The article below posted on www.kohajone.com reports about the existence of children organ traffic in Albania and Italy. In a gist, the Italian investigating authorities suspect that a hospital located in Fier, Albania, is being used to transplant children's organs. These organs are further transported and sold to Italian hospitals.
Trafik organesh me femijet shqiptare (Kohajone.com)
A.Qoraj
E Shtune, 31 Janar 2009
Prokuroria e Romes rihap dosjen e trafikut te organeve te femijeve per qellime transplanti. Dyshimet dhe informacionet per ekzistencen e nje rrjeti te mire organizuar ka vene ne levizje gjate javeve te fundit, drejtesine e vendit fqinj. Diten e djeshme mediat italiane, duke iu referuar Prokurorise se Romes, publikuan lajmin se kishte rinisur hetimi i gjashte viteve me pare kur u perfol per nje trafik te mundshem organesh. Behet fjale per femije te siguruar jo vetem ne kete vend, por edhe te mitur nga vendet e Ballkanit dhe Shqiperia. Qendra e studimeve "Censis" ka publikuar nje raport mbi kete ceshtje, nderkohe qe prokuroria mori shkas per te kryer investigime. Gjate viteve 2003-2004 edhe ne Shqiperi u fol per nje spital privat te posacem ne zonen e Fierit, per transplantim organesh, por qe pas verifikimeve te kryera nga SHISH nuk rezultoi ekzistenca e ketij spitalit, por se kishin nisur punimet per ngritjen e tij.
"Trafiku i organeve kthehet ne nje problem per Italine, Prokuroria e Romes nis hetimet", shkruanin mediat e vendit fqinj diten e djeshme. Duke iu referuar raportit te "Censis", konkludohej se gjate viteve te fundit jane konstatuar raste te ketij trafiku dhe ekzistenca e spitaleve qe kryenin keto operacione. "Ne vendin tone gjate ketyre viteve te fundit jane kryer disa hetime te drejtesise mbi ceshtje te trafikut te te miturve, te destinuar per trafik ilegal te organeve, megjithese nuk eshte arritur te gjenden prova konkrete", shkruan raporti. Por vihet ne dukje se hetimet me te fundit te organit te akuzes se Romes, kane nisur duke marre shkas mbi dyshimet e fundit per trafikun e femijeve ne linjen transit Shqiperi-Itali, kryesisht per transplantim organesh.
Madje "Censis" shkon me tej duke permendur se vitin e kaluar ka pasur raste te tilla te hetuara nga zyrat e Ceshtjeve Njerezore, per te goditur nje rrjet te trafikut te organeve. Ne nje prej ceshtjeve me te ndjeshme sipas kesaj qendre, eshte rasti ku doktor Adelchi d'Ippolito i Prokurorise se Romes ka hapur ne Shqiperi nje hetim per trafik te miturish, te cilet mund te ishin kaluar ilegalisht ne Greqi dhe me pas Itali, me qellim transplantimin e organeve.
Hetuesit e kryeqytetit italian nuk e shohin vendin e tyre vetem si transit ne kete proces, por edhe si destinacionin final, ku kryhen edhe transplantimet e organeve, qe merren nga femije te mitur. Kete fakt e ve ne dukje qendra "Censis" ne raportin e publikuar dhe qe ka vene ne levizje drejtesine vendase. "Hetimet jane ende ne fazen fillestare dhe magjistratet e perfshire, presin zhvillime interesante rreth trafikut dhe me pas transplantimit", thuhet me tej ne raport. Fillimisht jane siguruar prova te ndryshme nga transplanto te kryera me qytetare italiane dhe ne vendet dhuruese. "Ne pjesen me te madhe te rasteve, dhurimet e organeve jane bere ne Indi qe prej fundit te vitit 1994, vend ne te cilin kryerja e transplantove ishte legale", raportuan dje mediat. Ne kete pike Qendra kerkimore "Censis" hedh edhe dyshime per sherbimin mjekesor ne Itali dhe per procedurat se si kryhet ky transplanto, origjina e organeve dhe veprimet e tjera. "Por ky kuader mund te jete i ndryshem ne rastet e ekzistences se qendrave private te fshehta, jo zyrtare dhe te panjohura nga Sherbimi Kombetar Shendetesor", mbyllet raporti i kesaj qendre.
"Vitin e kaluar u zhduken 400 femije ne Lampeduza"
Ne lidhje me raportin e qendres kerkimore "Censis", ka reaguar edhe ministri i Brendshem italian, Roberto Maroni. "Minorenet jane viktimat kryesore te ketij trafiku", deklaroi ai. Sipas ministrit, shume nga te miturit ekstrakomunitare te mberritur ne Lampedusa, jane zhdukur ne menyre misterioze, pasi kane shkelur truallin italian. Ministri shpjegoi se te dhenat mbi trafikimin e organeve jane bazuar ne disa hetime te perbashketa me te dhenat e Interpolit mbi femijet e zhdukur ne Lampeduza dhe denoncimeve per trafik organesh, te paraqitura nga vendet e prejardhjes. "Vitin e kaluar, 400 te mitur nga 1320 te ardhur ne Lampeduza, jane zhdukur ne menyre te mistershme", perfundoi Maroni deklaraten e tij, pa dhene shpjegime te metejshme rreth hetimeve qe po kryhen dhe kombesive se te miturve te zhdukur. Gjithsesi gjate javeve te fundit ka qene Prokuroria e Romes, qe ka nisur nje investigim per ekzistencen e nje rrjeti te gjere trafikimi dhe me pas transplantin e organeve. Ne kete dosje perfshihet edhe ceshtja e trajtuar gjashte vjet me pare ne Shqiperi, kur u perfol per ekzistencen e nje spitali privat ne Fier, i ngritur nga mjeke shqiptare dhe italiane me qellim transplantin e organeve. Aktualisht nuk ka ende prova te mjaftueshme qe flasin per kete trafik ilegal.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Albanian Custom Fades: Woman as Family Man
New York Times
Published: June 25, 2008
KRUJE, Albania — Pashe Keqi recalled the day nearly 60 years ago when she decided to become a man. She chopped off her long black curls, traded in her dress for her father’s baggy trousers, armed herself with a hunting rifle and vowed to forsake marriage, children and sex.
Pashe Keqi, 78, took an oath of virginity when she was 20 to become the family patriarch after her father’s death in a blood feud. More Photos »
For centuries, in the closed-off and conservative society of rural northern Albania, swapping genders was considered a practical solution for a family with a shortage of men. Her father was killed in a blood feud, and there was no male heir. By custom, Ms. Keqi, now 78, took a vow of lifetime virginity. She lived as a man, the new patriarch, with all the swagger and trappings of male authority — including the obligation to avenge her father’s death.
She says she would not do it today, now that sexual equality and modernity have come even to Albania, with Internet dating and MTV invading after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Girls here do not want to be boys anymore. With only Ms. Keqi and some 40 others remaining, the sworn virgin is dying off.
“Back then, it was better to be a man because before a woman and an animal were considered the same thing,” said Ms. Keqi, who has a bellowing baritone voice, sits with her legs open wide like a man and relishes downing shots of raki. “Now, Albanian women have equal rights with men, and are even more powerful. I think today it would be fun to be a woman.”
