Charges on the Jan. 21 suspects expected

TIRANA, April 25 – Prosecutors seem to have closed the investigations and are soon expected to make formal charges for the four deaths and violence at the Jan. 21, 2011 opposition protests in capital Tirana.
Nine Albanian security officials have been placed under house arrest waiting for the charges regarding the deaths of four opposition supporters who were shot during an anti-government demonstration a year ago.
In reviewing the results of an inquiry Albanian prosecutors were assisted by the FBI.
An IT technician for the Prime Minister, Armando Kasaj is accused of concealing evidence in the murder case.
Six other lower-ranking security officers were initially charged with murder in the case.
The four protesters were killed in January in 2011 during a mass anti-government rally organized by the opposition against alleged corruption and vote rigging by Albania’s conservative government.
The violence during the Jan. 21, 2011, rally was the worst seen in the politically volatile country in more than a decade. More than 20,000 protesters gathered outside the country’s main government building throwing stones and other objects at police. Scores of protesters and security officers were wounded as police mounted baton charges and used bullets, tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon.
The violence was an embarrassment for Albania, a NATO member that is seeking European Union membership and improvement of its internationally criticized election record.
The Socialist-led opposition maintains that conservative Prime Minister Sali Berisha is personally responsible for the protest deaths, while the government argues that its opponents tried to use violence to force their way into office.
Berisha claimed the prosecutor general has sided with those who tried to bring down his government.
Albania’s opposition staged protests for more than a year following Albania’s 2009 general election, but tensions rose sharply when then-Deputy Prime Minister Ilir Meta resigned amid allegations of corruption. Last week the Supreme Court acquitted him of the charge.
Albania’s parliament also has lifted the immunity of three opposition Socialist lawmakers suspected of fomenting violence in an anti-government protest a year ago.