Terrorist claims he will be ‘executed by gangsters’ if deported to Albania

A convicted terrorist who planned to detonate a bomb at a football stadium is appealing against his deportation because he will be “executed for revenge” by rival gangsters if returned to Albania.

Maksim Cela, 59, travelled to the UK on a fake passport to be with his family after serving 23 years in jail for killing a policeman and other gang-related activities in the Balkan country, an immigration tribunal heard.

The Albanian claims “terrifying gang groups” will come after him to resolve a “blood feud” if he is not allowed to stay.

Home Office lawyers say he is a “violent terrorist” who should be deported.

At an Upper Tier Immigration Tribunal in central London on Monday, Cela said he was wrongly convicted of the crimes, and that his prosecution had been politically motivated.

Lawyers for the Home Office say he invented the story after learning that his serious offending meant he would not be able to claim asylum.

Cela, who was born in the Albanian city of Lushnje, claims he used to be a businessman, running a car dealership business in Germany having also worked in a dental clinic and a hospital.

But the tribunal heard he is a “violent terrorist” who planned to detonate a bomb at a 12,000-seat football stadium in 2000.

After the plot came to light in 2001, an Albanian court jailed him for five years.

He was sentenced to 25 years jail in September 2006 for “participation in criminal organisations”, the murder of a police officer, and the manufacture and illegal possession of weapons and ammunition, the tribunal was told.

He was released in December 2022, having served more than 23 years of his 25-year sentence.

In December 2022 he left Albania for Spain, travelled to Italy and then flew to the UK on what he admitted was a false passport, arriving at Heathrow in January 2023.

When he was initially interviewed by the Home Office, Cela claimed that “three terrifying gang groups” were “coming after” him and his family because he was a member of the “Lushnje gang”, the tribunal heard.

A letter to the Home Office written on his behalf said rival gang members would “execute him for revenge” if he returned.

Cela has since changed his story, Home Office lawyers say, claiming he was never really a member of the gang but had been set up.

“It was politically motivated,” Cela, who represented himself at the hearing, and spoke through an interpreter said.

“I was merely a businessman,” he added.

The Albanian told the tribunal there were four attempts to kill him while he was in prison.

The Home Office says he has exaggerated the threat from rival gangs, and could get protection from the Albanian authorities or relocate to another area of the country should he be deported.

Paul Skinner, representing the Home Office, asked Cela: “It’s right that you are someone who does and says whatever you want in order to get what you want isn’t it?

“You really want to be in the UK to be with your wife and daughter and you are willing to do whatever it takes in order to stay.

“The Albanian state is taking steps to obviate the risks that Mr Cela may face,” Mr Skinner added.

Cela’s asylum claim was rejected by a judge at the First Tier immigration tribunal, but a separate claim that his life was at risk from rival gangs was accepted.

His claim was based on the European Convention on Human Rights’ Article Three which prohibits “torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”.

After an appeal by the Home Office, a panel of judges set aside the ruling, finding that there had been an “error of law”.

The Upper Tier Tribunal will now make a decision on whether Cela can stay.