The tradition of the sworn virgin can be traced to the Kanun of Leke Dukagjini, a code of conduct passed on orally among the clans of northern Albania for more than 500 years. Under the Kanun, the role of a woman is severely circumscribed: take care of children and maintain the home. While a woman’s life is worth half that of a man, a virgin’s value is the same: 12 oxen.
The sworn virgin was born of social necessity in an agrarian region plagued by war and death. If the family patriarch died with no male heirs, unmarried women in the family could find themselves alone and powerless. By taking an oath of virginity, women could take on the role of men as head of the family, carry a weapon, own property and move freely.
They dressed like men and spent their lives in the company of other men, even though most kept their female given names. They were not ridiculed, but accepted in public life, even adulated. For some the choice was a way for a woman to assert her autonomy or to avoid an arranged marriage.
“Stripping off their sexuality by pledging to remain virgins was a way for these women in a male-dominated, segregated society to engage in public life,” said Linda Gusia, a professor of gender studies at the University of Pristina, in Kosovo. “It was about surviving in a world where men rule.”
Taking an oath to become a sworn virgin should not, sociologists say, be equated with homosexuality, long taboo in rural Albania. Nor do the women have sex-change operations.
Known in her household as the “pasha,” Ms. Keqi said she decided to become the man of the house at age 20 when her father was murdered. Her four brothers opposed the Communist government of Enver Hoxha, the ruler for 40 years until his death in 1985, and they were either imprisoned or killed. Becoming a man, she said, was the only way to support her mother, her four sisters-in-law and their five children.
Ms. Keqi lorded over her large family in her modest house in Tirana, where her nieces served her brandy while she barked out orders. She said living as a man had allowed her freedom denied other women. She worked construction jobs and prayed at the mosque with men. Even today, her nephews and nieces said, they would not dare marry without their “uncle’s” permission.
When she stepped outside the village, she enjoyed being taken for a man. “I was totally free as a man because no one knew I was a woman,” Ms. Keqi said. “I could go wherever I wanted to and no one would dare swear at me because I could beat them up. I was only with men. I don’t know how to do women’s talk. I am never scared.”
When she was recently hospitalized for surgery, the other woman in her room was horrified to be sharing close quarters with someone she assumed was male.
Being the man of the house also made her responsible for avenging her father’s death, she said. When her father’s killer, by then 80, was released from prison five years ago, Ms. Keqi said, her 15-year-old nephew shot him dead. Then the man’s family took revenge and killed her nephew. “I always dreamed of avenging my father’s death,” she said. “Of course, I have regrets; my nephew was killed. But if you kill me, I have to kill you.”
In Albania, a majority Muslim country in the western Balkans, the Kanun is adhered to by Muslims and Christians. Albanian cultural historians said the adherence to medieval customs long discarded elsewhere was a byproduct of the country’s previous isolation. But they stressed that the traditional role of the Albanian woman was changing.
“The Albanian woman today is a sort of minister of economics, a minister of affection and a minister of interior who controls who does what,” said Ilir Yzeiri, who writes about Albanian folklore. “Today, women in Albania are behind everything.”
Some sworn virgins bemoan the changes. Diana Rakipi, 54, a security guard in the seaside city of Durres, in west Albania, who became a sworn virgin to take care of her nine sisters, said she looked back with nostalgia on the Hoxha era. During Communist times, she was a senior army officer, training women as combat soldiers. Now, she lamented, women do not know their place.
“Today women go out half naked to the disco,” said Ms. Rakipi, who wears a military beret. “I was always treated my whole life as a man, always with respect. I can’t clean, I can’t iron, I can’t cook. That is a woman’s work.”
But even in the remote mountains of Kruje, about 30 miles north of Tirana, residents say the Kanun’s influence on gender roles is disappearing. They said erosion of the traditional family, in which everyone once lived under the same roof, had altered women’s position in society.
“Women and men are now almost the same,” said Caca Fiqiri, whose aunt Qamile Stema, 88, is his village’s last sworn virgin. “We respect sworn virgins very much and consider them as men because of their great sacrifice. But there is no longer a stigma not to have a man of the house.”
Yet there is no doubt who wears the trousers in Ms. Stema’s one-room stone house in Barganesh, the family’s ancestral village. There, on a recent day, “Uncle” Qamile was surrounded by her clan, dressed in a qeleshe, the traditional white cap of an Albanian man. Pink flip-flops were her only concession to femininity.
After becoming a man at the age of 20, Ms. Stema said, she carried a gun. At wedding parties, she sat with the men. When she talked to women, she recalled, they recoiled in shyness.
She said becoming a sworn virgin was a necessity and a sacrifice. “I feel lonely sometime, all my sisters have died, and I live alone,” she said. “But I never wanted to marry. Some in my family tried to get me to change my clothes and wear dresses, but when they saw I had become a man, they left me alone.”
Ms. Stema said she would die a virgin. Had she married, she joked, it would have been to a traditional Albanian woman. “I guess you could say I was partly a woman and partly a man,” she said. “I liked my life as a man. I have no regrets.”
Published: June 25, 2008
KRUJE, Albania — Pashe Keqi recalled the day nearly 60 years ago when she decided to become a man. She chopped off her long black curls, traded in her dress for her father’s baggy trousers, armed herself with a hunting rifle and vowed to forsake marriage, children and sex.
Pashe Keqi, 78, took an oath of virginity when she was 20 to become the family patriarch after her father’s death in a blood feud. More Photos »
For centuries, in the closed-off and conservative society of rural northern Albania, swapping genders was considered a practical solution for a family with a shortage of men. Her father was killed in a blood feud, and there was no male heir. By custom, Ms. Keqi, now 78, took a vow of lifetime virginity. She lived as a man, the new patriarch, with all the swagger and trappings of male authority — including the obligation to avenge her father’s death.
She says she would not do it today, now that sexual equality and modernity have come even to Albania, with Internet dating and MTV invading after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Girls here do not want to be boys anymore. With only Ms. Keqi and some 40 others remaining, the sworn virgin is dying off.
“Back then, it was better to be a man because before a woman and an animal were considered the same thing,” said Ms. Keqi, who has a bellowing baritone voice, sits with her legs open wide like a man and relishes downing shots of raki. “Now, Albanian women have equal rights with men, and are even more powerful. I think today it would be fun to be a woman.”
The tradition of the sworn virgin can be traced to the Kanun of Leke Dukagjini, a code of conduct passed on orally among the clans of northern Albania for more than 500 years. Under the Kanun, the role of a woman is severely circumscribed: take care of children and maintain the home. While a woman’s life is worth half that of a man, a virgin’s value is the same: 12 oxen.
The sworn virgin was born of social necessity in an agrarian region plagued by war and death. If the family patriarch died with no male heirs, unmarried women in the family could find themselves alone and powerless. By taking an oath of virginity, women could take on the role of men as head of the family, carry a weapon, own property and move freely.
They dressed like men and spent their lives in the company of other men, even though most kept their female given names. They were not ridiculed, but accepted in public life, even adulated. For some the choice was a way for a woman to assert her autonomy or to avoid an arranged marriage.
