Tirana - Albanian prosecutors on Wednesday raised criminal charges against former defence minister Fatmir Mejdiu and four other high-ranking officials over a blast in a munitions depot in March 2008.

The explosion of hundreds of tons of decades-old ordnance at Gerdece, near the capital Tirana, killed 26, injured more than 300 and left 3,000 people homeless.

Fatmir Mediu has been accused for "abuse of power" over his decision to "determine Gerdece as a place for disarmament of ammunition," Mediu's lawyer Ardian Visha said in a statement.

Belgrade - Thousands of Albanians in southern Serbia protested Monday asking for an immediate release of a group of Albanians arrested in December over crimes against Serbs, Belgrade media reported.

Around 3,000 Albanians gathered in Presevo town in southern Serbia, near a border with Kosovo, demanding the release of members of the so-called Gnjilanska group suspected of murdering, torturing and raping Kosovo Serbs from 1999 to 2001.