The Court of Appeals Against Organized Crime and Corruption has rejected Safet Gjici’s request for release from prison.

This Friday morning, the Appeals Court reviewed the request of Safet Gjici and another defendant, Alma Kaçi, who requested a milder security measure during the ongoing investigation against them. However, after the submissions were concluded, the judges upheld the ruling of the First Instance Special Chamber at the end of June, leaving Safet Gjici in prison and placing Alma Kaçi under house arrest.

The Former Mayor of Kukës is under investigation by the Special Prosecutor’s Office for “abuse of office” and “passive corruption”. Meanwhile, Alma Kaçi is being investigated on charges of “active corruption”.

The investigation against Gjici and Alma Kaçi started on June 16, 2023, and the arrest of the former mayor of Kukës was carried out on June 24 upon the order of the Special Prosecutor’s Office.

Safet Gjici was reconfirmed mayor of Kukës after the May 14 local elections in Albania, but offered to resign after a video emerged in social media, depicting Gjici during intimate moments with a woman in his municipal office.

She was later identified as Alma Kaçi, who previously admitted to willingly performing sexual acts on Gjici. The two had begun talking about a project on the castration of dogs that Kaçi wanted to develop.