Albanian State Police has refuted a story published by Panorama alleging that “opposition leader Lulzim Basha and his close relatives are being surveilled by officers of the Operational Police”. In a media statement the State Policy said:
It is categorically untrue that the family of Mr. Lulzim Basha, head of the PD, or his relatives, are under the surveillance of the police force.
The statement attacked the media of being under political influence and accused that the the news story has been fabricated in the “offices of a political party,” alluding to the Democratic Party:
[It is] a media speculation aiming to deceive and mislead the public for purposes we deem malicious. […] The news in question seems to be manufactured in the headquarters of a political party rather than a responsible newsroom.
The fact that none of the [accused] institutions was by the newspaper in question, leads to suspect that we are dealing with the blatant misuse of the media by politicians.
