In Albania, the former president of the Republic, Ilir Meta, announced on Thursday that he has started divorce proceedings from his wife Monika Kryemadhi, after 26 years of marriage and even more years of a political cohabitation. Kryemadhi told the Voice of America that she did not prefer to comment on her husband’s decision at the moment and that she first wanted to know the reasons that had led Mr. Meta to the divorce petition, filed on Thursday in the Tirana Court.
In the evening, during the show “Çim Peka live” on Syri.Tv, former president Meta said that Kryemadhi “is now his ex-wife”, and that he had communicated the decision to their son Besar Meta, 24 years old, who according to several times, he had asked both parents to find “a calm solution, as long as you have a lot of tensions and problems. I think I have found a very peaceful solution”, said Mr. Meta.
Mr. Meta has not been living in the family home for several months. Even in the request for divorce, he presented as a personal address, that of the Freedom Party. The shock of the relations between them was revealed publicly, when the reformation of the leadership structures of the Freedom Party left Mrs. Kryemadhi out of them. The two also exchanged controversies during the meetings of the Party’s leadership forums.
The former president did not give any explanation for the reasons for the request for divorce, but made it clear that for him, the position of the Supreme Leader towards the Special Prosecutor’s Office against Organized Crime and Corruption was unacceptable, at a time when she “was aware of all the activities of SPAK against her husband and all the attempts to blackmail different people against Meta”, he declared, adding that “Monika is closer to SPAK than to me. But SPAK cannot take Ilir Meta hostage, neither through his wife, nor through anyone else”.
Last week, Meta stood for more than three hours in front of the investigators at the Special Prosecutor’s Office. While it was not made clear for which investigation he had been summoned, in his subsequent statements, Mr. Meta implied that he had been questioned about matters related to his family’s wealth. A property investigation is also being conducted against him and Mrs. Kryemadhi. The former president stated that he has never dealt with property or financial issues, for which he left the responsibility to his wife Monika Kryemadhi. He maintained the same position during the Thursday show, also repeating the accusations against the Special Prosecutor’s Office. Meanwhile, in her statements, after the questioning at the Special Prosecutor’s Office, Ms. Kryemadhi was very cautious, stating that “the prosecutors are doing their job”.
Meta and Mrs. Kryemadhi have represented a rare case in Albania, that of a couple with a high political commitment. Their journey started when they were in charge of the socialist youth organization FRESH, then continued in the bosom of the socialist family until 2004, where both of them, together with another group of socialists, broke away, establishing Socialist Movement for Integration. A party led by Meta, where Mrs. Kryemadhi held high positions in the hierarchy of this political force, taking the reins in her hand, after Meta was elected president of the Republic in the summer of 2017. Two days after the end of his term as President of the State, in July 2022, Meta took over the leadership of the LSI, changing its name to the Freedom Party./VOA
