Parliament Lifts Mediu’s Immunity

TIRANA, June 16 – Parliament has voted to allow the prosecution of the former defense minister over his role in the Gerdec catastrophe. This vote occurred only hours after Lt. Gen. Luan Hoxha was removed from his post by President Bamir Topi following a recommendation from Prime Minister Sali Berisha.
On March 15, a series of massive explosions at an ammunition depot near Tirana killed 26 people, injured 302 and destroyed or damaged nearly 5,500 houses.
Now, lawmakers voted 101-23 to lift the parliamentary immunity of former Defense Minister Fatmir Mediu, whom prosecutors have accused of abuse of power in connection with the explosions. Two of the country’s 140 deputies abstained from the vote, 12 were absent, and two ballots were ruled invalid.
Mediu is also accused of personally profiting from the deal with the American company disposing excess ammunition.
Mediu is the leader of the Republican Party, part of the governing coalition. He resigned after the blast, but has denied breaking any laws.
“As defense minister, I respected the law (and) considered disposing of excess ammunition as a national priority,” he told the parliamentary session.
The Socialist-led opposition has accused the government of acting illegally in dealing with the disposal of obsolete weapons, and has urged Berisha to resign.
Lifting Mediu’s immunity had turned into a long-running political saga with parliament Speaker Jozefina Topalli repeatedly delaying the decision to put to a vote his immunity.
Prime Minister Sali Berisha has remained silent on the issue, though formerly promising that no official in his government would hide behind parliamentary immunity. He further said that no parliamentary immunity would hamper the investigation of the Gerdec case.
Prosecutor General Ina Rama said, in her request, that the violation of the laws and procedures of security and ammunition storage, and the mismanagement of the disposal process, had caused the sparks that set off the massive explosions.
She also said her office was investigating the possible employment of children in the disposal process and has accused the former defense minister of abuse of power.
But as a member of parliament, Mediu enjoyed immunity from formal charges and could not be officially placed under investigation.
Mediu, who has repeatedly tried to blame military generals for the depot explosion, had often said he considered himself without immunity and open to any investigation.
Army generals, on their part, have charged that Mediu did not listen to them regarding the selection of the depot and the destruction of ammunition there.
Mediu has countered, saying the generals approved the location of the operation to deactivate the munitions in a village, which lay in a heavily populated area and very close to the country’s only international airport.
About 100,000 tons of excess ammunition, mostly Russian and Chinese artillery shells made in the 1960s or earlier, are stored in former army depots across Albania.
The U.S., Canada and other NATO member countries have assisted Albania in disposing of the armaments, a process which the executive has pledged to complete by 2010.
Three weeks after the March 15 blast, Albania received a NATO membership invitation and expects to soon become a full alliance member.
The Socialist-led opposition has continually accused the government, and the premier personally, of corruption in dealing with the disposal of obsolete weapons, and has urged Berisha to resign.