Status boundary: the disaster produced final convictions for offences connected to dangerous operations. The European Court did not find intentional killings, and Fatmir Mediu is not described as convicted: his reopened abuse-of-office trial remained pending in 2026.
A demilitarization site beside a village
Albania entered the late 2000s with a large stockpile of obsolete ammunition. State authorities assigned the military export-import company MEICO a central role in contracts and oversight, while a United States-incorporated contractor and the Albanian company Albademil were involved in dismantling work at Gërdec, in Vorë municipality.
The location was not an isolated range. Families lived nearby, and workers without appropriate specialist training handled propellant and ammunition. Later expert examinations found that the choice and operation of the facility breached licensing, safety and military-technical rules.
The European Court record describes chaotic work processes, unsuitable equipment and clothing, insufficient protection against static electricity and failures of official monitoring. These conditions created a direct hazard for workers and the surrounding community.
15 March 2008
At about midday, a fire began during the handling of ammunition components. The precise initiating event could not be established with certainty, but expert work identified heat retained by recently welded equipment as the most probable cause. The fire reached explosive material and triggered a series of enormous blasts.
Twenty-six people died and around 300 sustained injuries ranging from light wounds to life-threatening burns and trauma. Buildings were damaged across the area, families were displaced and unexploded ordnance was scattered beyond the facility.
Among the dead was seven-year-old Erison Durdaj, who had gone to the site with his cousin to deliver lunch to a family member. The European Court later recorded his death and serious injuries to workers and children without requiring graphic description.
Three expert examinations
Prosecutors opened a criminal investigation on the day of the explosion and sought help from the International Response Team of the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Albanian prosecutors and military experts also produced reports.
The examinations reconstructed the conditions and identified failures in site selection, licensing, training, equipment and supervision. The investigation led to indictments against company managers, MEICO personnel, military officers, ministry employees and the former defence minister.
The later human-rights criticism did not say that investigators learned nothing. It focused on victims’ effective participation and the prolonged, incomplete route to accountability for one senior official.
The convictions and their limits
Domestic proceedings produced convictions for twenty-four defendants. Offences included safety-rule violations, unlawful arms-related conduct, abuse of office and negligent destruction of property. Prison terms actually served ranged from about six years and seven months to just over ten years.
No defendant was finally convicted of intentionally killing the victims. The European Court treated the tragedy as grave negligence. Calling it deliberate murder would exceed the findings; calling it a mere accident would erase the documented operational and regulatory failures.
The convictions did not end every strand of litigation. Civil and administrative cases continued, while the treatment of former defence minister Fatmir Mediu became the central unfinished accountability issue.
The interrupted and reopened Mediu proceedings
After the explosion, Mediu resigned as defence minister. His parliamentary immunity was lifted and proceedings began, but his re-election restored immunity under the rules then in force. In September 2009, the Supreme Court discontinued the case against him.
A constitutional change in 2012 removed immunity as a barrier to investigation, yet prosecutors did not promptly resume the case. Families repeatedly sought renewed proceedings. The file was reopened in 2021, after approximately nine years in which the earlier legal obstacle no longer applied.
SPAK later sent Mediu to trial on abuse-of-office allegations tied to the demilitarization operation. He denied wrongdoing. Reporting at the beginning of 2026 described hearings as continuing. With no final judgment located, this archive identifies him as a defendant, not a convicted offender.
Durdaj and Others v. Albania
On 7 November 2023, the European Court of Human Rights delivered judgment in applications brought by victims and relatives. It accepted that the initial investigation had been technically adequate: experts were engaged, evidence was collected and multiple responsible actors were identified and prosecuted.
The Court nevertheless found a procedural violation of Article 2. Applicants could not participate effectively in the criminal trial of the twenty-nine accused, and the handling of Mediu’s prosecution was marked by delay, inertia and repeated unsuccessful efforts by families to obtain a final determination.
The judgment did not decide Mediu’s criminal guilt. It found that the State process had failed to provide a sufficiently effective route to full accountability. This boundary protects the presumption of innocence while explaining why the procedural violation was serious.
Cleanup and continuing risk
The blast left dangerous ordnance across the site and surrounding land. A United States-supported cleanup later reported removing more than 3,000 tons of unexploded ordnance and over 146,000 hazardous munition items. Albania’s Ministry of Defence said the remediated area was returned to local authorities in 2016.
Physical remediation reduced the danger, but it did not answer every legal question. Gërdec remains a record of how unsafe work, weak oversight and delayed senior-level proceedings can extend harm long after a mass-casualty disaster.
Why the archive uses “adjudicated in part”
Courts convicted numerous defendants for conduct directly connected to the explosion, so the case is not wholly unresolved. Yet proceedings concerning an important former official remained unfinished and were specifically criticized by the European Court.
Future updates should follow the Mediu trial through final judgment and appeal. Until then, the archive neither erases the existing convictions nor claims the accountability record is complete.
Case timeline
- 2007 The Gërdec ammunition-demilitarization operation is established.
- 15 March 2008 The facility explodes, killing 26 people and injuring around 300.
- 2008–2012 Expert examinations and criminal proceedings identify extensive failures.
- 14 September 2009 Proceedings against Mediu are discontinued after immunity is restored.
- 2012–2013 Domestic courts convict multiple operators and officials.
- 2021 Proceedings against Mediu are reopened.
- 7 November 2023 The European Court finds a procedural Article 2 violation.
- 2026 Mediu’s abuse-of-office trial remains in progress.
Questions readers ask
What happened at Gërdec?
On 15 March 2008, an ammunition-demilitarization facility exploded near Tirana. Twenty-six people died and around 300 were injured.
Was it treated as an intentional killing?
No. The European Court described grave negligence and unsafe operations, not intentional mass killing.
Were people convicted?
Yes. Twenty-four defendants were convicted of offences linked to the facility, including safety violations, abuse of office and negligent destruction of property.
What did the European Court decide?
In 2023 it found a procedural Article 2 violation because victims could not participate effectively and the former defence minister’s case suffered prolonged delay and inertia.
Was Fatmir Mediu convicted?
No final conviction is presented here. His reopened abuse-of-office trial was still continuing into 2026.
Why adjudicated in part?
Multiple convictions are final, but significant questions of senior official responsibility have not reached a final judgment.