TIRANA, Albania (AP) — A former political prisoner in Albania who was seeking speedier government compensation has died three weeks after he set himself on fire during a hunger strike, activists say.

Lirak Bejko, 47, died during an operation Friday in a hospital in Bari, Italy, where he had been taken for specialist treatment. Protest organizer Skender Tufa said Bejko had burns covering about half his body.