“Stripping off their sexuality by pledging to remain virgins was a way for these women in a male-dominated, segregated society to engage in public life,” said Linda Gusia, a professor of gender studies at the University of Pristina, in Kosovo. “It was about surviving in a world where men rule.”
Taking an oath to become a sworn virgin should not, sociologists say, be equated with homosexuality, long taboo in rural Albania. Nor do the women have sex-change operations.
Known in her household as the “pasha,” Ms. Keqi said she decided to become the man of the house at age 20 when her father was murdered. Her four brothers opposed the Communist government of Enver Hoxha, the ruler for 40 years until his death in 1985, and they were either imprisoned or killed. Becoming a man, she said, was the only way to support her mother, her four sisters-in-law and their five children.
Ms. Keqi lorded over her large family in her modest house in Tirana, where her nieces served her brandy while she barked out orders. She said living as a man had allowed her freedom denied other women. She worked construction jobs and prayed at the mosque with men. Even today, her nephews and nieces said, they would not dare marry without their “uncle’s” permission.
When she stepped outside the village, she enjoyed being taken for a man. “I was totally free as a man because no one knew I was a woman,” Ms. Keqi said. “I could go wherever I wanted to and no one would dare swear at me because I could beat them up. I was only with men. I don’t know how to do women’s talk. I am never scared.”
When she was recently hospitalized for surgery, the other woman in her room was horrified to be sharing close quarters with someone she assumed was male.
Being the man of the house also made her responsible for avenging her father’s death, she said. When her father’s killer, by then 80, was released from prison five years ago, Ms. Keqi said, her 15-year-old nephew shot him dead. Then the man’s family took revenge and killed her nephew. “I always dreamed of avenging my father’s death,” she said. “Of course, I have regrets; my nephew was killed. But if you kill me, I have to kill you.”
In Albania, a majority Muslim country in the western Balkans, the Kanun is adhered to by Muslims and Christians. Albanian cultural historians said the adherence to medieval customs long discarded elsewhere was a byproduct of the country’s previous isolation. But they stressed that the traditional role of the Albanian woman was changing.
“The Albanian woman today is a sort of minister of economics, a minister of affection and a minister of interior who controls who does what,” said Ilir Yzeiri, who writes about Albanian folklore. “Today, women in Albania are behind everything.”
Some sworn virgins bemoan the changes. Diana Rakipi, 54, a security guard in the seaside city of Durres, in west Albania, who became a sworn virgin to take care of her nine sisters, said she looked back with nostalgia on the Hoxha era. During Communist times, she was a senior army officer, training women as combat soldiers. Now, she lamented, women do not know their place.
“Today women go out half naked to the disco,” said Ms. Rakipi, who wears a military beret. “I was always treated my whole life as a man, always with respect. I can’t clean, I can’t iron, I can’t cook. That is a woman’s work.”
But even in the remote mountains of Kruje, about 30 miles north of Tirana, residents say the Kanun’s influence on gender roles is disappearing. They said erosion of the traditional family, in which everyone once lived under the same roof, had altered women’s position in society.
“Women and men are now almost the same,” said Caca Fiqiri, whose aunt Qamile Stema, 88, is his village’s last sworn virgin. “We respect sworn virgins very much and consider them as men because of their great sacrifice. But there is no longer a stigma not to have a man of the house.”
Yet there is no doubt who wears the trousers in Ms. Stema’s one-room stone house in Barganesh, the family’s ancestral village. There, on a recent day, “Uncle” Qamile was surrounded by her clan, dressed in a qeleshe, the traditional white cap of an Albanian man. Pink flip-flops were her only concession to femininity.
After becoming a man at the age of 20, Ms. Stema said, she carried a gun. At wedding parties, she sat with the men. When she talked to women, she recalled, they recoiled in shyness.
She said becoming a sworn virgin was a necessity and a sacrifice. “I feel lonely sometime, all my sisters have died, and I live alone,” she said. “But I never wanted to marry. Some in my family tried to get me to change my clothes and wear dresses, but when they saw I had become a man, they left me alone.”
Ms. Stema said she would die a virgin. Had she married, she joked, it would have been to a traditional Albanian woman. “I guess you could say I was partly a woman and partly a man,” she said. “I liked my life as a man. I have no regrets.”
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Some 2008 Domestic Violence Killings
The murders listed below are terrifying examples of domestic violence in Albania. These are some of the murders that occurred during the year of 2008.
1) The son shoots his mother using a “Kalashnikov”, an assault rifle, because he blamed her for his father’s death. (Location-Tirana)
2) The son shoots his mother because he did not give her any money to buy drugs! (Location-Tirana)
3)Husband, an immigrant working in Greece, returns home in Albania and kills his wife in an execution style because he suspected that she cheated on him. (Location-Tirana)
4)Husband, an immigrant working in Greece, kills with a handgun his 24 year old wife. (Location-Fier)
5)The remains of a girl who disappeared 12 years ago are found. Her parents were found guilty and convicted! (Location-Shkoder)
(Marre nga www.Kohajone.com me 1/19/2009)
17 vrasje ne familje nga 23 te ndodhura ne vitin 2007
Disa nga rastet
Tirane
Djali qellon nenen me bresheri "Kallashnikovi", pasi i vinte fajin e vdekjes se babait
Tirane
Djali qellon nene pasi nuk i jepte leket qe te blinte droge qe e konsumonte
Tirane
Vjen nga Greqia dhe ekzekuton gruan e tij 22-vjecare, pasi e akuzonte se e tradhtonte
Tirane
Nje punonjes policie, vret vellane e tij dhe plagos nipin qe vdes me vone
Fier
Pajtim Duro, emigrant ne Greqi, vret me pistolete gruan e tij 24-vjecare Matilda Haxhiaj
Shkoder
Zbulohet skeleti i nje vajze te zhdukur para 12 vjetesh ne Postribe, denohen prinderit
1) The son shoots his mother using a “Kalashnikov”, an assault rifle, because he blamed her for his father’s death. (Location-Tirana)
2) The son shoots his mother because he did not give her any money to buy drugs! (Location-Tirana)
3)Husband, an immigrant working in Greece, returns home in Albania and kills his wife in an execution style because he suspected that she cheated on him. (Location-Tirana)
4)Husband, an immigrant working in Greece, kills with a handgun his 24 year old wife. (Location-Fier)
5)The remains of a girl who disappeared 12 years ago are found. Her parents were found guilty and convicted! (Location-Shkoder)
(Marre nga www.Kohajone.com me 1/19/2009)
17 vrasje ne familje nga 23 te ndodhura ne vitin 2007
Disa nga rastet
Tirane
Djali qellon nenen me bresheri "Kallashnikovi", pasi i vinte fajin e vdekjes se babait
Tirane
Djali qellon nene pasi nuk i jepte leket qe te blinte droge qe e konsumonte
Tirane
Vjen nga Greqia dhe ekzekuton gruan e tij 22-vjecare, pasi e akuzonte se e tradhtonte
Tirane
Nje punonjes policie, vret vellane e tij dhe plagos nipin qe vdes me vone
Fier
Pajtim Duro, emigrant ne Greqi, vret me pistolete gruan e tij 24-vjecare Matilda Haxhiaj
Shkoder
Zbulohet skeleti i nje vajze te zhdukur para 12 vjetesh ne Postribe, denohen prinderit
Husband Cuts his Wife's Head Off!
