Albanian ex-minister says prosecutors acting politically

TIRANA, Oct. 27 (AP) — Former Defence Minister Fatmir Mediu, now a Republican MP, accused Albania’s judiciary Monday of acting under political influence, saying prosecutors and judges have turned the justice system into a “republic of prosecutors.”

Speaking in parliament, Mediu said the 2016 justice reform had failed to create an independent system and claimed the prosecution was pursuing him unfairly over the Gërdec munitions blast case.

“With the reform we wanted independent justice, but we got a corporation of prosecutors and judges,” he told lawmakers. “Ten years later the system is out of control, and people have become statistics.”

Mediu is facing renewed investigation over the 2008 explosion that killed 26 people at a military depot near Tirana.