Albania Ammunition Blast Victim Wins European Court Case

An Albanian man by his destroyed house in the village of Gerdec, March 2008. Photo: EPA/VALDRIN XHEMAJ

A man whose case for compensation for the ammunition explosion that claimed 26 lives in March 2008 was not heard by the Albanian courts was awarded 7,500 euros in damages by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg on Tuesday.

The man's case for compensation for the blast in the village of Gerdec, some ten kilometres away from the capital Tirana, was not heard because he was not able to pay court costs.

The ECHR's ruling, which also awarded him 3,000 euros to cover his legal expenses, said the case centred on the Albanian courts' "continuing failure to examine the applicant's eligibility for exemption" from paying the costs.

"Pending such examination, a claim for compensation submitted by him at \the same time as 70 other people for the loss of life of family members in an explosion in an ammunition dismantling facility, the management of which had been outsourced by the authorities to private companies, has not yet been considered on the merits," the EHCR said.

The Albanian courts' failure to hear his claim "constituted an unjustified restriction of his right of access to a court", it added.

The deadly blast also injured more than 300 people and left thousands homeless.

The Special Court of Appeals Against Corruption and Organised Crime last month reopened a case against former Defence Minister Fatmir Mediu after a 12-year hiatus.

The blast happened while ammunition from the period of Communist rule in Albania was being dismantled.

It was later learned that the work was being done by a private company without the necessary safeguards - one of many corruption scandals that hit the centre-right...

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