[Nel Kosovo "liberato dall'oppressore serbo-jugoslavo" - e cioe', di
fatto, occupato militarmente dagli stranieri e ridotto a protettorato
NATO - rifiorisce l'antica, davvero barbara tradizione della faida tra
famiglie. Come nella Calabria di 20 anni fa, insomma... Una tradizione
che i governi socialisti avevano debellato, in Jugoslavia come anche
ovviamente in Albania, ma che oggi rinasce in un contesto di violenza,
bigottismo e patriarcato. Fonte: il notiziario antijugoslavo IWPR]
IWPR'S BALKAN CRISIS REPORT, No. 481, February 20, 2004
BLOOD FEUDS REVIVE IN UNSTABLE KOSOVO
Rise in "Honour killings" blamed on collapse of respect for law and
order.
By Fatos Bytyci in Gjakova
There are no signs of life outside the Murati house in Duzhnje village
in south-west Kosovo. The windows are closed and there are no
footprints in the snow in the front of the door.
Sixty-year-old Osman Murati opens the main gate only enough to put his
head out and see who is knocking. He fears people might be out to shoot
him as an "honour killing" to avenge the double murder recently
committed by his 20-year-old son Valon.
Honour killings are deeply rooted in Albanian society and were given
formal recognition in the collection of medieval tribal laws known as
the "Canon of Lekë Dukagjini". This states that "if one man kills
another, a male member of the victim's family must respond in kind".
In the communist era, blood feuds were relatively rare among Albanians
either in Kosovo or Albania. But after the turmoil of the 1990s, the
ideas contained in Leke's canon revived, first in the chaos of
post-communist Albania and then in neighbouring Kosovo, too, after the
NATO strikes and withdrawal of Serbian forces.
For more than three months, neither Valon Murati, nor his brother,
father and grandfather have stirred from their home out of fear that
the murders might incurr a vendetta.
The killings occured on November 10 when Valon, a member of the Kosovo
Police Service, KPS, in Gjakova, shot dead Sadik and Safedin Zeneli,
aged 55 and 30 respectively, while returning from work. The victims
were Veton's cousins and came from the same village.
Isak Zeneli heard the shots. "I saw two people lying on the ground," he
recalled. "Valon was running towrads the village street shouting 'I
have killed two people'.''
While awaiting trial, Murati has been released on bail. The Zeneli
family is furious and believes Murati was released because he was a KPS
officer. Now they are threatening to take the law into their own hands.
Sadik Dobruna, their lawyer, says the court acted foolishly. "This
decision has put the suspect in great danger," he said. "It will do him
more harm than good."
Xhafer Zeneli, Sadik's brother, has not dispelled suspicions that the
family may take revenge on Valon Murati. "There is no justice in
Kosovo," he said. "He murdered my brother and yet he is free. Sadik has
many sons in Germany. They may take revenge when they return."
Under the Canon of Lekë Dukagjini, a murderer must request security
from the victim's family - in the form of a word of honour known as
"besa" - that he will not be shot if he steps outside his home.
In Murati's case, the deceased's family has refused to subscribe to
such a pledge, leaving the men of the Murati family wondereing if they
will be victims of a vendetta killing.
Valon fears precisely such an outcome. Appearing at his front door, he
insists he shot the two men in self-defence and urges the Zelenis to
understand. "How can I convince them I was attacked and only defended
myself?" he asked.
From the end of the war in Kosovo in 1999 until late 2003, Kosovo
recorded around 40 murders related to blood feuds, according to the
Council for the Defence of Human Rights and Freedoms, KLMDNJ.
"Cases of blood vengenance are reappearing as a consequence of the poor
functioning of law and order and the institutions that regulate the
law," said Pajazit Nushi, the council's president.
Some local experts blame the legal and political vacuum that has
prevailed since 1999, when Serb officialdom withdrew, and the
international community proved reluctant to hand power to Kosovo
Albanian institutions that might assert their independence. The legal
system itself, including judges, public prosecutors and police, is
widely viewed as corrupt and open to intimidation.
As murders go unpunished, many people openly say neither the law nor
the courts deserve respect. In November 2002, Radio Television Kosovo
broadcast a crime programme in which a father whose son was murdered
warned that if killers were not punished "we will solve the issue
without police according to the Canon (of Leke)".
