Municipal Police of Tirana has been found guilty of discrimination on Monday by the Administrative Court and has been sentenced to pay compensation of 2.5 million ALL to a citizen of the Egyptian community.

According to the local media, all the trouble for the Municipal Police started after it seized from this citizen his bicycle and some waste, gypsum materials.

In the response returned to the Commissioner Against Discrimination, the Municipality stated that "urban waste is the property of the Municipality of Tirana", while the bicycle was confiscated from the citizen because he did not have a document of ownership over it.

On his part, the citizen complained to the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner, saying that the owner of a shop that was doing reconstruction had given him the waste. Also, he claimed that the seizure of the waste and the bicycle on the assumption that it had been stolen from a municipal waste bin was simply based on the prejudice of him being an Egyptian citizen.

However, the Commissioner found the Municipal Police guilty of "indirect discrimination on the grounds of race, ethnicity and economic status".

Through the human rights lawyer, Gentian Serjani, the citizen requested monetary compensation in the Administrative Court of Tirana.

Judge Eriol Roshi announced the partial acceptance of the lawsuit and the obligation of the defendant, the Municipality of Tirana, to compensate the discriminated citizen in the amount of 2.5 million ALL.