Luiza Xhuvani, an MP for Albania’s ruling Socialist Party, resigned on Tuesday after her son was arrested in connection with four deaths in a nightclub shoot-out.

	Luiza Xhuvani announcing her resignation as MP in the presence of Albania Prime Minister Edi Rama. Photo: Kryeministria.al

Luiza Xhuvani resigned from Albania’s parliament on Tuesday evening following the arrest of her son in connection with the killing of four people in a Tirana nightclub shoot-out.

“He is my son. Those who are parents will understand me. I feel the pain of the families of these four lost lives. I give my resignation as MP,” Xhuvani, a well known actress, said.

Reports of Monday night’s shoot-out in a nightclub, in which four people were killed, shocked the country.

The police have since arrested three suspects, including Kostandin Xhuvani, 25, who has already gone on trial for murder once before. His short jail sentence caused political debate in Albania at the time.

On Tuesday, the opposition accused the Socialist-led government of shielding Xhuvani from arrest earlier this year, concerning an incident in the southern town of Gjirokastra.

Aldo Bumçi, an MP from the opposition Democratic Party, said Xhuvani had been a fugitive from the police since last April but had been allowed to move around freely because of his mother’s political connections.

In June 2014, his name appeared in police announcements as a drug dealer resisting the police in the notorious drug-dealing village of Lazarat. However, Xhuvani later showed up in Tirana alongside his mother.