From 1990 to 1997, hundreds of families involved in bloodfeuds were
reconciled through a mass campaign initiated by the late Anton Cetta, a
retired professor from the University of Pristina. Cetta toured
hundreds of villages, convincing men to forget their family feuds and
organising ceremonies of reconciliation that featured feasting, music
and dance.
It was tough work. Cetta said at the time, "It is not easy for families
required to draw blood to forgive, because for many centuries, families
who did not take vengeance were considered cowards." But they were
helped by a widespread feeling that Albanians needed to unite against
the Serbian government.
That feeling has not survived the transition to a new century or the
departure of the Serbs. "Many people who became reconciled in the 1990s
have become enemies again and restarted the old family blood feud,"
said Pajazit Nushi said.
Sadik Dobruna says that members of the Zeneli family are not after a
blood feud, if justice can be seen to be done. But there is a veiled
warning, when he adds, "If the court takes the side of the police
officer, then the situation might change."
Fatos Bytyci is a journalist with Radio Television Kosova, RTK.
(...) Balkan Crisis Report is supported by the Department for
International Development, the European Commission, the Swedish
International Development and Cooperation Agency, The Netherlands
Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and other funders. IWPR also acknowledges
general support from the Ford Foundation. (...) For further details on
this project, other information services and media programmes, visit
IWPR's website: www.iwpr.net (...)
Editor-in-Chief: Anthony Borden; Managing Editor: Yigal Chazan;
Associate Editor: Gordana Igric; Senior Editor: John MacLeod; Editor:
Alison Freebairn; Editor/Trainer: Marcus Tanner; Assistant Editor:
Dragana Nikolic-Solomon; Translation: Alban Mitrushi and others.
The Institute for War & Peace Reporting is a London-based independent
non-profit organisation supporting regional media and democratic change.
Lancaster House, 33 Islington High Street, London N1 9LH, United
Kingdom. Tel: +44 (0)20 7713 7130, Fax: +44 (0)20 7713 7140 E-mail:
info@... Web: www.iwpr.net
The opinions expressed in Balkan Crisis Report are those of the authors
and do not necessarily represent those of the publication or of IWPR.
ISSN: 1477-7932 Copyright (c) 2004 The Institute for War & Peace
Reporting
BALKAN CRISIS REPORT No. 481
fatto, occupato militarmente dagli stranieri e ridotto a protettorato
NATO - rifiorisce l'antica, davvero barbara tradizione della faida tra
famiglie. Come nella Calabria di 20 anni fa, insomma... Una tradizione
che i governi socialisti avevano debellato, in Jugoslavia come anche
ovviamente in Albania, ma che oggi rinasce in un contesto di violenza,
bigottismo e patriarcato. Fonte: il notiziario antijugoslavo IWPR]
IWPR'S BALKAN CRISIS REPORT, No. 481, February 20, 2004
BLOOD FEUDS REVIVE IN UNSTABLE KOSOVO
Rise in "Honour killings" blamed on collapse of respect for law and
order.
By Fatos Bytyci in Gjakova
There are no signs of life outside the Murati house in Duzhnje village
in south-west Kosovo. The windows are closed and there are no
footprints in the snow in the front of the door.
Sixty-year-old Osman Murati opens the main gate only enough to put his
head out and see who is knocking. He fears people might be out to shoot
him as an "honour killing" to avenge the double murder recently
committed by his 20-year-old son Valon.
Honour killings are deeply rooted in Albanian society and were given
formal recognition in the collection of medieval tribal laws known as
the "Canon of Lekë Dukagjini". This states that "if one man kills
another, a male member of the victim's family must respond in kind".
In the communist era, blood feuds were relatively rare among Albanians
either in Kosovo or Albania. But after the turmoil of the 1990s, the
ideas contained in Leke's canon revived, first in the chaos of
post-communist Albania and then in neighbouring Kosovo, too, after the
NATO strikes and withdrawal of Serbian forces.
For more than three months, neither Valon Murati, nor his brother,
father and grandfather have stirred from their home out of fear that
the murders might incurr a vendetta.
The killings occured on November 10 when Valon, a member of the Kosovo
Police Service, KPS, in Gjakova, shot dead Sadik and Safedin Zeneli,
aged 55 and 30 respectively, while returning from work. The victims
were Veton's cousins and came from the same village.
Isak Zeneli heard the shots. "I saw two people lying on the ground," he
recalled. "Valon was running towrads the village street shouting 'I
have killed two people'.''
