Kurti on the murder of Arlinda Zekaj: A systemic chain of omissions by institutions

Prime Minister Albin Kurti has said that justice in Kosovo has often sided with the strong, while assessing that the murder of Arlinda Zekaj in Vitomirica, Peja, testifies to a chain of institutional failures, despite warnings that, according to him, went unanswered. On Tuesday evening, the suspect in the murder of Arlinda Zekaj, Albert Sylaj, was arrested.

Albert Sylaj, suspected of the murder of his former sister-in-law, Arlinda Zekaj, was arrested in Decani late Tuesday. 

And this murder that occurred in Vitomirica, Peja, on Sunday night, according to Prime Minister Albin Kurti, testifies to a chain of institutional failures despite the warnings already made by the deceased.

At a government meeting on Wednesday, he said that the direction of justice in Kosovo is a national emergency, while announcing that he is expecting reports from the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Internal Affairs on this tragic event by Thursday at 18:00 PM. 

"Every murder is a serious crime, but it is even more serious when it is clearly seen that there has been a systemic chain of omissions by the institutions responsible for security and justice. A murder with such warnings that did not receive a response, in fact, there was no way it could end differently. And this makes the situation even more inexcusable," Kurti declared. 

And at the meeting of the Commission on Human Rights, Gender Equality and Petitions, the CEO of the Agency for Gender Equality, Edi Gusia, said that the institution she heads does not have a mandate to directly address cases of violence.

"The agency does not have a mandate to handle cases of violence, but this does not mean that it does not give us a mandate to work on drafting legislation, instruments, and awareness-raising. In my presentation, I mentioned what we have worked on in awareness-raising and what we have worked on in capacity building," Gucia said. 

She requested that special attention be paid to the situation in the Social Work Centers. 

"I have only one recommendation, only one recommendation to the Centers for Social Work. It is an urgent issue. The Centers for Social Work need to handle 24 different categories. They have limited staff, non-professional staff, in the sense that they do not have the proper direction, because the relevant department was opened very late at the University of Pristina."

Arlinda Zekaj was shot to death with an axe in her home.

Three days before she was killed, through a letter addressed to the Prosecutor's Office in Peja, she informed the institution of the danger she was facing.