THIS IS A SCANDAL FRAMED THIS IS CORRUPT
Ex-minister demands probe into child abuse conviction
The case of a Scots charity worker jailed for 20 years for abusing children in Albania should be investigated for corruption, the country’s former justice minister believes.
The Sunday Mai l revealed last week that the case against David Brown, who has been behind bars for 11 years, is on the brink of collapse.
The two boys from Brown’s orphanage whose evidence put him in jail now say they lied under pressure from police and a psychologist.
And ex-justice minister Spartak Npjela wants a probe into the actions of the authorities who handled the case.
He said: “This is a scandal of Albanian justice and I bel ieve corruption may be involved.
“It is a fact that justice in Albania is not professional and it’s corrupted.”
The two boys claim they were coached by the psychologist to give false evidence.
And Npjela said: “Criminal proceedings should start against the psychologist.
“After the psychologist, we’re not in a position to say where this case will end. We have a chain of people responsible for this wrongdoing.”
Devout Christian Brown, from Edinburgh, worked with children in Scotland for 35 years before going to Albania in 2000 to help young refugees from the war in neighbouring Kosovo.
He set up an orphanage for troubled kids in 2001, but was arrested in 2006 and accused of abuse. He has been in jail ever since, and was sentenced in 2008 to 20 years.
Two other men who travelled from Britain to work at Brown’s orphanage were also found guilty of molesting boys there.
Former nurse Dino Christodoulou, a convicted paedophile in the UK, got 20 years. Salesman Robin Arnold was sentenced to 15-and-a-half years.
Brown admitted he was naive
to give other men access to kids in his care without checking their backgrounds. But 11 years on, he remains adamant that he never improperly touched any child.
Now his two accusers, Andon Qoshlli and Denis Aliu, say they are ready to clear his name in court.
Andon, now 22, told us: “The psychologist and investigating police officer pushed me to say David abused me. He did not. I am sorry he is in prison.
“I want to see him out and hug him. David took us off the street and sent us to school.”
Denis, 18, added: “I was young and told the court what the psychologist told me to say. She gave me presents to make me happy so I would tell the court what they wanted.
“I used to call David a father. I know I have made a big mistake and I want to go to court to correct that.”
Argyll and Bute MP Brendan O’Hara and Tory MP for Stafford Jeremy Lefroy have joined forces to fight for Brown’s release.
O’Hara said that with the boys set to retract their statements, there was “light at the end of the tunnel”.
Lefroy has been working on Brown’s behal f for years even though he is not a constituent.
He said: “This has very much been a joint effort by Brendan and I. We both want to see him released.
“I don’t want to comment on the legal side of the case. That’s a matter for the courts in Albania.
“But he is a model prisoner and we just want justice to be done.”
Brown is held in high-security 302 Mine Peza jail in the capital, Tirana.
He is the only foreigner there among 300 Albanians. Christodoulou and Arnold are serving their sentences in English prisons.
Brown’s lawyer says that without Andon and Denis’s testimony, there is essentially no case against him.
But it could still be at least a year before he is freed.
Andon and Denis will have to give new evidence, and the case is likely to be referred to f ive judges in Albania’s high court.
Brown’s legal team are due in court tomorrow, when their new evidence is set to be presented.