Tears and accusations in Gerdec

On this fourth year, besides the sorrow, this ritual is today filled with the emotional charges given by a court verdict against the responsible people of the tragedy that according to the relatives is unjust. One of them is an old woman that lost her daughter, who left three children behind. The woman says that poverty had pushed her daughter to work in that ammunition dismantling plant.

While placing flowers, the mourning women accuse the justice representatives.

Some opposition MPs joined the relatives of the victims. While the opposition leader, Edi Rama, visited the family of Zamira Durda, the woman turned into an icon for keeping alive the protest for justice.

As in the previous years, the state officials were absent in this ceremony.

Four years from the Gerdeci tragedy, when 26 people died and 300 others were wounded, the Court of Tirana ended the long marathon trial against the 29 defendants. 10 were found not guilty, 99 years to prison and a 40 million ALL fine was issued for the others, and soft punishments for former military and Defense Ministry officials, varying from 1 to 4 years banned from working in the state administration.

“Gerdeci”, the 4 year long soap opera

On 15 March 2008, at 11:43, 400 tons of ammunition exploded at the Gerdec ammunition dismantling plant, a village 13 kilometers from Tirana, causing 26 dead people and 300 wounded.

The perimeter of the destruction wave was 3.5 kilometers, while its crater goes to 18 hectares.

The shock was equal to a 4 magnitude earthquake. The opposition started protest on the first anniversary of the tragedy, while the majority promised to guarantee a fair trial.

On 15 March 2009, when the judicial adventure started, everyone was waiting for justice. The company owner the administrator, together with other directors and army generals were among the defendants.

But the Gerdec trial had the longest delay, mainly caused by the absence of the lawyers and the four defendants who were kept in prison, Pinari, Minxolli, Delijorgji and Ngjeci, and who had finished their detainment while in trial periods.

The Supreme Court asked for them to be released, while the judges took very long summer vacancies by granting this right to the defendants.

All of the defendants persistently asked an investigation of the causes that brought the explosion, which was never conducted. In this process was brought Patrick Henry, the man who never was present and his role in this process was never completely revealed.

Regardless the 300 witnesses brought by the Prosecution, some of whom retired, the process was mostly focused on the emotional situation of the damaged people, than for sentencing the defendants.

But the defendant’s declarations had always conflicts, among civilians and military men, with the court not asserting definitively the responsible people who violated the rules and employed unqualified and teenage workers for dismantling dangerous materials, or for depositing tons of ammunition in a plant near a residential area, causing the tragedy.

With 186 court sessions, often called by the media the “Gerdec” soap opera, the Court of First Degree Verdict gave not what was expected. The unclear situation of the verdict will allow the soap opera to continue with the Court of Appeal.

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