Prime Minister Edi Rama publicly commented on the case involving Belinda Balluku, saying the deputy prime minister “has an issue with justice” and that in that respect “no one protects her.” In the same appearance, he attacked the way some cases have been handled by the justice system, in his view, while calling Erion Veliaj’s pretrial detention “the capital’s absurdity.”
Rama draws a line between the criminal case and the clash with justice
In an interview on the “Flasim” podcast, Rama tried to maintain two lines at once: on the one hand, he said he had not commented on Balluku’s specific case and that she faces justice on her own, while on the other he raised political and constitutional accusations over the way, in his version, the prosecution and the court have acted.
According to Rama, his debate is not connected to Balluku’s guilt or innocence, but to the “standard and principle.” This is the formula he also used to explain why, in his view, he is not intervening in the case file, but is opposing the limits of action of the justice institutions.
Rama’s claim: SPAK has entered the government’s territory
The head of government declared that in Balluku’s case a measure had been used that he called “absurd,” referring to the suspension of a minister from office. In his interpretation, such a decision affects powers that belong to the prime minister, the parliamentary majority and the president.
Rama said that a “red line” had been crossed there and that, according to him, SPAK “entered the territory” of his role as prime minister, as well as the institutional territory of Parliament and the President. This is a strong political position toward the justice system, even as he simultaneously insists that he is not defending Balluku on the substance of the case.
‘No one protects her,’ but strong criticism of the system
In his statement, Rama said Balluku “has an issue with justice” and that in that process “neither I nor anyone else protects her,” adding that she “defends herself.” But this formal distancing was accompanied by an open attack on the way the justice system is acting, which makes the political message more complicated than a simple statement of non-interference.
He brought up in the same context the case of Ilir Beqaj, for whom he said he is still waiting to see “where the corruption is.” Here too, Rama did not provide new details on the case, but continued along his usual line: calling the accusations into question without formally entering into direct defense of people under investigation.
Veliaj in pretrial detention, Rama: ‘The capital’s absurdity’
In the same conversation, Rama also commented on Erion Veliaj’s situation. He described it as “the capital’s absurdity” that, in his view, an elected mayor should remain locked up in pretrial detention.
Rama’s statement once again puts the government on a collision course with the justice institutions, at least on the political and public level. Even when he says he is protecting no one, the language he uses toward investigations and security measures shows that the relationship with the justice system remains one of the hottest points of public debate.
Rama’s stance seeks to preserve a difficult balance: to say that the case files are in the hands of justice, while at the same time denouncing as institutional overreach actions that affect the people politically closest to him.
It is precisely this contrast between the statement “no one protects her” and the attack on the way the justice bodies are acting that remains at the heart of the debate generated by this public appearance.