Albanian Mayor Arrested Amid Sex Scandal

Xhelili was arrested on Monday night after being shown on a local television station last week asking for sex from a 20-year-old woman who had recently been employed by the municipality.

In the broadcast on the 'Te Paekspozuarit' ('The Unexposed') investigative show on the Ora News channel, Xhelili was filmed by a hidden camera in his office in the town of Peshkopia asking the woman for sexual favours in exchange for a promotion and a pay rise.

The broadcast last Thursday caused widespread outrage and sparked a protest by women from the Red and Black Alliance political party in front of the national employment service building in Tirana on Sunday.

Xhelili was immediately dismissed by Albania's Council of Ministers and the Albanian Court for Serious Crimes then ordered his arrest his arrest for abuse of office.

A women's rights organisation, the Gender Alliance for Development Centre, also launched a petition asking for stronger legal measures to combat sexual harassment in the workplace.

The Dibra mayor was a representative of the governing Socialist Party, although ruling coalition members distanced themselves from his behaviour and immediately asked for his removal.

His wife Tefta Xhelili said that she is going to stay beside her husband and speculated that the exposé was politically-motivated.

"At the centre of this attack was not my family but the Dibra municipality," she told Top Channel television on Monday.

The Albanian constitution gives the mayor 15 days to appeal against his removal from his. It is still not clear if he plans to do this or not.