The Elbasan Court has released 16 of the detainees of the Metalurgjiku operation, calling the arrest illegal.
Meanwhile, the Prosecution has announced that it will appeal the decision as soon as it is officially revealed.
The marathon session lasted more than 7 hours due to the large number of people but also the presence of foreign citizens for whom licensed translators are required.
16 people, 9 of whom were foreigners, ended up in jail in Elbasan after committing crimes against the environment.
Following a complaint from residents of the Bradashesh area, the Elbasan police and prosecution, together with the National Inspectorate for Territorial Protection, discovered that two businesses operating in the former Metalurgjiku area, related to ferrochrome and ferroalloys, specifically CCAlb and GSA Ferrokrom, have violated environmental legislation, polluting the air, water and soil.
The on-site inspection found that the GSA Ferrokrom company did not treat or send ash waste from the Dust Capture System to any licensed operator. While the CC ALB company did not respect the criteria for recycling and disposal of battery waste.
For these violations, the companies with administrators Ilir Londo and Ergis Flaga had their activities suspended and were fined 10 and 3 million new lek.
In addition to administrators, production directors; engineers/technical managers; shift supervisors/furnace operators/workers were also arrested.
The head of the Environment Sector in the Municipality of Elbasan was also held criminally liable for the criminal offenses of "Abuse of office" and "Forgery of documents".