Supreme Court drops charges against Mediu

TIRANA, March 1 – The Supreme Court on Monday dropped charges against Environment Minister Fatmir Mediu referring his part and role in the 2008 deadly blast at the ammunition demolition factory in Gerdec, where 26 people were killed and 300 injured.
At the time Mediu had been defense minister.
He was accused by two of the March 2008 victims, Roxhers Durdaj and Alketa Hazizaj, wounded by the blast, for not avoiding grave injury due to lack of precautions. The two young victims, a teenager and a young adult, had accused the minister of being responsible for the wounds they suffered due to the explosion and sought a civil trial.
They had to convince the judges based on the documentation offered as evidence, whether they should have proceeded in asking the parliament lift Mediu’s immunity.
There have been many voices and also testimony at another trial in the case that the company had also employed unqualified personnel and that they allegedly performed the demolition in an unsafe manner.
The court dismissed the civil lawsuits, ruling that there was not sufficient evidence that Mediu was guilty of the crimes he was accused of committing.
Last September, following the re-election at the June parliamentary election and renamed to the new government cabinet, the Supreme Court suspended the criminal case against Mediu.
The court agreed that Mediu again enjoyed parliamentary immunity.
The prosecutor contested the request but the Supreme Court panel, headed by Justice Besnik Ymeri, ruled in favor of Mediu.
General Prosecutor Ina Rama filed the blast case at the Supreme Court in March 2009, indicting 29 people, including Mediu, for their alleged involvement in the explosion, among them former senior officials of the defense ministry. The charges range from abuse of power to murder.
The accused include former army chief of staff Luan Hoxha and some generals, who have all denied any wrongdoing.
Prosecutors have filed murder charges against Mihal Delijorgji, the owner of the Alba-Demil company that managed the demolition work at the blast site. Charges have also been filed against site administrator Dritan Minxholi, and Ylli Pinari, the former head of Albania’s arms export agency MEICO, which was in charge of supervising the demolition work on site. Sokol Ngjeci, a MEICO supervisor at the demolition facility, has also been charged with murder. They have all denied the charges.
If found guilty, the four face 20 years to life in prison.
The March 15, 2008 blast destroyed thousands of houses and buildings. The explosions began when workers were moving stocks of old Chinese and Soviet shells stored at the army base.
Getting rid of the excess ammunition remains a top priority to the army since it became a new NATO member last year.