An Albanian man drinks heavily, comes home and starts arguing with his wife. In the midst of fight and anger, he grabs a kitchen knife and stabs his wife in the neck. Wife dies instantly. Husband stabs himself in the stomach. Meanwhile, their two children terrorized by the horrific scene call the police immediately. Too late!
This is my Albania. A country of men who terrorize women!
Xhelozia, pret gruan ne qafe (marre nga www.kohajone.com)
Artan Cena
E Hene, 19 Janar 2009
TIRANE - Xhelozia dhe alkooli ia kane marre jeten nje gruaje mengjesin e djeshem ne Tirane, kur burri i saj e ka qelluar per vdekje. 40-vjecari Shpetim Zhllima i ka marre jeten bashkeshortes se tij, 32-vjecare Nafijen Zhllima dhe me pas ka tentuar ti jape fund he jetes se tij, duke u veteqelluar ne bark. Ngjarja e rende ka ndodhur ne nje banese ne vendin e quajtur NISH-Tulla 3, ne periferi te kryeqytetit. Vrasja mesohet te kete ndodhur rreth ores 02:00, te mengjesit te djeshem, kur 40-vjecari ka shkuar ne shtepi i dehur. Dy bashkeshortet kane debatuar me njeri-tjetrin. Gjate sherrit, i dyshuari per vrasjen, ka marre thiken e kuzhines dhe ka qelluar pese here gruan e tij, duke i prere qafen e goditur ne pjese te ndryshme te trupit. 32-vjecarja ka nderruar jete menjehere nderkohe qe autori i dyshuar eshte derguar ne Spitalin Ushtarak, ku ndodhet nen kujdesin e mjekeve dhe ruajtjen e policise, pasi eshte vene nen akuzen e vrasjes.
Zenka
Hallet e familjes dhe fakti se, burri i saj pinte cdo dite ka bere qe 32-vjecarja te debatonte me bashkeshortin. Por kjo gje i ka kushtuar shume asaj. Pasi kishin debatuar gjate pasdites, Shpetim Zhllima kishte dale nga shtepia dhe ka shkuar tek lokali i lagjes. Aty se bashku me shoke e miq, kishte filluar qe te pinte. Kjo gje ka vazhduar deri vone pas mesit te nates. Rreth ores 02:00, te mengjesit te djeshem ai ka shkuar ne shtepi. Cifti Zhllima kishte dy femije, qe ne ate moment ishin duke fjetur ne dhomen e gjumit. Por bashkeshortja e 40-vjecarit, ishte zgjuar. Aty ka nisur dhe sherri qe solli vdekjen e saj.
Vrasja
Nafije Zhllima e kishte pritur burrin e saj, qe ishte larguar qe ne dreke. Sapo ka ardhur ne dere ka filluar debati mes tyre. Por zenka nuk eshte ndaluar. Burre e grua kane filluar te bertasin dhe te zihen. Zeri i larte ka shqetesuar dhe fqinjet e ciftit te cilet kane dale te shikojne por nuk kane mundur qe ndalojne te pashmangshmen. Te dy ata kishin hyre brenda ne banese ne kuzhine. Ne keto momente 40-vjecari Shpetim Zhllima ka rrembyer thiken e bukes dhe i eshte versulur bashkeshortes. Per here te pare e ka goditur ne qafe duke i prere nje arterie. Por ai nuk ka ndaluar ketu, e ka goditur dhe kater here te tjera. Kete radhe, nje here ne shpatull, dy here ne shpine dhe nje here ne bark, duke i sjelle vdekjen e menjehershme. Por duke pare se cfare kishte bere dhe pse ishte i pire ka qelluar veten e tij nje here ne bark. Por zhurma e bere, fqinjet dhe femijet kishin njoftuar policine, nderkohe qe kane marre 40-vjecarin dhe e kane derguar ne Spitalin Ushtarak. Aty ai i eshte nenshtruar nderhyrjes mjekesore dhe eshte derguar ne nje dhome te vecuar ku eshte nen ruajtjen e policise.
Ngjarja
Krimi ndodhi ne nje banese ne periferi te Tiranes, ne familjen Zhllima ne kryeqytet, kur 40-vjecari, Shpetim Zhllima vrau me thike gruan e tij Nafijen. Te dhenat e para hetimore per ngjarjen, tregojne se burri kishte mberritur gjate nates ne gjendje te dehur dhe ne keto kushte kishte nisur ne debat me te shoqen.
Familja Zhllima dhe jetesa e kater pjestareve
Tek NISH-Tulla e ardhur nga fshatrat e Tiranes
TIRANE - Familja Zhllima kishte disa vite qe jetonte ne ate shtepi, pasi kishin ardhur nga fshatrat e Tiranes. 40-vjecari Shpetim Zhllima, ishte i papune, por gjate disa periudhave te vitit shkonte emigrant ne vendet fqinje me qellim qe te siguronte te ardhurat per familjen. Nga martesa e tyre, Shpetim dhe Nafije Zhllima kishin dy femije, te cilet ne diten e ngjarjes kane qene ne shtepi dhe kane pare e degjuar gati te gjithe ngjarjen. Fqinjet e familjes Zhllima kane bere te ditur per Policine e Tiranes se, viktima e djeshme ka qene nje grua shume e mire dhe e respektuar nga banoret e zones. Nderkohe qe dhe per 40-vjecarin ata kane thene fjale te mira. Sipas tyre, Shpetimi mundohej te punonte qe te siguronte te ardhurat per familjen e tij. Nderkohe qe viktima, Nafije Zhllima, 32 vjece, rrinte ne shtepi dhe kujdesej per femijet e saj, te cilet shkonin ne shkolle. Cifti kishte disa vite qe ishte martuar dhe sipas te dhenave, kishte problemet qe i ka cdo familje shqiptare.
I arrestuari i dites se djeshme, si i dyshuar per vrasjen e bashkeshortes se tij, 40-vjecari Shpetim Zhllima, ishte i papune, por gjate disa periudhave te vitit shkonte emigrant ne vendet fqinje me qellim qe te siguronte te ardhurat per familjen.
This is my Albania. A country of men who terrorize women!
Xhelozia, pret gruan ne qafe (marre nga www.kohajone.com)
Artan Cena
E Hene, 19 Janar 2009
TIRANE - Xhelozia dhe alkooli ia kane marre jeten nje gruaje mengjesin e djeshem ne Tirane, kur burri i saj e ka qelluar per vdekje. 40-vjecari Shpetim Zhllima i ka marre jeten bashkeshortes se tij, 32-vjecare Nafijen Zhllima dhe me pas ka tentuar ti jape fund he jetes se tij, duke u veteqelluar ne bark. Ngjarja e rende ka ndodhur ne nje banese ne vendin e quajtur NISH-Tulla 3, ne periferi te kryeqytetit. Vrasja mesohet te kete ndodhur rreth ores 02:00, te mengjesit te djeshem, kur 40-vjecari ka shkuar ne shtepi i dehur. Dy bashkeshortet kane debatuar me njeri-tjetrin. Gjate sherrit, i dyshuari per vrasjen, ka marre thiken e kuzhines dhe ka qelluar pese here gruan e tij, duke i prere qafen e goditur ne pjese te ndryshme te trupit. 32-vjecarja ka nderruar jete menjehere nderkohe qe autori i dyshuar eshte derguar ne Spitalin Ushtarak, ku ndodhet nen kujdesin e mjekeve dhe ruajtjen e policise, pasi eshte vene nen akuzen e vrasjes.