While awaiting trial, Murati has been released on bail. The Zeneli
family is furious and believes Murati was released because he was a KPS
officer. Now they are threatening to take the law into their own hands.
Sadik Dobruna, their lawyer, says the court acted foolishly. "This
decision has put the suspect in great danger," he said. "It will do him
more harm than good."
Xhafer Zeneli, Sadik's brother, has not dispelled suspicions that the
family may take revenge on Valon Murati. "There is no justice in
Kosovo," he said. "He murdered my brother and yet he is free. Sadik has
many sons in Germany. They may take revenge when they return."
Under the Canon of Lekë Dukagjini, a murderer must request security
from the victim's family - in the form of a word of honour known as
"besa" - that he will not be shot if he steps outside his home.
In Murati's case, the deceased's family has refused to subscribe to
such a pledge, leaving the men of the Murati family wondereing if they
will be victims of a vendetta killing.
Valon fears precisely such an outcome. Appearing at his front door, he
insists he shot the two men in self-defence and urges the Zelenis to
understand. "How can I convince them I was attacked and only defended
myself?" he asked.
From the end of the war in Kosovo in 1999 until late 2003, Kosovo
recorded around 40 murders related to blood feuds, according to the
Council for the Defence of Human Rights and Freedoms, KLMDNJ.
"Cases of blood vengenance are reappearing as a consequence of the poor
functioning of law and order and the institutions that regulate the
law," said Pajazit Nushi, the council's president.
Some local experts blame the legal and political vacuum that has
prevailed since 1999, when Serb officialdom withdrew, and the
international community proved reluctant to hand power to Kosovo
Albanian institutions that might assert their independence. The legal
system itself, including judges, public prosecutors and police, is
widely viewed as corrupt and open to intimidation.
As murders go unpunished, many people openly say neither the law nor
the courts deserve respect. In November 2002, Radio Television Kosovo
broadcast a crime programme in which a father whose son was murdered
warned that if killers were not punished "we will solve the issue
without police according to the Canon (of Leke)".
From 1990 to 1997, hundreds of families involved in bloodfeuds were
reconciled through a mass campaign initiated by the late Anton Cetta, a
retired professor from the University of Pristina. Cetta toured
hundreds of villages, convincing men to forget their family feuds and
organising ceremonies of reconciliation that featured feasting, music
and dance.
It was tough work. Cetta said at the time, "It is not easy for families
required to draw blood to forgive, because for many centuries, families
who did not take vengeance were considered cowards." But they were
helped by a widespread feeling that Albanians needed to unite against
the Serbian government.
That feeling has not survived the transition to a new century or the
departure of the Serbs. "Many people who became reconciled in the 1990s
have become enemies again and restarted the old family blood feud,"
said Pajazit Nushi said.
Sadik Dobruna says that members of the Zeneli family are not after a
blood feud, if justice can be seen to be done. But there is a veiled
warning, when he adds, "If the court takes the side of the police
officer, then the situation might change."
Fatos Bytyci is a journalist with Radio Television Kosova, RTK.
(...) Balkan Crisis Report is supported by the Department for
International Development, the European Commission, the Swedish
International Development and Cooperation Agency, The Netherlands
Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and other funders. IWPR also acknowledges
general support from the Ford Foundation. (...) For further details on
this project, other information services and media programmes, visit
IWPR's website: www.iwpr.net (...)
Editor-in-Chief: Anthony Borden; Managing Editor: Yigal Chazan;
Associate Editor: Gordana Igric; Senior Editor: John MacLeod; Editor:
Alison Freebairn; Editor/Trainer: Marcus Tanner; Assistant Editor:
Dragana Nikolic-Solomon; Translation: Alban Mitrushi and others.
The Institute for War & Peace Reporting is a London-based independent
non-profit organisation supporting regional media and democratic change.
Lancaster House, 33 Islington High Street, London N1 9LH, United
Kingdom. Tel: +44 (0)20 7713 7130, Fax: +44 (0)20 7713 7140 E-mail:
info@... Web: www.iwpr.net
The opinions expressed in Balkan Crisis Report are those of the authors
and do not necessarily represent those of the publication or of IWPR.
ISSN: 1477-7932 Copyright (c) 2004 The Institute for War & Peace
Reporting
BALKAN CRISIS REPORT No. 481