“The Albanian authorities are urged to identify and mete out punishment to the perpetrators of the killing of the relatives of protesters during the 2011 demonstration outside the Prime Minister’s Office,” states the Strasbourg Court in its ruling on Aleks Nika, published on the official page of the court.

In today’s published decision, the European Court of Human Rights underscores that it unanimously found two violations of Article 2 (the right to life and investigation) of the European Convention on Human Rights: “the killing and subsequent failure to investigate the killing”.

“The case revolves around the death of the spouse and father of the applicants, fatally shot in the head in 2011 during a protest in front of the Prime Minister’s Office. The protest witnessed violent clashes between demonstrators and authorities. The applicants assert, among other things, that the general commander of the Guard of the Republic, tasked with protecting the Prime Minister, had ordered guards to open fire on protesters. The Court points out that the issue of potential chain of command responsibility was not clarified by the relevant investigation, which focused on the individual responsibility of Guard officers rather than the sequence or nature of orders that may have come from the Guard’s chain of command,” the decision highlights.

“The investigation also exhibited several other shortcomings, including the deletion of video recordings of the incident and the neglect of crucial investigative leads, such as bullet marks found at human height on the iron fence surrounding the Prime Minister’s Office. These deficiencies raised suspicions of authorities attempting to unjustly divert or interfere with the investigation. The Court also identified deficiencies in the legal framework governing firearm use during mass gatherings at that time, as well as serious flaws in planning and controlling the protest. Local authorities failed to demonstrate that the use of deadly force by Guard officers resulting in the death of protesters’ relatives was absolutely necessary. In fact, the Albanian Government itself conceded that the use of force had been excessive,” further elaborates the Strasbourg Court’s decision.

The judicial body has ruled, pursuant to Article 46 (binding force and execution of decisions), that authorities must persist in their efforts to clarify the deaths of protesters’ relatives and identify and penalize those responsible.

Aleks Nika, Ziver Veizi, Hekuran Deda, and Faik Myrtaj were killed on “Dëshmorët e Kombit” Boulevard in front of the Prime Minister’s Office in 2011 during a peaceful protest organized by the Socialist Party and declared “Martyrs of the Homeland” by the Government of the Republic of Albania.

You can read the court ruling here.