Erion Veliaj, the mayor of Albania’s capital, has addressed residents through an AI-generated avatar while held in pretrial detention. In a video posted to Instagram, the digital version of Veliaj promised free school meals and said he would continue working from his cell. Veliaj has been detained since February 2025 while facing corruption and financial-crime allegations, which he denies. He remains Tirana’s mayor. The video, labelled as AI-generated, drew attention to the case and sparked discussion about how politicians can communicate with voters while in custody
Published by Banx Network. This article is part of the Banx decentralized media programme, powered by the BXE token on the XRP Ledger.