Zenka
Hallet e familjes dhe fakti se, burri i saj pinte cdo dite ka bere qe 32-vjecarja te debatonte me bashkeshortin. Por kjo gje i ka kushtuar shume asaj. Pasi kishin debatuar gjate pasdites, Shpetim Zhllima kishte dale nga shtepia dhe ka shkuar tek lokali i lagjes. Aty se bashku me shoke e miq, kishte filluar qe te pinte. Kjo gje ka vazhduar deri vone pas mesit te nates. Rreth ores 02:00, te mengjesit te djeshem ai ka shkuar ne shtepi. Cifti Zhllima kishte dy femije, qe ne ate moment ishin duke fjetur ne dhomen e gjumit. Por bashkeshortja e 40-vjecarit, ishte zgjuar. Aty ka nisur dhe sherri qe solli vdekjen e saj.
Vrasja
Nafije Zhllima e kishte pritur burrin e saj, qe ishte larguar qe ne dreke. Sapo ka ardhur ne dere ka filluar debati mes tyre. Por zenka nuk eshte ndaluar. Burre e grua kane filluar te bertasin dhe te zihen. Zeri i larte ka shqetesuar dhe fqinjet e ciftit te cilet kane dale te shikojne por nuk kane mundur qe ndalojne te pashmangshmen. Te dy ata kishin hyre brenda ne banese ne kuzhine. Ne keto momente 40-vjecari Shpetim Zhllima ka rrembyer thiken e bukes dhe i eshte versulur bashkeshortes. Per here te pare e ka goditur ne qafe duke i prere nje arterie. Por ai nuk ka ndaluar ketu, e ka goditur dhe kater here te tjera. Kete radhe, nje here ne shpatull, dy here ne shpine dhe nje here ne bark, duke i sjelle vdekjen e menjehershme. Por duke pare se cfare kishte bere dhe pse ishte i pire ka qelluar veten e tij nje here ne bark. Por zhurma e bere, fqinjet dhe femijet kishin njoftuar policine, nderkohe qe kane marre 40-vjecarin dhe e kane derguar ne Spitalin Ushtarak. Aty ai i eshte nenshtruar nderhyrjes mjekesore dhe eshte derguar ne nje dhome te vecuar ku eshte nen ruajtjen e policise.
Ngjarja
Krimi ndodhi ne nje banese ne periferi te Tiranes, ne familjen Zhllima ne kryeqytet, kur 40-vjecari, Shpetim Zhllima vrau me thike gruan e tij Nafijen. Te dhenat e para hetimore per ngjarjen, tregojne se burri kishte mberritur gjate nates ne gjendje te dehur dhe ne keto kushte kishte nisur ne debat me te shoqen.
Familja Zhllima dhe jetesa e kater pjestareve
Tek NISH-Tulla e ardhur nga fshatrat e Tiranes
TIRANE - Familja Zhllima kishte disa vite qe jetonte ne ate shtepi, pasi kishin ardhur nga fshatrat e Tiranes. 40-vjecari Shpetim Zhllima, ishte i papune, por gjate disa periudhave te vitit shkonte emigrant ne vendet fqinje me qellim qe te siguronte te ardhurat per familjen. Nga martesa e tyre, Shpetim dhe Nafije Zhllima kishin dy femije, te cilet ne diten e ngjarjes kane qene ne shtepi dhe kane pare e degjuar gati te gjithe ngjarjen. Fqinjet e familjes Zhllima kane bere te ditur per Policine e Tiranes se, viktima e djeshme ka qene nje grua shume e mire dhe e respektuar nga banoret e zones. Nderkohe qe dhe per 40-vjecarin ata kane thene fjale te mira. Sipas tyre, Shpetimi mundohej te punonte qe te siguronte te ardhurat per familjen e tij. Nderkohe qe viktima, Nafije Zhllima, 32 vjece, rrinte ne shtepi dhe kujdesej per femijet e saj, te cilet shkonin ne shkolle. Cifti kishte disa vite qe ishte martuar dhe sipas te dhenave, kishte problemet qe i ka cdo familje shqiptare.
I arrestuari i dites se djeshme, si i dyshuar per vrasjen e bashkeshortes se tij, 40-vjecari Shpetim Zhllima, ishte i papune, por gjate disa periudhave te vitit shkonte emigrant ne vendet fqinje me qellim qe te siguronte te ardhurat per familjen.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Albanian Brides Revive Serbia’s Dying Villages
Albanian Brides Revive Serbia’s Dying Villages
| 08 January 2009 | By Zoran Maksimovic in Novi Pazar
In the depopulated rural Sandzak region, Serbian bachelors are learning that love – and the hope of family life – comes from northern Albania.
The village of Budjevo, on the high Pester plains of Serbia’s Sandzak region, is a desolate place, with winter temperatures plunging down as far as minus -40oC.
But the air of emptiness and abandonment may be changing at last. Little Milos Matovic, the first baby born in the village for many years, is now a year old, and Budjevo has welcomed several more children into its ranks in recent months.
There is nothing unusual, perhaps, in local bachelors getting married and starting families.
What is more unusual, given the traditional intolerance in the Balkans between Serbs and Albanians, is that several recent marriages in this village have been mixed, with Serbian grooms marrying Albanian brides.
The villagers insist that it doesn’t matter that the brides come from northern Albania. The important thing is for local boys to get married and have children.
Little Milos is himself the fruit of one of these mixed marriages. His father, Radeta Matovic, is a well known local Serb, while his mother, Vera, comes from a village in northern Albania, near Shkoder.
Vera is still learning Serbian, while Radeta has learned a few words in Albanian too.
Until recently, the only words Vera could say in Serbian were “fine” or “great” and she mainly communicated with her husband through hand gestures. Today, she speaks more fluently to her husband, though in Serbian that is still clumsy.
“Communicating is not a problem,” says Radeta. “Vera has adjusted as if she was born here. Now we do all the chores around the house together.”
Marriages like Radeta’s and Vera’s are becoming increasingly frequent in the remote corner of south-west Serbia known as the Sandzak, or Raska, region.
Apparently, about 80 such marriages have taken place in the last two years alone between Serbian bachelors and Albanians brides.
Though well aware that relations between Serbs and Albanians are usually poor, in this area, circumstances have forced people to think differently. Most local Serbs applaud the phenomenon, though a minority fear the practice of marrying Albanian women could lead to the area becoming “Albanianised”.
The stories of most of the grooms are similar. The local girls leave the villages to go to school and then find jobs in the cities and stay there.
