The Special Court against Corruption and Organized Crime has sentenced former Minister of Interior Saimir Tahiri to three years and four months in prison for abuse of office. Tahiri facilitated drug trafficking for a criminal group through his inaction, and received gifts from its members during his term in office, according to the judge.
The Court sustained the ruling of the first instance court which had also sentenced Tahiri in September 2019 under the same terms but had converted the prison sentence into community service.
Tahiri will instead be transferred to a prison to start his sentence tonight.
The same sentence was delivered to Jaeld Cela, the head of the Vlora police under Tahiri’s term as minister of interior.
The former minister was originally arrested in 2017 on drug trafficking charges. Prosecutors had demanded 12 year in prison for him on charges of “international drug trafficking”, participation in a “structured criminal organization”, and “criminal activity under a structured criminal organization.”
The court dropped all three charges and sentenced him for abuse of office instead.
The High Court of Albania, however, decided that Tahiri must be retried by a different judging panel given the prosecutorial failures during his previous trial.
The High Court’s ruling stated that Tahiri was not provided with a chance to defend himself on charges of abuse of office, since he had been sent before the court on charges of drug trafficking originally.
He is the second minister of the first government of Prime Minister Edi Rama (2013-2017) to go behind bars. Former minister of environment Lefter Koka is currently facing charges related to the incinerator affair.
Tahiri has 45 days to appeal the sentence before the High Court.
Read more: Tahiri Verdict Shows a Captured Judiciary Unbothered by Reform
