Blood feuds, “shadow†over Albania
05/07/2011 20:10
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“Ancient blood feuds cast long shadow over hopes for a modern Albania”.
The prestigious British newspaper “The Guardian” mentions the absence of
rule of law, which came after the communist regime, and that obliged
people to implement the rules of the ancient “Kanun”.
Journalist Piotr Smolar and photographer Dan Chung have met a 16-year-old boy, Ismet, Although it is not his real name.
He comes from a village around Shkoder, and is paying for something that has done his father, not him.
After a land property conflict in 2001, his father killed two brothers that lived in the neighboring village.
After committing the crime, Ismet’s brother hid in the mountains. He was trialed in absence and sentenced to prison for life. Right after the sentence, he was arrested.
The justice of the state had had its say, but not private justice – says “The Guardian”, – the family of the author lived in isolation.
For the past 10 years the family of the two murdered brothers has been demanding vengeance, although their grandfather had visited the house of the two brothers and said that there were no problems between the families.
The mediating organizations mention thousands of victims during the transition time.
“The Guardian” writes that Prime Minister Sali Berisha sees things differently, thinking that the “Kanun” has also merits, by acting as a powerful deterrent.
“The higher you go up into the mountains, the further back into the past you travel. The more the spirit of vengeance contaminates the next generation, the more the Kanun loses its original meaning,” the Guardian concludes.
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