The boys, on the other hand, remain at home, obliged to help their parents, and eventually inheriting the pastures herds. But the ageing parents of those men have only one wish, which is to see grandchildren and know their farms and households will not end up abandoned.
As for the Albanian girls, they, too, often lack suitable partners for marriage in their home district. Poverty forces most village boys around Shkoder to depart to work in Greece or other countries. They often marry there and remain abroad. That is how a similar fate has connected boys from south-west Serbia with girls from northern Albania.
Brides usually meet their future husbands in one of the villages near Shkoder. After, the parents of the brides-to-be go to check up on where their daughters will live.
“The boys from our villages go to Greece to work and also get married there, so we don’t really have a choice,” one Albanian bride explained. “We want husbands, kids, and family harmony.”
Aferdita Crnisanin, the only court interpreter in the Raska area who speaks Albanian, told Balkan Insight that she had attended the weddings of more than 20 such couples, mostly in the municipalities of Novi Pazar, Sjenica and Tutin.
Crnisanin admits that most of the brides do not speak a word of Serbian on their wedding day, but says that clearly does not represent an obstacle. “The good thing about it is that everyone is satisfied in these cases,” she said.
She says some marriageable girls come to Serbia for a “test” period to live in their new home for a couple of months, and only then get married. According to her, there has not been a single divorce so far as a result of these mixed marriages, which speaks about the practice.
Radisa Savic, a Serb from Sopocani, says his wife did not need a test run. His home yearned for a woman’s touch, he says. He had lived with his father for years until an Albanian named Pamvera agreed to marry him. “She is so hard-working that I couldn’t get on without her now,” Savic said.
Semiha Kacar, president of the Sandzak Committee for Protection of Human Rights, says the recent spate of local mixed marriages is helping to keep struggling villages alive.
“It’s good that rural households do not fold, because the migration of the population from the villages to the cities is very pronounced,” she said.
Kacar notes that women from villages in this part of Serbia have been marrying for centuries without knowing much about their future husbands. Such decisions were in the hands of family elders, so the fact that brides are marrying boys today that they barely know is nothing unusual.
The idea to find wives for local bachelors was originally promoted by the humanitarian organisation Stara Raska (Old Raska), which is based in Belgrade.
Mainly financed by the Serbian community in Canada, Stara Raska is trying to counter the effects of depopulation and the rural flight of Serbs from this part of the country.
“There are several thousand Serbian Orthodox bachelors aged between 25 and 45 in this region but ‘the white plague’ [contraception] is having dire consequences, primarily on the Orthodox population, changing the whole demographics in the Raska area,” Vojin Vucicevic, the organisation’s president, said.
“Stara Raska does not undertake a classic matchmaking role but… helps them,” Vucicevic told Balkan Insight.
He said that in the beginning it had been very difficult to set up contacts between local bachelors and marriageable girls from further afield, but now it was easier, thanks to the help of the new Raska wives who have come from Albania.
Vucicevic said that his organisation was expanding its activities. “Having realised the importance of our role in assisting marriages in Sjenica, several months ago we founded the Association of Grooms from Stara Raska, which includes all the mixed marriages,” he said. “Members of this Association will play a crucial role in the creation of new marriages.”
Milinko Rakonjac, from the village of Stavalj, was one of the first in these parts to marry an Albanian. He said he was persuaded to set off to a village near Shkoder by a woman who specialised in matchmaking.
Others groups and individuals, from clergy to local associations, are now also involved. “It is no secret that a priest from these parts is involved in matchmaking,” one local groom who recently married a bride from Albania, said.
The same man said the Association of Serbs and Montenegrins in Albania, which has around 30,000 members in Ljes, Drac, Korca, Elbasan and Tirana, also plays a role in helping to fix up potential life partners.
Not everyone is delighted by the influx of Albanian wives, however. Some believe it will eventually mean the “Albanisation” of the region.
“These Albanian women who marry our people do not speak a word of Serbian and when they have children, their native tongue will be Albanian,” one local complained.
But Stara Raska disagrees, adding that men from the Raska area have no other choice, and this way of choosing their life partner is quite acceptable if it prevents the death of family households.
“Claims about ‘Albanianisation’ are denied by the fact that these women give up Catholicism, take up Orthodoxy, marry in Orthodox churches and give their children Serbian names,” Vucicevic said.
Mirko Popovac, a local journalist, agreed that fears of “Albanianisation” are exaggerated. “This phenomenon is not so widespread that it can endanger the national identity of this part of Serbia,” he said.
He said it was commendable that marriageable girls wanted to live in the Serbian countryside and give birth to children there.
It is not a good thing if marriages are made without love, he went on. However, he added, the fact most families speak highly of the experience proves that these marriages are working out.
| 08 January 2009 | By Zoran Maksimovic in Novi Pazar
In the depopulated rural Sandzak region, Serbian bachelors are learning that love – and the hope of family life – comes from northern Albania.
The village of Budjevo, on the high Pester plains of Serbia’s Sandzak region, is a desolate place, with winter temperatures plunging down as far as minus -40oC.
But the air of emptiness and abandonment may be changing at last. Little Milos Matovic, the first baby born in the village for many years, is now a year old, and Budjevo has welcomed several more children into its ranks in recent months.
There is nothing unusual, perhaps, in local bachelors getting married and starting families.
What is more unusual, given the traditional intolerance in the Balkans between Serbs and Albanians, is that several recent marriages in this village have been mixed, with Serbian grooms marrying Albanian brides.
The villagers insist that it doesn’t matter that the brides come from northern Albania. The important thing is for local boys to get married and have children.
Little Milos is himself the fruit of one of these mixed marriages. His father, Radeta Matovic, is a well known local Serb, while his mother, Vera, comes from a village in northern Albania, near Shkoder.
Vera is still learning Serbian, while Radeta has learned a few words in Albanian too.
Until recently, the only words Vera could say in Serbian were “fine” or “great” and she mainly communicated with her husband through hand gestures. Today, she speaks more fluently to her husband, though in Serbian that is still clumsy.
“Communicating is not a problem,” says Radeta. “Vera has adjusted as if she was born here. Now we do all the chores around the house together.”
Marriages like Radeta’s and Vera’s are becoming increasingly frequent in the remote corner of south-west Serbia known as the Sandzak, or Raska, region.
Apparently, about 80 such marriages have taken place in the last two years alone between Serbian bachelors and Albanians brides.
Though well aware that relations between Serbs and Albanians are usually poor, in this area, circumstances have forced people to think differently. Most local Serbs applaud the phenomenon, though a minority fear the practice of marrying Albanian women could lead to the area becoming “Albanianised”.
The stories of most of the grooms are similar. The local girls leave the villages to go to school and then find jobs in the cities and stay there.
The boys, on the other hand, remain at home, obliged to help their parents, and eventually inheriting the pastures herds. But the ageing parents of those men have only one wish, which is to see grandchildren and know their farms and households will not end up abandoned.
As for the Albanian girls, they, too, often lack suitable partners for marriage in their home district. Poverty forces most village boys around Shkoder to depart to work in Greece or other countries. They often marry there and remain abroad. That is how a similar fate has connected boys from south-west Serbia with girls from northern Albania.
