Prime Minister Edi Rama, in a video message from Mother Teresa International Airport shortly after returning from the United States, described the measure imposed on the former head of Albania’s State Intelligence Service (SHISH) as extreme.
“I have just returned from New York, where, as you know, I represented Albania at the United Nations. I decided to address you immediately from Mother Teresa Airport. Recent developments following the decision to place the former head of SHISH under house arrest require an immediate and direct response. It was undoubtedly an extreme measure, considering that it involved exposing an institution of particular importance. I have neither the right nor the intention to interfere with the substance of the case or with what led the court to impose this measure. I have never done so before, and I will not do so now. Every suspicion must be investigated thoroughly. Every accusation must either be disproved or proven through an impartial process. When an investigation reaches the head of the country’s intelligence service, it is no longer simply an issue for an independent branch of power, but an issue for the entire state. The way this was handled has left our partners speechless,” Rama said.
The Prime Minister’s message comes following SPAK’s investigation into the dismissed director of the State Intelligence Service, Vlora Hyseni, who is suspected of having provided classified information to businessman Ergys Agasi.
Full statement
“I have just returned from New York, where, as you know, I represented Albania during the week of the United Nations General Assembly.
I decided to address you immediately from here, at Mother Teresa Airport, because the developments of recent days, following the decision to place the former head of the State Intelligence Service under house arrest, require an immediate and direct response. Face to face.
It was undoubtedly an extreme measure, considering that it involved exposing a highly sensitive and crucial state institution. But I have neither the right nor the intention to delve into the substance of the case, assess the evidence, or discuss the reasons that led the prosecution to request the measure and the court to impose it. I have never done so in any previous case, and I will not do so in this one either. Any reasonable suspicion, against anyone, must be investigated thoroughly.
Any accusation brought against anyone must be either proven or dismissed through an independent, impartial and proper judicial process. Any restriction of liberty requested by the prosecution against anyone who does not enjoy parliamentary immunity must be challenged only in court — not from the Prime Minister’s podium or from political platforms.
These principles have guided, and continue to guide, both my conduct and that of the governing majority when it comes to individual justice cases. They apply to everyone.
On the other hand, respecting the independence of the justice system does not mean remaining silent when a matter of principle arises in the course of its work. Specifically, in this case, beyond the individual criminal matter, there is another issue of principle concerning the state that cannot simply be ignored as though it never happened.
During the imposition of the measure and the judicial handling of the case file, an institution of particular sensitivity for the security and reputation of the state was exposed. It was exposed to the risk of serious damage — damage that could and should have been entirely prevented.
Information from the investigation file was allowed to flood social media channels and media outlets before the court finally ordered restrictions on its publication — shutting the stable door after the horse had bolted. Naturally, the order achieved nothing.
When an investigation reaches the head of the country’s intelligence service, this is no longer merely an issue concerning an independent branch of power. It becomes an issue for the entire state. That is why this hands-off approach has left all our partners speechless.
In other words, this is certainly not the first time in world history that the head of a secret service has been charged. But it is the first time that a secret service institution has become the target of national and international media speculation because none of the safeguards that states normally take in such an unfortunate situation were put in place.
Let us be very clear:
The investigation and trial of Vlora Hyseni are exclusively the responsibility of the justice system. There can be no debate about that. Protecting the State Intelligence Service, and not only that institution, from any unnecessary collateral damage is the responsibility of the entire state. There should be no debate about that either.
The separation of powers can never mean a separation from state responsibility. And this brings us back to an issue we have encountered before, which is why the time has come for us to address it jointly and seriously.
I believe that the National Security Council, convened tomorrow by the President of the Republic, is the appropriate forum in which to reflect on institutional responsibilities and discuss the safeguards needed to protect our institutions — above all, our national security institutions — when their leaders or employees go off track and become the subject of a criminal investigation.
As I said when the house-arrest measure was announced, I appreciated Vlora Hyseni’s work as head of the State Intelligence Service. Likewise, the assessments of her work by our international partners had consistently been very positive.
Meanwhile, the attempts in recent days to explain her appointment as head of SHISH through all kinds of conspiracy theories have absolutely nothing to do with the truth. As usual, the truth is simple.
She initially began working alongside me as an adviser responsible for relations with security institutions.
After a considerable period in that role, and also on the basis of the excellent references received from partner intelligence services — I stress, excellent references — she was appointed head of the Service.
There is no question today that the former head of the State Intelligence Service has a very difficult case to answer before the justice system, in addition to owing a significant moral debt to this country, which placed great trust in her.
But there should equally be no question that this country does not become more just when people placed under investigation by prosecutors are lynched in the media as though they were witches tied to the stakes of the Middle Ages.
