The leader of the Democratic Party, invited to the Inside Albania podcast with Alice Taylor on Euronews, also criticized the decision to ban women. “I can tell you that it is based on the corrupt lobbying of Edi Rama and George Soros,” said the Albanian opposition leader.
I want to move on to another topic. I have many questions for each of your answers, but we are limited by time.
Berisha: I am open to any questions.
You were under house arrest for almost a year. I remember the pandemic when I was under “house arrest” for two months during the lockdown. I’m not making fun of the situation, but let’s get away from politics for a bit. What was it like for you to be locked up within four walls? How did this affect your family? How did you live with them? How did you balance your family life and work? What was that experience like for you, to be locked up at home for so long? Beyond politics.
Berisha: Politics can never be left aside.
I want to know how you felt.
Berisha: My family and I are dedicated to our cause. We have fought for our cause.
Are you upset with each other?
Berisha: In politics you have to be prepared.
Edi Rama, after lobbying with George Soros against me, declared me non grata for major corruption, with a signature from Antony Blinken, who is the person who has congratulated Sali Berisha the most for his success in the fight against corruption.
George Soros and Edi Rama sanctioned me. Why? Eight years after my departure, I was not a decision-maker, but I protected the national and public interest according to my opinions.
They thought that with that determination, they would archive me in the house of oblivion, but they made the wrong calculations.
Why? Because I was leaving, but this gentleman, Antony Blinken, hurt my dignity by declaring me non grata. I wrote him a letter after reading his decision. Mr. Secretary, you have made this decision. First of all, I can tell you that it is based on the corrupt lobbying of Edi Rama and George Soros.
I tell you honestly, I knew nothing about the family ties between the Blinken and Soros families, but I thought that no one else could do this lobbying except him.
👉🏽Secondly, Mr. Secretary, when you present a single piece of evidence of my corruption, then I will say goodbye to politics forever.
👉🏽Thirdly, Mr. Secretary, I am not asking you to change the decision, but I will sue you in court and give you the opportunity to present all your facts and documents. I was not lobbying. I decided to defend my dignity in the court in Paris.
This was my decision. I told the party leader not to get involved. The party should not have gotten involved. We are a pro-Western and pro-American party. We remain that way. I will fight for myself, I feel strong enough to do it. I worked with the court and the media, mainly the American one.
On July 30, Philip Reeker, a person with whom I had worked very closely, came to Albania and asked the Prime Minister and Lulzim Basha, as party leader, not to let Berisha enter parliament. When the leader told me this, I told him that he should convey the following message.
No country has done more for the freedom of Albanians than the United States, but they have never drawn up the list of deputies.
If they do this, they violate the sovereignty of the nation. I never accepted this.
The leader was a weak person. The day before parliament was to begin, he came out and told the Albanians that due to the terrible pressure from the American ambassador, and for the sake of Albania, the DP, and Sali Berisha, he had decided to expel Berisha.
I called the leader and told him that this decision was completely against the party laws.
He should convene the parliamentary group, the national council of the party, or the convention, to vote for my removal. If it had been voted on, I would have accepted it, but he publicly responded that he would not hold any anti-American meetings.
I told him that these are very American meetings, for the rule of law. He refused. Then, I took the legal initiative, collected 62% of the signatures and we held the party convention.
I remember.
She went so far as to tell Democrats to “stop eating grass” and support Berisha.
The person who for the first time in history spoke to Albanians about grass was Enver Hoxha.
Did she also come from Marxist-Leninist groups? I don’t know her past, but she was very insulting to Albanians.
I answered her as she deserved.
She started calling businessmen, thinking that they were sponsoring my movement. None of it was true. She started threatening them with visas and transformed the embassy into a prosecutor’s office against honest people. This is the truth. We came to the local elections. She intervened and she has admitted this. My party was stripped of its seal. The judge who decided this had problems with the vetting.
You know that comebacks are very special in history. They happen not because someone has the desire to return, but because the entire universe seeks and enables his return. In order to stop the battle and my comeback, they chose to arrest me. They chose it together! They thought this was the solution, but they transformed the window into a gate to hell for Edi Rama.
You said it yourself, you were leaving. You had your successor in the party. But from what you described now, it seems that that person betrayed you along with others. I’m not saying you’re leaving, but does this experience make it harder to think about who you would want to succeed you when the time comes to step down? Because in your words, you’ve been burned by this situation.
Berisha : He betrayed me and showed how treacherous he is. In one way or another, he punished himself. What I restored is the free vote.
Who will succeed Sali Berisha? The man or woman who will win the hearts and minds of the democrats. I can’t know the name, but it will be an open race. For the moment, I feel good. Very honestly.
I ask you again. The lawsuit against Blinken in the French court, what stage is it at?
Berisha: I went through all the stages, they accepted it. But the judge failed to become a great and famous person. Why? The reasons he presented did not seem logical to me. He wrote that Berisha is not a citizen of an EU country. Secretary Blinken is a person with immunity. Indeed, I am not a citizen of the EU and Blinken is a person with immunity, but the following principle is also true: Defamation is judged and punished where it comes from. Second, it is true that Blinken has immunity, but it is also true that defamation is not a function of an official.
It is a violation of his position.
Berisha: Yes. In our Constitution and not only, if you slander a person, you have no immunity. This is written in the Constitution. This is also at the heart of the administration that slander is not part of the duties of officials. I gave the French judge the opportunity to become world famous, but he failed. It is not my problem
AL in Sweden. 