Albanian authorities have denied assaulting and arbitrarily detaining journalist Xhoi Malesia during the Klodian Rasha protests in December
Following the incident being reported on the Council of Europe Platform for the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists, the State responded this week.
They claimed that Malesia refused to be identified with an identification document and used inappropriate vocabulary to the police. As they were unable to identify him, they accompanied him to the police station. They further claimed that when at the police station, they performed actions to verify his identity and then released him. Authorities denied any act of violence against him and said no other actions were taken.
Their statement concludes by stating that Malesia confirmed in the minutes of the interview that he didn’t have any ID document or journalist badge with him.
Malesia responded to their denial by calling it “a disgrace”. He clarified that he didn’t have his journalism badge on at the time but was live, on-air with a camera when they accosted him. Not only this but he said he told them he was a journalist several times.
He said he was carrying his ID card which he was able to present to them. He added that they were not trying to identify him, rather they just wanted to shut down the camera.
The journalist admitted he called the police “dogs” after they refused to listen to him and continued to take steps to detain him. He said that he police used a personal slur against his family.
On 11 December, Xhoi Malesia, Ora News RTV journalist was arrested while filming and reporting. He was released after three hours but reported various rights violations.
“I was detained by the police while filming the protest, although I identified myself as a journalist. I was taken to the police station, where I was beaten and insulted by the police officers.” He told Safe Journalists that he had been beaten, was not allowed a phone call, and was forced to sign a statement he didn’t write, in order to be released.
The denial from the Albanian authorities also extended to allegations made by the Editor-in-Chief of Koha Jone, Qamil Xhani.
He had been reporting on violence inflicted on protestors by the police. He asked the police to stop, but he was handcuffed and detained along with around 50 protestors. Xhani said he was hit on the head and the back and his mobile was seized and all footage deleted. He also said he was forced to sign a statement admitting he had participated in an illegal gathering.
The statement reads that as they were unable to identify him, they took him to the police station to identify him. They said that after verifying his identity, they immediately released him.
The authorities state their “regret” for the circumstances but that journalists should respect rules and procedures according to Albanian law. It’s unclear what law Malesia and Xhani did not respect in the eyes of the police.
The International Press Institute condemned the detentions and called the authorities equation of journalists with protestors “lazy”. They called on the Albanian Ombudsman to investigate the matter and all other instances of violence and arbitrary detention of journalists in Albania.
Malesia said he will continue to fight for justice and is prepared to take it to the European Court of Human Rights if necessary.
“I just want to spread the message by fighting this battle, that no journalist in Albania should be frightened to do their job. People deserve the truth nothing less and I encourage my colleagues to do the same if they feel there is something that should be made pubic,” he told Exit.