Nor does this society become better when it fans the flames of those stakes with the hatred pouring out of social media channels, while supposedly secret investigative material is repeatedly chewed over in public — material leaked from within justice institutions themselves, reducing the presumption of innocence to a burned rag.
No one can expect the media to protect investigative secrets, because the media exist to uncover information, not to conceal it.
Therefore, the problem does not begin with the informal spokespeople for the justice system appearing on television. They are used as journalists by certain prosecutors or judges to declare people guilty before their trial has even begun — just as in a dictatorship, where once the propaganda machine has done its work, the trial becomes a mere formality.
This increasingly troubling problem begins with unlawful practices that have become normalized within the justice system itself, where confidential investigative information is misused to publicly lynch, humiliate, subdue and condemn people before a court has judged them. This can no longer be ignored.
The justice system cannot fight illegality in politics, business or crime while normalizing illegality within its own ranks. The long-awaited independence of the justice system cannot mean independence from the Constitution, disregard for the law, detachment from human rights or contempt for social ethics.
The prosecution has the right and duty to investigate. The courts have the right and duty to adjudicate. The media have the right and duty to uncover information, inform the public and demand accountability.
But no one has the right to declare another person guilty before trial, let alone publicly dehumanize them.
The rule of law is tested twice at every step: through the courage to investigate the powerful and through the discipline to protect the rights of the person under investigation — even if that person is the most serious criminal.
As far as I am concerned, just as in every other case in which a senior official has created a problem for themselves with the justice system, the case of the former head of the State Intelligence Service is an individual matter between her and the justice authorities.
I have nothing more to add about the case itself.
But I still have something to say about the political meaning of this development, because once again a sweeping indictment has been raised against the government and, of course, against me personally, accompanied by the relentless refrain: ‘Corruption — Corruption — Corruption, we are drowning in corruption.’
Dear voters, regardless of your political beliefs or how you vote,
The fact that the justice system takes action against people in senior positions, including members of the government or people associated with it, does not prove that we are drowning in corruption or that corruption is increasing. Quite the opposite.
The fact that, in this new chapter — one that is useful and healthy for Albania — independent investigations are holding individuals in positions of power, or those connected to power, accountable before the justice system does not prove that the governing majority is corrupt. Quite the opposite.
This fact, these episodes, this new chapter of justice in Albania — a country that has never before had truly independent justice, because it has never before had political leadership interested in giving the justice system independence, nor a political force prepared to support independent justice while bearing the political costs itself — prove precisely the opposite of the refrain: ‘Corruption — Corruption — Corruption, we are drowning in corruption.’
They prove that corruption is not increasing, but is being tackled.
They prove that the governing majority is not corrupt, but remains unwavering in its support for the independent institutions fighting corruption, including and above all within its own ranks.
They prove that we are fully committed both to further anti-corruption reforms and measures by the government and to bearing the political costs resulting from the anti-corruption work of independent justice institutions.
Of course, I am very well aware that whenever a new case emerges involving a colleague or a senior or junior official who finds themselves facing the justice system, the same old, vulgar and mocking refrain is immediately directed at me:
‘How could he not have known? How could he not be involved himself? How can he once again say that people were eating the pears behind his back? How, how, how…?’
Because according to that refrain, I am supposedly the person ultimately responsible for every case — I, who wanted the Justice Reform when no one believed it was possible, led it when many wanted it dead, and defend it like no one else.
But a prime minister cannot be judged on the absurd assumption that no person connected to him will ever break the law, and that if someone does, then the prime minister himself must also be responsible.
The Prime Minister and the entire governing majority should be judged by the position they take and the actions they undertake when someone among them or close to them comes under investigation.
Do they justify that person? Do they protect them? Do they turn against the justice system, or do they allow justice to do its job and the individual to bear responsibility for their own actions?
I promised the revival of an Albania that had been left in ruins and the European state-building of Albania — not a government in which no one would ever put a foot wrong, nor an angelic public administration in which wrongdoers would simply disappear on command.
That would be nice, but no one in the world has achieved it.
Above all, I pledged to liberate and ensure the independence of the justice system and to end impunity for powerful people, regardless of their political affiliation or proximity to the highest levels of political power.
And this is the historic change taking place today. The relevant question is not how the Prime Minister could fail to know when a subordinate breaks the law, but how the Prime Minister could possibly know that a subordinate is thinking about breaking the law or is secretly acting unlawfully.
A prime minister can neither predict how every individual will respond to the temptations of power, nor is he permitted to spy on his own colleagues to find out what they are doing behind closed doors, nor can he read someone’s mind when they begin planning wrongdoing.
