Democratic Party chairman Lulzim Basha said crime and drug traffickers triumphed today with the decision of the Court of Appeal for Serious Crimes against home detention of former Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri. The former minister and socialist MP is under investigation over implication in international drugs traffic and the Court for Serious Crimes put him in home detention a few weeks ago. Tahiri’s lawyer filed an appeal against the ruling and the Court of Appeal brought down the previous decision today.

Basha said Tahiri’s case “was closed according to the Mafioso pact between Premier Edi Rama and Tahiri” calling his arrest and turning himself in to justice as an “anticipated farce”.

“Saimir Tahiri’s release is a triumph of crime and drug traffickers, and a heavy blow to Albania’s European integration and real justice”, Basha said after the news.

“This act reconfirmed that Edi Rama and Saimir Tahiri have been, are and will be one and inseparable, they used crime and drugs for money and power, now they are using their power to guarantee the impunity”.

“Tahiri’s release proves that justice is totally under Edi Rama’s control and the criminals linked to him. The hijack of the Prosecution Office, the meltdown of the Constitutional Court and paralyzing the High Court are the biggest guarantee Rama is offering to all the criminals and government officials linked to crime”.