Blood-feud killing of teen sparks protest

TIRANA, June 21 – A teenager, 17 years old, named Maria was shot dead together with her grandfather from a rival family following a blood vendetta.
She is not the first and unfortunately there seems more may come.
Hundreds of families are blocked, closed at their homes fearing revenge. That follows any murder they have previously done.
But the Albanian Kanun does not include in the vendetta the killing of women, or children.
That doesn’t seem to be a problem anymore.
Families in blood feuds fear not only the murder of their men but also their children.
There seems to be generally a calm attitude by the government and the political parties in general, even those of the opposition.
That has forced civic society, the Alternativa Civile non-governmental organization to hold a gathering Wednesday evening to shout loud to the authorities and the people to give an end to such blood feud cases.
Revenge does not close the problem. Nor it resolves the concern of the affected victimized families.
It is up to the authorities and the whole people to make a major effort and impose on themselves not to refer to blood revenge any more.
The law is there. Authorities should impose its respect and the people should convince themselves that the law resolves their problems, not the weapon.