That is why democracies have government institutions, but they also have independent justice institutions. And that is why I insisted so strongly on the Justice Reform and why I support the new justice system with such determination — despite all its gaps and missteps, however painful yet understandable they may be.
I certainly have my own faults, and I say that sincerely. There is no question about that.
But what I can say with absolute certainty is that never, in any case or for any reason, can anyone make me a party to anything that, during my 28 years and four months of public service, may have harmed the money, property or interests of Albanians.
Of course, many people can come forward and speak in my name or against my name.
They can claim that I am behind some personal request or private business of theirs.
They can claim that I am behind a corrupt act or a criminal offence.
They can tell stories about architects from around the world supposedly gathering around me to launder money through towers that allegedly belong to me.
They can tell stories about all of Albania’s criminals supposedly coming together to win elections for me.
They can claim that Albania’s oligarchs make their money through me, that I secretly sell them pieces of Albania, that I live in luxurious palaces and fly around the world on private jets costing Albanian taxpayers tens of millions of euros.
All of this and much more has been said, and it can be said again and again, along with whatever new stories are produced by minds consumed by the struggle for power or by hatred.
But they will never produce a single piece of evidence showing that even one cent belonging to someone else ended up in my pocket or in my family’s income in exchange for a single signature I made as Mayor of Tirana or as Prime Minister. Because such a thing has never happened.
I repeat: I surely have my faults. I am not an angel, nor am I infallible. But one thing I can say with absolute certainty I have never done is trade for money or property the power that I asked Albanians to entrust to me in order first to revive Tirana and then Albania.
Those who know me know very well what I am talking about.
Those who have benefited from constitutional development rights over their property or lawful investment opportunities, including through my signature, know equally well what I mean.
And I know very well what I am saying when I tell you that my power has never been used to grant illicit favors or receive unlawful gifts.
Today, at the Prime Minister’s Office of the Republic of Albania, there is a museum displaying gifts received by the Prime Minister.
To those people in parliamentary suits, or those with the beaks of crows and ravens in place of lips, who, among the many things they have thrown into Albania’s public debate, have even produced an extremely expensive watch that I supposedly received as a gift from organized crime, I say this: that museum contains almost a dozen expensive and extremely expensive watches that were given to me personally — not by criminals, but by powerful friends or highly distinguished visitors.
But unlike my predecessor, who took all of his gifts with him after his eight years in the Prime Minister’s Office, I registered every gift received by the Prime Minister as property of the Albanian state. Because whatever comes to me in my capacity as Prime Minister, and whatever I am entitled to use as Prime Minister, is not mine to take home or keep for myself.
That is why, for example, when travelling privately, I travel just like any other Albanian. And that is why my car, for instance, is rented by the party rather than purchased by the Prime Minister’s Office, since it is used for party travel as well as government business.
I say it again sincerely: I certainly have my faults, and during my 28 years and four months of public service I may have made many more mistakes than the considerable number I already recognize myself.
But never, not once, have money, property or any kind of unlawful favor been able to shake my conviction that on this journey I am here to give, not to take. I am here to leave my name behind, not to fill my pockets. I am here to make history, not to make a fortune. I am here to transform Albania, not to deform myself.
And it is precisely for history, for my name and for Albania that I want this country to hold its head high, its flag as high as possible, and to sit as an equal among equals at the highest tables.
I want Albania in the European Union within this decade, with the rule of law and with a justice system independent of me and of every government and prime minister who comes after me.
That is why today, having just landed and stopped here to address precisely the issue of justice, while all my opponents — from those in the opposition to those who once held government positions — believe they have invented the ‘miracle bomb’ that will bring Rama down, chanting ‘Corruption — Corruption — Corruption, we are drowning in corruption,’ I want to be very clear with all of you:
Let them drop that bomb morning, noon and night on television screens and detonate it every hour on social media, as though frantically repeating a dirty word loudly enough could erase the integrity of my broader political struggle — a struggle that, whether its opponents like it or not, restored a capital once buried under rubbish and has spent the past decade transforming Albania and rebuilding the Albanian state.
And no matter how often they repeat, ‘Corruption — Corruption — Corruption, we are drowning in corruption,’ the truth is that in no country drowning in corruption is there a frontal fight against corruption. There is only harmonious coexistence with corruption.
In no country drowning in corruption does the prosecution investigate people in positions of power. It protects them.
In no country drowning in corruption does the justice system take action against ministers, former ministers, MPs, mayors, directors or people connected to the governing majority. Instead, it simply waits for orders from those in power to target their opponents.
We have all lived in a country drowning in corruption and injustice.
