TIRANA, Albania, Sept 12, (AP): Former Albanian prime minister Sali Berisha on Wednesday said he was formally charged with corruption in connection with a property deal, describing the move as politically motivated. In October, prosecutors publicly put him under investigation for allegedly abusing his post to help his son-in-law, Jamarber Malltezi, privatize public land to build 17 apartment buildings in the capital, Tirana.

Berisha, 79, who leads the opposition Democratic Party, has been under house arrest since December after he violated a previous requirement to check in with the authorities every two weeks. He was also barred from traveling abroad. Berisha went on Wednesday to the special prosecutors’ office, known as the Special Structure Against and Organized Crime, where he was told the charges against him for about half an hour. He said he was called as a defendant and was handed a file of evidence, some 500 pages long, that he called "lies.”

Malltezi, who is also involved in politics alongside his business interests, was also called Wednesday to be informed that he was formally charged with corruption. In December Parliament stripped Berisha of his legal immunity. The former prime minister has criticized the investigation and his arrest as political repression ordered by Prime Minister Edi Rama, the leader of the governing leftwing Socialist Party.

"Nothing has changed. It is a continuation of a political revenge,” Berisha told journalists outside the prosecutors' office as he rejected all claims of corruption. Scores of supporters had gathered there, shouting slogans in support of Berisha and criticizing the government. Berisha served as Albania’s prime minister from 2005-2013, and as president from 1992-1997. He was re-elected as a lawmaker for the Democratic Party in the 2021 parliamentary elections. Albania holds parliamentary elections next year. If Berisha has been convicted or is still awaiting trial, he may not be allowed to run for office.