Theme: Albania

Albania’s Special Court of First Instance for Corruption and Organized Crime (GJKKO) ordered on 21 September 2026 that Vlora Hyseni, director of the State Intelligence Service (SHISH), be placed under house arrest and suspended from office, as part of the investigation into the National Agency for Information Society (AKSHI), according to the statement from the Special Prosecution Office against Corruption and Organized Crime (SPAK) carried by Albeu and Panorama. Hyseni is under investigation for disclosing an investigative secret and for aiding the perpetrator of a crime; Prime Minister Edi Rama announced her immediate dismissal, saying he expects “every suspicion raised by the prosecution to be investigated and clarified fully through an independent judicial process”. Panorama reports that Hyseni was in Baku, Azerbaijan, for an international meeting of intelligence chiefs when the measure was issued, was not at home on the morning of Tuesday, 22 September 2026, and entered Albanian territory through the Morina border crossing. Reuters reported that the court suspended the spy chief on suspicion of disclosing classified information to unauthorized people in connection with the AKSHI case, which manages Albania’s digital public services and IT infrastructure; Hyseni, who is originally from Kosovo, has headed SHISH since 2023. The same decision authorized searches at the home of former State Police chief Ilir Proda and at a villa complex in Durrës, and ordered pre-trial detention for a section head at the Institute of Forensic Police and an employee of a private company, according to Albeu.