FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
Following the decision of the Tirana Court of Appeal to change the security measure from prison arrest to house arrest for the three accused in the murder of young Martin Çeço, the lawyer of two of the suspects, Valter and Edlir Mollaj, has reacted with a statement to the media.
In his statement, the suspects' defense attorney emphasized that the criminal procedural law provides that the detention period may not exceed three years, and that after this period, the court must make a final decision.
According to him, in this case, the detention period has already expired on June 16, 2025, and this has forced them to request a change in the security measure.
The lawyer also emphasized that, in the decision to change the measure, the Court of Appeal confirmed the "abyss of the power of detention", an action that, according to him, is a correction of the decision-making of the Court of First Instance.
"It is not a decision to change the security measure, but the Court of Appeal has conceived the loss of the power of detention, which are different concepts, and has corrected the decision-making of the Court of First Instance. For the public's knowledge and everyone's benefit, the criminal procedural law provides for a duration of the overall detention periods of no more than three years, during which time the judicial system must issue a final decision. This duration has ended on June 16, 2025, and when I addressed the Court of First Instance, by a majority vote it rejected my request with a justification that for me is unprocedural, a decision which was appealed to the court by me, and the Court of Appeal in Tirana yesterday reviewed the case and conceived the loss of the power of detention and ordered the release of the persons. In these cases, the law provides that the court cannot grant another detention, but can grant any other security measure.
Why did I say at the beginning of the statement that the court has partially resolved the case and partially violated the interests of the defendants? I believe you are familiar with the decision of the Constitutional Court with number 40 dated June 17, 2025 in the Margjeka case. The Constitutional Court definitively clarified that house arrest is detention, the same as prison arrest. So the decision of the Court of Appeal yesterday violated this decision of the Constitutional Court by again determining another detention, such as house arrest. The Court yesterday had only one legal solution, which could determine other measures such as "compulsion to appear" perhaps even with "ban on leaving the country". This is what I requested and this was the right solution to the case. The Court has agreed to ascertain the loss of the power of detention "prison arrest" and has determined another detention "house arrest" which is a procedural absurdity.
So I am eagerly waiting for it to be clarified to take it to the high court and then to the constitutional court to finally clarify and remove the non-procedural mechanism that some courts are using by granting house arrest after the expiration of pre-trial detention periods, which is unconstitutional. We only had a mathematical calculation, the issue has not been resolved on its merits.
The case on the merits continues in the court of first instance in Korça, where a session is scheduled for the 5th to continue the trial on the merits according to the tasks given by the decision of the court of appeal at the moment it overturned the decision. The case was overturned by the court of appeal and returned for retrial, while it specified in its decision a series of tasks that were systematically requested of us from the investigation phase. Mainly on the merits, the collection of data from the Meta company was ordered. We are at the initial stage and in the retrial, we will have to express our requests. The court did not acquit yesterday, it found something very procedural and technical that has to do with the terms of detention. ", he declared.
Meanwhile, following the Court's decision, the father of 26-year-old Martin Çeço has reacted harshly. Shocked and outraged, Nevzat Çeço stated that he feels abandoned by justice and that his family has been facing incurable pain since June 2022.
In a statement to the media, he stated that his son "was not at fault" and that the crime was committed by people who have already been identified and have given statements about the incident, but who are now benefiting from the easing of security measures.
He said he would do justice himself by burning the perpetrators with gasoline and then committing suicide in the courtroom. He also emphasized that he is no longer afraid of death and does not accept that the perpetrators who declared their involvement in the crime should be released without any punishment.
"I have nothing more to say. My son ran away without any fault. I will follow him tomorrow. I will burn them with gasoline, I will burn them, I will not let them go. House arrest, release are those things. I do not regret my life at all, but I did not disappear them. I will not let them go, I will say it bluntly, let them arrest me, let them do whatever they want, I will find their turn, I will find a can of gasoline, I will burn them as a family," he said.
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