Italian Businessman Bechetti’s Lawsuit Against Albania Dismissed

The building of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg, France.  Photo: EPA-EFE/PATRICK SEEGER

Had the company done that, "this Court would have had the benefit of the views of the national courts", the ruling read.

The ECHR said the company had failed to take appropriate steps to enable national courts to fulfil their fundamental role.

Bechetti's Agonset sued Albania in 2015 for discrimination and violation of freedom of expression after his TV station Agon was closed - after Albania's Audiovisual Media Authority, AMA, did not invite it to join a competition for the allocation of digital broadcasting frequencies.

In 2016 the company attached to the same lawsuit  an appeal for the television seizure, following criminal charges against Becchetti and other related persons in Albania.

Becchetti, 56, has been on the run from the Albanian authorities since 2014, when he was first accused of money laundering in relation to a failed hydroelectric scheme.

He claimed he was being persecuted for political reasons by the government of Edi Rama, because his now defunct TV channel had been critical of him.

In February this year a Tirana court jailed the UK-based Italian in absentia for 17 years for money laundering and theft. Becchetti claimed the case was politically motivated. The verdict has been appealed by his defense.

On the run, he has used different international courts to claim hundreds of millions of euros in compensation from Albania for his lost businesses.

The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes in April 2019 found Albania guilty and ordered it to pay him more than 100 million euros in compensation for the expropriated TV station.

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