Albanian MP’s Criminal Past Revealed

According to the documents published by the Democratic Party, Ndoka was convicted in the Italian capital Rome and sentenced to seven years in prison, then sent back to Albania in May 2002 to serve his sentence closer to home.

An Albanian court in his hometown of Lezha upheld the conviction, but reduced the sentence to four years and six months of imprisonment. Ndoka was freed on August 19, 2005, after his sentence was reduced for good behavior.

Ndoka admitted that he was convicted in Italy, but maintained his innocence, saying that he was unfairly treated by the Italian justice system when he was a poor young emigrant.

“The opposition is trying to transform this tragedy of mine, which happened during adolescence due to a mistake made by the Italian justice system, into a criminal past,” he said in a statement.

In a press conference on Saturday, Democratic Party MP Arben Ristani said that Ndoka’s conviction proved Prime Minister Edi Rama’s connections with crime.

“The documents prove that representatives from the world of crime are today MPs for Edi Rama, who are ordered to attack physically the opposition,” he said.

Ndoka was banned for a week from parliament last week after allegedly attacking a Democratic Party MP, Gent Strazimiri, during a parliamentary session on Thursday.    

After the incident, the Democratic Party announced that it would boycott parliament in protest.