TIRANA, Nov. 17 – The brutal murder of an 8-year-old child in Fier County on Tuesday has left Albania reeling and led to calls for the return of the death penalty.
In what appears to be an open-and-shut case, police arrested alleged perpetrator Klodian Çalamani in Grecalli village.
The 39-year-old man who lived next door to the victim has confessed to the crime, according to authorities.
Police zeroed in on Çalamani when a nearby street camera showed the child going into his home and never coming back out.
Police found the body on Tuesday in a shallow grave in the man’s garden. He told police he had used a pickaxe to kill the child that morning.
Much of the anger has been directed at authorities for not doing more earlier as Çalamani has earlier been accused of kidnapping another minor and was known as a violent and problematic person in the community.
Prime Minister Edi Rama issued a statement praising police on the quick capture of the perpetrator and urged prosecutors to seek the most extreme punishment in court.
Opposition Democratic Party leader Lulzim Basha said the monstrous crime is an alarm bell for all structures of the Albanian state, for the police, justice, health and social care systems.
Crimes on minors in Albania have increased in recent years, according to official statistics, and civil society activists urge that more attention is needed on this issue.
Family members and relatives of the victim made several calls on authorities to “hang the murderer,” and debate on social and traditional media included the calls return to the death penalties for the most heinous crimes such as the murder of children.
Albania phased out capital punishment starting with membership in the Council of Europe and then banned it entirely in 2007 in line with European Union law and the European Convention on Human Rights.
Albania carried out its last execution in 1995 for a similar heinous crime, which included the murder of an infant in Fier County.
