May 31, 2016 - 7:01 AM
TIRANA, Albania - An Albanian mayor has resigned over his conviction for a brawl in the early 1990s. He's believed to be the first casualty of a five-month-old law barring people with criminal records from public posts.
Elvis Roshi, the major of Kavaja, said Tuesday he was resigning after discovering that he was convicted following a brawl at a refugee camp in Italy when he was a 16-year-old migrant. He says he wasn't taken to court at the time and didn't serve any sentence.
In a separate move later Tuesday, the Central Election Commission fired 18 council members in various cities.
The law passed in December was considered a key tool in fighting corruption, a major obstacle to Albania's ambitions to join the European Union.
News from © The Associated Press, 2016