Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj avoided a direct response when asked about the death of 17-year-old Ardi Gjoklaj last year, while working in the Albanian capital’s Sharra landfill. The young man died tragically after being hit accidentally in the dark by an excavator. The Prosecution Office opened an investigation over the death of Gjoklas as a consequence of shortcomings of technical conditions and an abusive contract between the city hall and the waste managing company.

Invited in Top Story on Top Channel, Mayor Veliaj swallowed a couple of times and stuttered, before saying it is a question of the prosecution and one should ask there about the investigation.

“We are cooperating. We are every day at the Prosecution Office for different cases, like traffic lighst, roads, bridges, etc. We have 300 open cases in the Prosecution. In Sharra’s case, there was a political interest and that’s why it was discussed more”, Veliaj said.

Ardit Gjoklaj died in the early hours of August 7, 2016, when an excavator hit him fatally. The 17-year old boy was working to gather money so he could afford the schoolbooks.

Investigative reporters, who were later fired, discovered a number of scandals related to the contract of Tirana’s Municipality with the company 3R that managed the landfill. A few months before Ardit’s death, Veliaj appealed to young people to work at Sharra’s landfill.

As of now, Veliaj has not apologized for the young boy’s and has rejected any responsibility for the abusive contract with 3R.