning against the former minister (Narcotics trafficking committed in collaboration in the form of a structured criminal group; Participation in a structured criminal group and Committing a crime in a structured criminal group ), insisting on his sentence of 12 years imprisonment.

Saimir Tahiri and his lewer, Maksim Haxhia, entering the Court

But, since the trial was done with an abbreviated procedure, they asked to reduce 1/3 of the sentence, asking for a final sentence of 8 years in prison.

Meanwhile, Saimir Tahiri claimed that none of the charges against him stand, saying that he had no contact with members of the Habilaj group.

The former Interior Minister was put under investigation in November 2017, after Italian authorities cracked down on the Habilaj brothers' organization. In the wiretaps, Mr. Tahiri's name was mentioned several times in conversations between traffickers. The prosecution urgently requested his arrest, but the Left -Wing majority rejected the request, claiming that she had not presented any evidence. In May 2018, Mr. Tahiri resigned from the mandate of deputy. Shortly afterward, the prosecution requested again his arrest. Mr. Tahiri spent a short period under house arrest, until the Court of Appeals later allowed his investigation to be released, an investigation which was closed in 2019.