Current:Home > MyAlbania’s parliament lifts the legal immunity of former prime minister Sali Berisha -BeyondWealth Network
Albania’s parliament lifts the legal immunity of former prime minister Sali Berisha
View
Date:2025-04-27 18:19:02
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albania’s parliament voted Thursday to lift the legal immunity of former Prime Minister Sali Berisha, who leads the opposition Democratic Party and is accused of corruption.
Opposition lawmakers inside the hall boycotted the vote and tried to disrupt the session by collecting chairs and flares, but security guards stopped them. Berisha declined to take the floor to speak against the motion.
The ruling Socialist Party holds 74 of the 140 seats in Albania’s national legislature, and 75 lawmakers agreed to grant a request from prosecutors to strip Berisha of his parliamentary immunity. Thursday’s vote clears prosecutors to seek a court’s permission to put Berisha under arrest or house arrest.
With the opposition refusing the participate, there were no votes against the move or any abstentions.
Berisha, 79, was charged with corruption in October for allegedly abusing his post to help his son-in-law, Jamarber Malltezi, buy land in Tirana owned by both private citizens and defense ministry, and to build 17 apartment buildings on the property.
Berisha and Malltezi both have proclaimed their innocence, alleging the case was a political move by the ruling Socialist Party of Prime Minister Edi Rama. Prosecutors have said that if Berisha is convicted, he faces a prison sentence of up to 12 years.
Democratic Party supporters protested outside the parliament building Thursday with anti-government banners and “Down with dictatorship” chants. Berisha called on his supporters join “a no-return battle” against the “authoritarian regime” of the Socialists.
“That decision won’t destroy the opposition but will mobilize it, and under the motto ‘Today or never,’ it will respond to that regime,” Berisha told reporters after the vote.
Berisha served as Albania’s prime minister from 2005-2013, and as president from 1992-1997. He was reelected as a lawmaker for the Democratic Party in the 2021 parliamentary elections.
The United States government in May 2021 and the United Kingdom in July 2022 barred Berisha and close family members from entering their countries because of alleged involvement in corruption.
Since Berisha was charged in October, opposition lawmakers have regularly disrupted sessions of parliament to protest the Socialists’ refusal to create commissions to investigate alleged cases of corruption involving Rama and other top government officials.
The disruptions are an obstacle to much-needed reforms at a time when the European Union has agreed to start the process of harmonizing Albanian laws with those of the EU as part of the Balkan country’s path toward full membership in the bloc.
___
Follow Llazar Semini at https://twitter.com/lsemini
veryGood! (794)
Related
- McKinsey to pay $650 million after advising opioid maker on how to 'turbocharge' sales
- Horoscopes Today, December 3, 2023
- Navy releases $1.5 million plan to remove crashed jet still stuck underwater on Hawaiian coral reef
- French investigation into fatal attack near Eiffel Tower looks into mental illness of suspect
- Louvre will undergo expansion and restoration project, Macron says
- Tiffani Thiessen's Cookbook & Gift Picks Will Level Up Your Holiday (And Your Leftovers)
- 'SNL' sends off George Santos with song, Tina Fey welcomes Emma Stone into Five-Timers Club
- Will Mary Cosby Return for Real Housewives of Salt Lake City Season 5? She Says...
- 'Survivor' 47 finale, part one recap: 2 players were sent home. Who's left in the game?
- OxyContin maker bankruptcy deal goes before the Supreme Court on Monday, with billions at stake
Ranking
- Louvre will undergo expansion and restoration project, Macron says
- Navy releases $1.5 million plan to remove crashed jet still stuck underwater on Hawaiian coral reef
- Spotify axes 17% of workforce in third round of layoffs this year
- Mexican woman killed in shark attack on Pacific coast near the port of Manzanillo
- Newly elected West Virginia lawmaker arrested and accused of making terroristic threats
- LAPD: Suspect in 'serial' killings of homeless men in custody for a fourth killing
- 'Madman' fatally stabs 4 family members, injures 2 officers in Queens, New York
- Ted Koppel on the complicated legacy of Henry Kissinger
Recommendation
Jamie Foxx gets stitches after a glass is thrown at him during dinner in Beverly Hills
Economists predict US inflation will keep cooling and the economy can avoid a recession
Queen Bey's 'Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé' reigns at the box office with $21M opening
Liz Cheney on why she believes Trump's reelection would mean the end of our republic
Finally, good retirement news! Southwest pilots' plan is a bright spot, experts say
Heavy rains lash India’s southern and eastern coasts as they brace for a powerful storm
Tiffani Thiessen's Cookbook & Gift Picks Will Level Up Your Holiday (And Your Leftovers)
Heidi Firkus' fatal shooting captured on her 911 call to report an intruder