The Special Court in Albania sentenced the former Socialist mayor of Kukës, Safet Gjici, to 3 years in prison and 5 years of disqualification from holding public office. He was arrested in June last year, a week after a video was published on social networks showing him in his office engaging in sexual relations with a woman, identified as Alma Kaçi. The latter also ended up under house arrest. The Court sentenced her to 2 years in prison. Both were granted a reduction of one-third of their sentence. As a result, Gjici, out of a final sentence of 2 years, will have to serve just over 1 year in prison, having already spent nearly 8 months in pre-trial detention, a period counted as equivalent to 1.5 days of imprisonment. Meanwhile, Alma Kaçi, after the pre-trial calculation, will have to stay in prison for almost 1 month.
The Prosecutor’s Office had sought a sentence of 4 and a half years in prison for the former mayor under the charge of “Passive Corruption of high state officials or locally elected officials”, and 3 years in prison for Alma Kaçi, for “Active Corruption”. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, Kaçi is the person who offered sexual favors to the mayor, who then promised and accepted to help her with her dog protection project and to present it further at the Kukës Municipal Council meetings. However, the court changed the charges for both, sentencing Gjici for “Abuse of duty”, and Kaçi for “Prostitution”.
During the trial, both the former mayor of Kukës and his lawyer pleaded not guilty, accusing the prosecution of avoiding investigations into the connections, according to them, between Kaçi and the former head of the Kukës County Council, his political opponent Abedin Oruçi. The latter, seen by Gjici as the instigator of the video material, stated that he had continuous clashes with Oruçi because he did not allow him to occupy public land or because he obstructed unauthorized constructions carried out by him. He also stated that the project for the dogs, which he had discussed with Kaçi, was not presented for discussion in the Kukës Municipal Council, and that the Municipality he led did not have any funds for such a project, emphasizing that he had already received the biggest punishment, the moral one.
The publication of the video, in June of last year, received significant attention. Gjici, newly re-elected, immediately resigned from his post. On the same day, the Government announced his dismissal from office, but for reasons that were never explained, the decision was published in the Official Gazette, thus gaining legal force, only after 10 days.
The former mayor stated in his resignation statement, “For some time, I have had an intimate relationship with the girl in question”, claiming, on the other hand, that he had fallen into a trap organized by his political opponents.
During the past year, at least 7 Socialist mayors or former Socialist heads of municipalities have been investigated, tried, or sentenced. For some others, there have also been allegations for which verifications are ongoing.