Brides usually meet their future husbands in one of the villages near Shkoder. After, the parents of the brides-to-be go to check up on where their daughters will live.
“The boys from our villages go to Greece to work and also get married there, so we don’t really have a choice,” one Albanian bride explained. “We want husbands, kids, and family harmony.”
Aferdita Crnisanin, the only court interpreter in the Raska area who speaks Albanian, told Balkan Insight that she had attended the weddings of more than 20 such couples, mostly in the municipalities of Novi Pazar, Sjenica and Tutin.
Crnisanin admits that most of the brides do not speak a word of Serbian on their wedding day, but says that clearly does not represent an obstacle. “The good thing about it is that everyone is satisfied in these cases,” she said.
She says some marriageable girls come to Serbia for a “test” period to live in their new home for a couple of months, and only then get married. According to her, there has not been a single divorce so far as a result of these mixed marriages, which speaks about the practice.
Radisa Savic, a Serb from Sopocani, says his wife did not need a test run. His home yearned for a woman’s touch, he says. He had lived with his father for years until an Albanian named Pamvera agreed to marry him. “She is so hard-working that I couldn’t get on without her now,” Savic said.
Semiha Kacar, president of the Sandzak Committee for Protection of Human Rights, says the recent spate of local mixed marriages is helping to keep struggling villages alive.
“It’s good that rural households do not fold, because the migration of the population from the villages to the cities is very pronounced,” she said.
Kacar notes that women from villages in this part of Serbia have been marrying for centuries without knowing much about their future husbands. Such decisions were in the hands of family elders, so the fact that brides are marrying boys today that they barely know is nothing unusual.
The idea to find wives for local bachelors was originally promoted by the humanitarian organisation Stara Raska (Old Raska), which is based in Belgrade.
Mainly financed by the Serbian community in Canada, Stara Raska is trying to counter the effects of depopulation and the rural flight of Serbs from this part of the country.
“There are several thousand Serbian Orthodox bachelors aged between 25 and 45 in this region but ‘the white plague’ [contraception] is having dire consequences, primarily on the Orthodox population, changing the whole demographics in the Raska area,” Vojin Vucicevic, the organisation’s president, said.
“Stara Raska does not undertake a classic matchmaking role but… helps them,” Vucicevic told Balkan Insight.
He said that in the beginning it had been very difficult to set up contacts between local bachelors and marriageable girls from further afield, but now it was easier, thanks to the help of the new Raska wives who have come from Albania.
Vucicevic said that his organisation was expanding its activities. “Having realised the importance of our role in assisting marriages in Sjenica, several months ago we founded the Association of Grooms from Stara Raska, which includes all the mixed marriages,” he said. “Members of this Association will play a crucial role in the creation of new marriages.”
Milinko Rakonjac, from the village of Stavalj, was one of the first in these parts to marry an Albanian. He said he was persuaded to set off to a village near Shkoder by a woman who specialised in matchmaking.
Others groups and individuals, from clergy to local associations, are now also involved. “It is no secret that a priest from these parts is involved in matchmaking,” one local groom who recently married a bride from Albania, said.
The same man said the Association of Serbs and Montenegrins in Albania, which has around 30,000 members in Ljes, Drac, Korca, Elbasan and Tirana, also plays a role in helping to fix up potential life partners.
Not everyone is delighted by the influx of Albanian wives, however. Some believe it will eventually mean the “Albanisation” of the region.
“These Albanian women who marry our people do not speak a word of Serbian and when they have children, their native tongue will be Albanian,” one local complained.
But Stara Raska disagrees, adding that men from the Raska area have no other choice, and this way of choosing their life partner is quite acceptable if it prevents the death of family households.
“Claims about ‘Albanianisation’ are denied by the fact that these women give up Catholicism, take up Orthodoxy, marry in Orthodox churches and give their children Serbian names,” Vucicevic said.
Mirko Popovac, a local journalist, agreed that fears of “Albanianisation” are exaggerated. “This phenomenon is not so widespread that it can endanger the national identity of this part of Serbia,” he said.
He said it was commendable that marriageable girls wanted to live in the Serbian countryside and give birth to children there.
It is not a good thing if marriages are made without love, he went on. However, he added, the fact most families speak highly of the experience proves that these marriages are working out.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
" I killed my mother because she pissed me off"
The following article is taken from www.kohajone.com,published on 01,11,2009. This is another case of domestic violence in Albania.
The son kills his mother, age 58, with a Kallashnikov (machine gun) because she pissed him off.
"Nenen e vrara pasi me nervozoi"
E Diele, 11 Janar 2009
Tirane- "E vrava pasi me nevrikosi". Keshtu ka deklaruar dje para oficereve te Policise Gjyqesore 38 vjecari Viktor Prendi. Sipas burimeve nga policia, viktima Dile Prendi 58 vjece, kishte pasur debate te herepashershme me te birin. Debatet kohet e fundit ishin perqendruar rreth humbjes se te atit, te 38 vjecarit, i cili kishte nderruar jete 10 dite me pare. Per kete, djali fajesonte te emen, nderkohe qe ajo e akuzonte ate si te paqendrueshem. Nga ana tjeter, burimet nga policia bene me dije se Viktor Prendi ishte martuar tre here dhe kishte dy femije, nje djale dhe nje vajze me dy ish-bashkeshortet e tij. Sipas te dhenave, keto ndarje te shpeshta te tij, kane qene shkaqet e zenkave mes te emes dhe djalit te saj. Ngjarja per te cilen akuzohet i riu, ka ndodhur rreth ores 19:30 te dy diteve me pare. 38 vjecari pas nje zenke te radhes me nenen e tij, ka marre automatikun e llojit "Kallashnikov" dhe e ka qelluar ate, duke i shkaktuar vdekjen e menjehershme. Pas krimit 38 vjecari eshte larguar me vrap me qellim qe t'i shpetonte policise, por 30 minuta me pas, ra ne pranga. Diten e sotme i arrestuari, pritet qe te njihet me masen e sigurise.
Grabitja me arme
Vrasja
The son kills his mother, age 58, with a Kallashnikov (machine gun) because she pissed him off.
"Nenen e vrara pasi me nervozoi"
E Diele, 11 Janar 2009
Tirane- "E vrava pasi me nevrikosi". Keshtu ka deklaruar dje para oficereve te Policise Gjyqesore 38 vjecari Viktor Prendi. Sipas burimeve nga policia, viktima Dile Prendi 58 vjece, kishte pasur debate te herepashershme me te birin. Debatet kohet e fundit ishin perqendruar rreth humbjes se te atit, te 38 vjecarit, i cili kishte nderruar jete 10 dite me pare. Per kete, djali fajesonte te emen, nderkohe qe ajo e akuzonte ate si te paqendrueshem. Nga ana tjeter, burimet nga policia bene me dije se Viktor Prendi ishte martuar tre here dhe kishte dy femije, nje djale dhe nje vajze me dy ish-bashkeshortet e tij. Sipas te dhenave, keto ndarje te shpeshta te tij, kane qene shkaqet e zenkave mes te emes dhe djalit te saj. Ngjarja per te cilen akuzohet i riu, ka ndodhur rreth ores 19:30 te dy diteve me pare. 38 vjecari pas nje zenke te radhes me nenen e tij, ka marre automatikun e llojit "Kallashnikov" dhe e ka qelluar ate, duke i shkaktuar vdekjen e menjehershme. Pas krimit 38 vjecari eshte larguar me vrap me qellim qe t'i shpetonte policise, por 30 minuta me pas, ra ne pranga. Diten e sotme i arrestuari, pritet qe te njihet me masen e sigurise.
