SPAK extinguishes hopes to extradite Llalla, former chief prosecutor gains political asylum status in Italy

The former Chief Prosecutor of Albania during the years 2012-2017, Adriatik Llalla, has acquired the status of Political Asylum in Italy.

The decision to grant the status was taken by the Court of Rome, which after examining the request of Adriatik Llalla, who was defended by the Albanian lawyer Ada Mahmutaj, ordered the approval of the request, paving the way for further procedures to obtain the Italian passport, which is issued through the structures of the Ministry of Interior.

Sources close to SPAK exclusively told "Ora News" that Llalla has acquired the status of asylum seeker, causing serious difficulties and fading hopes for his extradition.

Adriatik Llalla, since September 2021, had started a legal battle in Rome, convincing the justice of this country that his persecution and punishment with 2 years of imprisonment in Albania was a political initiative and not an independent one.

Llalla is said to have convinced the court by serving a series of statements of attacks on political exponents in Albania and not only, claiming that the criminal process against him was politically influenced.

The claims of the former chief prosecutor Llalla have been accepted by the Court of Rome, which has approved the request, considering the behavior of Llalla, during the time he stayed for 1 year and a half in this country. 

Upon obtaining the status of a political asylum seeker and obtaining an Italian passport, Adriatik Llalla simultaneously issues "Nul" and the process of his extradition to Albania, listing his case in the list of those files that have failed in terms of extraditions.

The investigation against Llalla was registered only a few months after he had left the office of the General Prosecutor of Albania.

The case was initially initiated by the Durrës Prosecutor's Office on March 15, 2018 under charges of "concealment of wealth", "Abuse of duty" and "Money laundering".

Llalla was also investigated for the criminal offense of "non-declaration of monetary amounts at the border".

Then, the Durrës prosecutor's office declared the case incompetent and the file was sent to the former Serious Crimes Prosecutor's Office, and in July 2018, the respective court ordered the seizure of the properties of the former Prosecutor General.

The charges against him were reduced in 2021, where SPAK announced on March 9 the end of investigations only for the criminal offense of "refusal to declare, non-declaration, concealment or false declaration of assets", for which Llalla was sentenced in absentia by the court with two years of imprisonment. News time