We have all lived in a country where the leader of the opposition was imprisoned on political orders from above.
We have all lived in a country where protesters were killed with bullets paid for by taxpayers — bullets intended to defend the country, not to take the lives of fellow citizens.
We have all lived in a country where prosecutors’ summonses concerning those responsible for state killings were treated like toilet paper in the Prime Minister’s Office, while the Prime Minister publicly denigrated the Prosecutor General as a ‘boulevard whore’ simply because she was attempting to do her job.
We have all lived in a country where the head of the national tax authority remained in office while under house arrest and where 26 innocent people killed in the explosion of a corrupt Ministry of Defence project were treated as 26 victims of a natural disaster.
I know that, to this day, the four people killed on the boulevard have still not received justice.
I also know that money from the deadly Gërdec factory was used, according to my assessment, to finance the creation of a media machine that continues to manufacture those supposed anti-government ‘miracle bombs’: ‘Corruption — Corruption — Corruption, we are drowning in corruption.’
I also know that another television station repeating ‘Corruption — Corruption — Corruption, we are drowning in corruption,’ and sustained, according to my claim, by money from massive tax evasion, has effectively taken an entire prosecution office in Tirana hostage. Instead of summoning the alleged major tax evader to account for millions owed to the state, prosecutors, intimidated by him, open cases aimed at frightening tax officials who report the alleged evasion.
I know that the Albania of yesterday — an Albania that coexisted with corruption and injustice — has not completely disappeared from our lives. Countless remnants of that country still get in the way of our everyday lives.
But I know with certainty that the era when justice in this country was a closed door whenever legitimate rights came knocking and an open room whenever wrongdoing came looking for a deal will never return.
The time when political power and impunity were one and the same will not return.
That era is over because I, the Socialist Party and the majority of Albanians who placed their trust in us took on the deepest, most challenging and most painful reform in the history of the Albanian state. The reform of reforms, the challenge of challenges, the transformation of transformations.
We undertook the act of transferring the sword of justice from the hands of political power — which had held that sword since 1912 — into the hands of a new power: a justice system liberated and made independent through our political will.
I made that transfer not because I was naive, nor because I did not know that the sword would claim heads from within our own ranks, but because the burden of that great political sacrifice was mine, ours and no one else’s. At the same time, it was a major, strategic and decisive investment in Albania’s democratic and European future.
Today, for the first time in the history of the Albanian state, Albania’s institutional system itself is demonstrating a capacity for self-cleansing that it has never possessed before. This is a major national achievement and, with all due respect, I will not negotiate its authorship with anyone: it belongs to me and to the Socialist Party of Albania.
The independence of the justice system did not fall from the sky. Time did not bring it. Nor did America or Europe. Yes, they helped — greatly — but without me and the Socialist Party, they would have achieved no more than they did with previous governments before the day we took on this enormous challenge, or than they are achieving with some other governments in the region.
And undoubtedly, the independence of the justice system was not delivered by the Democratic Party, nor by the crows, ravens and failed figures who today shout, ‘Corruption — Corruption — Corruption, we are drowning in corruption,’ and who see SPAK as their only potentially fatal weapon against me — after I have defeated them election after election and continue to defeat them in these ugly political and media battles of accusations and slander whenever they convince themselves that they have finally cornered me.
But naturally, defeating them is not what keeps me awake at night, nor is their occasional posturing and squawking the reason for this special address.
This address is about what is happening with corruption and justice, which is one of the historic outcomes of our mission to bring Albania into the European Union by 2030.
Corruption remains a dangerous shadow along our path, but the historic difference is that today it faces a different system — one in which institutions have been created and continue to develop that investigate, prosecute, judge and confiscate with complete freedom and independence.
Until yesterday, corruption was the system. Today, the system is fighting corruption. And that marks the beginning of an historic transformation.
At this stage, while Albania’s new European state is still taking shape, the system’s self-cleansing process is noisy. At times, it is also dirty and very often deeply painful.
It affects and harms innocent individuals, while also mistreating and dehumanizing even those who are guilty.
But the self-cleansing of the system is a long-awaited development in the life of the state, following an agony almost as long as the history of the Albanian state itself.
The state is developing immunity against its old diseases. And when this noisy, dirty and painful phase has passed; when the names, secrets, drooling, scribblings and screams of the media marketplace have faded; when the smoke from the digital mirrors has dispersed and the dust from the construction site of the Justice Reform has settled, everyone will see that these developments are a vital part of the irreversible, fundamental transformation Albania is undergoing today.
Today I have returned to Albania, but Albania is not going back.
No one and nothing will stop it, will stop us, will stop me,” Rama said.
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