Grabitja me arme
Vrasja
Domestic Vioence Cases published in Albanian Newspapers!
Domestic violence in Albania is rampant. Almost every week, a woman will be killed by her husband, father or brother. It happens so often that even a gruesome crime scene will not grab the attention of the public anymore. The motivations behind the killings are a reflection of the Albanian patriarchal society where the woman is considered and treated as property. Domestic violence in Albania is a form of suppression that keeps women "in their place". Of course, such degree of violence varies from region to region. However, not a single woman in Albania escapes the suffocating patriarchal mentality of our society. It is present everywhere. The goal of my project is to keep track of all the cases of domestic violence that are published in the newspapers with the long term purpose of bringing more attention to this tragic reality of Albanian women.
The article below is taken from www.kohajone.com published on 12, 01, 2009. The highlighted portion says:
"Another event happened in Bathore, where Elisabeta Hasa hung herself because her husband abused her physically. Besnik Hasa (her husband) is in Jail now".
Very often, the Albanian newspapers, our politicians and perhaps the Albanian middle class attempt to portray the problem of domestic violence as one that occurs only in the poor rural families, mostly in the northern mountainous region of Albania. Such claim goes hand in hand with our prejudice. What is our prejudice? Our prejudice against northern Albanians is similar to that of racism in America. Like in America where some whites think that blacks are dumb, violent and deserve less, so do Albanians think of their northern brethren. According to some Albanians, northerners are "Malok". Malok is a derogatory term similar to that of "Nigger". A Malok is dumb, violent and is less deserving than the rest of non-Malok. It is considered a normal event when a Malok beats his wife or sister. It is not an attention grabber and usually the most one will say is: It is a malok thing." The truth is that a woman who gets physically abused by a Malok suffers in the same way like any other woman in Albania. To some, that woman probably deserved it!
Notice in the article below, that the writer makes sure to mention where the event occurred. The event occurred in Bathore. Bathore is a poor neighborhood of Tirana, mostly inhabited by "Maloks". As you will see in other articles, if the domestic violence event occurred within Tirana, the newsman will point to the place of birth of the victim or the abuser. This is a way of telling the reader: Those "Maloks" again. Somehow, it conveys the idea that domestic violence among "Malok" families is not an Albanian problem. It is only a malok problem. The truth is that domestic violence happens everywhere in Albania, geographically and socially. It is just a matter of exposure!
E Hene, 12 Janar 2009
TIRANE - Ndersa vrasja e ndodhur mbreme ne Durres, ka qene e fundit per ditet e para te janarit, ne Tirane, keto ngjarje kane sjelle, jo pak por gjashte viktima. Pese vrasje kane ndodhur vetem per me pak se 14 dite. Qe nga vrasja e Elton dhe Flutura Deliut, te ndodhur ne ditet e fundit te dhjetorit te 2008, ne kryeqytet dhe kater persona te tjere kane gjetur vdekje ne krime te ketij lloji. Dy vrasjet me te fundit u shenuan brenda 24 oreve. Petrit Pjetri u qellua nga pronari i kompleksit "Llanaj", ne Unazen e re, ku kishte hyre per te kryer grabitje. Ndersa, pak ore me pare, Viktor Prendi kishte qelluar per vdekje nenen e tij, Dile Prendi pas nje grindjeje per motive te dobeta. Djegia ne makinen e taksistit Ramazan Hyka, ishte nje tjeter krim qe ngriti ne kembe mbare policine. Ngjarja e radhes u shenua ne Bathore, kur Elisabeta Hasa u vetevar pasi i shoqi e keqtrajtonte dhe dhunonte fizikisht. Besnik Hasa ndodhet tashme ne qeli.
The article below is taken from www.kohajone.com published on 12, 01, 2009. The highlighted portion says:
"Another event happened in Bathore, where Elisabeta Hasa hung herself because her husband abused her physically. Besnik Hasa (her husband) is in Jail now".
Very often, the Albanian newspapers, our politicians and perhaps the Albanian middle class attempt to portray the problem of domestic violence as one that occurs only in the poor rural families, mostly in the northern mountainous region of Albania. Such claim goes hand in hand with our prejudice. What is our prejudice? Our prejudice against northern Albanians is similar to that of racism in America. Like in America where some whites think that blacks are dumb, violent and deserve less, so do Albanians think of their northern brethren. According to some Albanians, northerners are "Malok". Malok is a derogatory term similar to that of "Nigger". A Malok is dumb, violent and is less deserving than the rest of non-Malok. It is considered a normal event when a Malok beats his wife or sister. It is not an attention grabber and usually the most one will say is: It is a malok thing." The truth is that a woman who gets physically abused by a Malok suffers in the same way like any other woman in Albania. To some, that woman probably deserved it!
Notice in the article below, that the writer makes sure to mention where the event occurred. The event occurred in Bathore. Bathore is a poor neighborhood of Tirana, mostly inhabited by "Maloks". As you will see in other articles, if the domestic violence event occurred within Tirana, the newsman will point to the place of birth of the victim or the abuser. This is a way of telling the reader: Those "Maloks" again. Somehow, it conveys the idea that domestic violence among "Malok" families is not an Albanian problem. It is only a malok problem. The truth is that domestic violence happens everywhere in Albania, geographically and socially. It is just a matter of exposure!
E Hene, 12 Janar 2009
TIRANE - Ndersa vrasja e ndodhur mbreme ne Durres, ka qene e fundit per ditet e para te janarit, ne Tirane, keto ngjarje kane sjelle, jo pak por gjashte viktima. Pese vrasje kane ndodhur vetem per me pak se 14 dite. Qe nga vrasja e Elton dhe Flutura Deliut, te ndodhur ne ditet e fundit te dhjetorit te 2008, ne kryeqytet dhe kater persona te tjere kane gjetur vdekje ne krime te ketij lloji. Dy vrasjet me te fundit u shenuan brenda 24 oreve. Petrit Pjetri u qellua nga pronari i kompleksit "Llanaj", ne Unazen e re, ku kishte hyre per te kryer grabitje. Ndersa, pak ore me pare, Viktor Prendi kishte qelluar per vdekje nenen e tij, Dile Prendi pas nje grindjeje per motive te dobeta. Djegia ne makinen e taksistit Ramazan Hyka, ishte nje tjeter krim qe ngriti ne kembe mbare policine. Ngjarja e radhes u shenua ne Bathore, kur Elisabeta Hasa u vetevar pasi i shoqi e keqtrajtonte dhe dhunonte fizikisht. Besnik Hasa ndodhet tashme ne qeli.
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