Sali Berisha gets Antony Blinken defamation lawsuit accepted in Paris court
Former Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha said that a Paris judge has accepted his defamation lawsuit against Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Mr. Berisha filed the case in May after Mr. Blinken sanctioned the Balkan nationâs former leader for âsignificant corruptionâ and declared him and members of his family persona non grata in the U.S.
He said Mr. Blinkenâs claims of âsignificant corruptionâ were baseless and ârendered without any evidence, fact, or documentâ that would support the decision to levy sanctions.
âThat decision ⦠came eight years after I resigned from any leadership position and every public executive function and three weeks after the candidate I supported lost the election,â Mr. Berisha told The Washington Times.
âIn addition, during 30 years of my career, I have never been charged or investigated for any form of corruption. No one has ever filed a lawsuit or proven any allegations of corruption in a court of law against me or my family members,â he added.
The State Department did not respond to The Washington Timesâ request for comment Thursday.
In a statement announcing the sanctions, Mr. Blinken alleged that Mr. Berisha âwas involved in corrupt acts,â¯such as misappropriation of public funds and interfering with public processes, including using his power for his own benefit and to enrich his political allies and his family membersâ while prime minister from 2005-2013.
Mr. Blinken further charged that Mr. Berishaâs âown rhetoric demonstratesâ that he would avoid independent investigations into corruption against him or his family members.
But the sanctions caught some in Washington off guard.
In a June hearing, Rep. Lee Zeldin, New York Republican and member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, grilled Mr. Blinken for an explanation of why the State Department had not yet produced evidence to back up its corruption allegations against Mr. Berisha.
âFor many, this seemingly came out of nowhere,â Mr. Zeldin said about the decision to sanction Mr. Berisha.
Mr. Blinken defended the action but stopped short of offering evidence to back up the allegation against Mr. Berisha, who has made international headlines by claiming the secretary of stateâs move against him was based on âmisinformationâ from outfits backed by billionaire liberal activist George Soros.
Representatives of Mr. Soros did not immediately respond to The Timesâ request for comment and have not responded to previous requests concerning Mr. Berishaâs claims.
Mr. Blinken also testified in June that the corruption allegation had followed normal State Department protocols, including a review by counsel.
âI donât have anything [beyond that] to share right now,â he said. âBut Iâd be happy to come and make sure that we share that with you and anyone else whoâs interested.â
One former high-ranking U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, pushed back against the secretary of stateâs testimony in June and said the allegation came as a surprise to many in the State Departmentâs Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs.
Mr. Berisha said he looks forward to presenting his case in a French court and expressed âconfidence in the court of law.â
âI invite the secretary of state to present to the court any evidence, fact, or document to prove the allegations on which he has based his groundless decision to declare me non grata,â he said.
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