In mass shooting, hues of Albania’s systemic ills

MP resigns after police arrest son as author of nightclub shooting that killed four. Charged with four murders in this week’s shooting, Kostandin Xhuvani, had served less than two years in prison for killing another man in 2011.
TIRANA, Nov. 5 – By the time authorities tallied up the death toll in a shooting at a nightclub in Tirana early Tuesday, four people had died and three suspected assailants were arrested.
But prosecutors now believe there was a single shooter — Kostandin Xhuvani — a name that has both shocked and angered the Albanian public. The son of a prominent Socialist member of parliament, he had already been convicted in another killing in 2011, only to be set free after a short prison sentence, which many commentators at the time saw as application of double standards for the well-connected and the powerful.
The MP, Luiza Xhuvani, resigned in tears at a press conference Tuesday night, flanked by Prime Minister Edi Rama, who had earlier been pelted with a torrent of angry comments on social media seeking the MP’s resignation and accountability for those responsible for the shooter’s light sentence in the earlier killing.
He responded with a scripted press conference, declaring the justice would be done and that the law is equal to all. He also said he was a personal friend of the parents of the shooter but that he intended to end double standards that had been applied in the past by previous governments.
Victims included former peacekeeper, Italian businessman
Three Albanian men, aged between 19 and 38, and a 55-year-old Italian were shot dead at the underground nightclub about 100 meters away from the U.S. embassy and Tirana University’s social sciences campus.
The dead included Edison Jaho, 36, a father of two and a retired army corporal who had served in peacekeeping missions in Iraq, Afghanistan and Chad. Enea Xhaj, Jaho’s friend, was also killed. They appear to have been the primary targets of Kostandin Xhuvani after a short drunken bar fight, according to several witnesses who spoke to the local media.
Giampaolo Azzola, a 55-year-old Italian, had been a business owner in Albania for several years and appeared to have been shot as a bystander in the club. Arber Demiraj, 19, was sitting in the table of the assailant and appears to have been shot by mistake by his companion as he was trying to break the fight.
There were mixed reports about what precipitated the 4 a.m. shooting, but there appears to have been a disagreement between two neighboring tables at the Ante Grand live music club in the basement of an old apartment block on Elbasan Street. Some witnesses told the Albanian media the victims and assailants had been on friendly terms earlier in the night. But the relationship had turned sour later in the night, and at one point after a confrontation, Kostandin Xhuvani had left to return with a gun, several witnesses told the Albanian press.
Police believe heavy use of alcohol and possibly drugs was involved.
Police arrested three people and seized two handguns immediately after shootings. One was released the next day after being cleared by the investigation.
Police said Kostandin Xhuvani was arrested, handgun still in his hand, as he tried to flee the scene. He offered some resistance before he was handcuffed, police said. Also arrested on the scene was his companion, Erald Sida, who faces charges relating to the shooting.
Prosecutors said they believe Xhuvani to be the sole shooter and several witnesses interviewed by local media back that version of events.
He has been charged with four murder counts, facing a minimum of 20 years in prison and up to life imprisonment. Albania has abolished the death penalty.
Anger over light 2011 conviction
Kostandin Xhuvani, 25, had already been known to the Albanian public and authorities after killing another young man in 2011, being on the run for three months and then surrendering to police. He then received a three-year sentence and served about half that time in prison before being freed again.
Members of the public took to the social media expressing anger of the murders and the light sentence that Kostandin Xhuvani has received.
They believe he received preferential treatment as the son of a famous movie director, Gjergj Xhuvani, and Luiza Xhuvani, an actress and a member of parliament for the past five years.
The anger has related to the fact that had Kostandin been given a longer sentence he would not be out to kill again.
“He should have been in prison,” said Pertef Musabelliu, the father of one of the victims. “He killed in cold blood.”
Speaking to a local newspaper, Gazeta Shqiptare, the distraught father said he doesn’t believe that there will be no political interference in the case, calling on prosecutors and judges to “bring him to full justice.”
MP resigns following son’s arrest
Luiza Xhuvani appeared in a live press conference Tuesday night, distraught and in tears, flanked by Prime Minister Edi Rama, saying she was resigning her seat in parliament to avoid any further perception of special treatment for her son, who now faces life imprisonment if found guilty of all charges.
“As a mother, with the conviction that justice must be done, even when it comes to your son, and to remove any alibis for everyone, I am unable to continue to represent the area that elected me [to parliament], and apologizing, I presented the prime minister and Socialist Party leader, my resignation as a Saranda region MP,” Luiza Xhuvani said. “There are four families that today mourn the loss of their loved ones, seeking justice, and justice needs to do its job, justice must treat all equal before the law.”
Opposition politicians said they appreciated the resignation as the moral thing to do, but they accused the police and Ministry of Interior of not doing enough to prevent the shooting, saying they had provided protection for the MP’s son, who had a clear criminal background and had had several incidents since his conviction and he was still allowed to move about in public with a weapon.
Prime Minister Rama said he considered the shooter’s parents personal friends, but added that “the idea of created over the years that there is one law for the children of common folks and another for politicians” ended in the last elections.
He said there would be no political protection for the accused and added that the fact that police acted quickly to apprehend the suspected shooters was an indication that law enforcement authorities were on top of the job they were assigned to do.
Calls to close 24-hours bars
There has been a call on authorities to curtail the activities of 24-hour bars like the one where the shooting happened, due to the loud music use and the trend of drugs and prostitution associated with them.
The club in question was a tallava pop-folk live music location, and both the victims and charged aggressors were regulars, local media reported.
The locale had the right permits to operate a 24-hour club, the owners told the media, adding it was their security personnel that notified and helped the police to locate the shooters.
But local residents told the media the bar had a history of noise, public drunkenness and prostitution.