10 people arrested and one wanted over the Elbasan episode
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The General Director of the State Police, Ardi Veliu announced today that 10 people, who are “vote protection volunteers” of the Democratic Party in Elbasan, have been arrested after yesterday’s shooting episode in Elbasan, where Pjerin Xhuvani got killed and four others got wounded. According to Veliu, the police has declared wanted also Klement Xhaferri, who according to Reporter.al is “suspected of being a supporter of the Socialist Party and responsible for the gunfight in the streets of Elbasan on Wednesday.”
The General Director of the State Police did not respond to numerous questions about the nature of the conflict or how it was possible that it escalated into a gunfight, considering that many public order offices were present at the scene, writes Reporter.al. Veliu stressed that the claims of the Democratic Party regarding the evidence of vote-buying by the Socialist Party supporters in the scene are untrue. "From the inspection of the vehicle type ML Benz without license plates, found at the scene, the investigative group has not found illegal or suspected items that could be used for vote-buying," said Veliu.
Arjan Hoxha, Pavlo Vuksani, Emiljan Prenga, Juljan Mataj, Erald Guga, Erjon Demushi, Taulant Ymeri, Roland Xhepa and Nuredin Kasma, have been arrested with the motivation of being suspected of having committed the criminal offense "Illegal deprivation of liberty committed with violence” in cooperation. Arbër Paplekaj, who shot Pjerin Xhuvani, was arrested yesterday after being suspected of committing the criminal offenses "Murder in other qualifying circumstances against two or more persons and in a manner dangerous to the life of many persons", "Attempted murder of State Police employees " and "Illegal deprivation of liberty committed by force" in cooperation.
Meanwhile, Klement Xhaferri, was declared wanted, after being suspected of committing the criminal offense "Attempted murder in other qualifying circumstances and in a manner dangerous to the life of many people."
Yesterday the leader of the DP campaign in Elbasan, Gazment Bardhi, stated that a group of his supporters, whom he described as “former honest police officers”, constitute a structure that according to him, aims to “protect the vote”, while the leader of the Socialist campaign in Elbasan, Taulant Balla, described these people as a group of armed paramilitaries, writes Reporter.al.
20 bullets fired from two firearms were found at the scene, but only one of the firearms, believed to have been used by Arbër Paplekaj, was seized as material evidence.
