Socialist Party member Agron Cane, 60, was arrested on suspicion of telling the mother of a 14-year-old that her daughter would have ‘a future’ if the teenager had sex with him.
Tirana
Police on Saturday arrested 60-year-old Cane, a member of Albania’s ruling Socialist Party, after a report was published by local media featuring a videotape of the activist purportedly discussing his proposition with the mother of the 14-year-old.
The report alleged that Cane, a former assistant to Socialist MP Koco Kokedhima, could be heard during the conversation saying that he was attracted to the teenager and urging the mother to “provide the girl” for him.
“She will have a future after that,” Cane is alleged to have told the widow and mother of four, whose husband, a construction worker, died in a workplace accident five years ago.
Police arrested Cane in the town of Saranda, 290 kilometres south of Tirana, several hours after the report by Albania’s News 24 television station.
But his lawyer, Gjergji Imeraj, said the video was fake and the story was a lie.
“We have seen the video few times and it clearly looks like it is a montage. It seems the whole story is fabricated because the journalists who did the story are problematic journalists,” Imeraj said.
Telnis Skuqi, the journalist who reported the story, said the mother of the teenager had contacted him and asked him to help document Cane’s inappropriate requests by providing a video recorder.
“When I first heard the recording, I was in a state of shock. I feel proud that I was able to discover this,” Skuqi told BIRN.
MP Kokedhima issued a statement condemning Cane but noted that he had not worked for the parliamentarian since July.
“He was one of several activists from our office who were tasked with hearing complaints and requests from citizens,” the statement said.
The opposition Democratic Party said the scandal was symptomatic of the new government.
“The badge of shame belongs to [Prime Minister] Edi Rama and the system that he has built,” said Lulzim Basha, the head of the party.
On Sunday, Rama tweeted that he had cancelled the arrested man’s membership of the Socialist Party and complained that the Democratic Party was playing politics with the scandal.
However some critics complained that the Albanian premier had taken 24 hours to react.