Former Foreign Minister Besnik Mustafaj praised the Italian authorities after the 11-year-old Albanian kid Alvin Berisha was freed from a Syrian camp and criticized Albanian Interior Minister Sandër Lleshaj’s visit to Syria.

Alvin Berisha, born in Italy, was taken to Syria by his mother, now dead, when he was only five. He was freed today after a joint mission of Italian authorities, Red Cross and Red Crescent. Mustafaj said the Albanian government did a good job too, but commented Lleshaj’s visit as an “indecent, ugly, propagandistic gesture”.

“First of all, this is an achievement of Italy. We need to thank the Italian Red Cross and all the Italian authorities”, Mustafaj told News24 TV.

“Albania had the only task to provide the Italian authorities with the necessary documents, because the boy had none, despite being Albanian, and he could not move without them. The Albanian government did its job. The visit of the Interior Minister is only an indecent propagandistic gesture. Why should he go there? A diplomat, a specialist of the Foreign Ministry could go there, no one else”, Mustafaj said.

“A minister never goes in a hot area. What if something happened to the minister, what honor would remain to Albania then?”