In a country where violence is often targeted, a random act of murder-robbery in Tirana has prompted authorities to take tough measures.
TIRANA TIMES
TIRANA, Aug. 9 – The killing in Tirana this week of a 37-year-old woman by knife-yielding teenagers who wanted to steal her purse and jewelry, became the latest in a series of gruesome crimes to hit Albania, sparking concern about the rise of criminality at the peak of the tourist season.
Fatbardha Tafa was out with family members taking a stroll in a neighborhood street when she resisted a robbery by two teenagers with faces obscured by their scooter helmets. She and at least one other family members were stabbed as a result, leaving behind a bloody sidewalk – and a shocked city.
In a country where violence like this is often targeted – criminal on criminal – or as a result of long-running disputes – the randomness of murder through robbery in the middle of the capital shook a nation already on the edge over what seems to be a summer crime wave, featuring some of the most gruesome crimes since the anarchy of the late 1990s.
Police jump to action
Ms. Tafa’s murder in the Fushe e Aviacionit neighborhood and the wounding of her sister, Lumturie Gjana, sparked a massive police operation to capture those responsible, and Tirana law enforcement officials offered a 10,000 euro reward for any information on the alleged robbers.
They proceeded to bring in for questioning hundreds of teens who had previously been arrested by police and charged with various petty crimes.
Law enforcement experts say that in addition to trying to find the authors of this particular crime, Tirana police are also trying to intimidate and find other potential criminals to avoid future crimes, in a method that is often used by their counterparts in other parts of the world.
Social, economic crisis leading to increase in crime
Criminal justice experts and psychologists attribute the rise in crime, particularly among teenagers and young adults, to the economic tough times Albania is going through and an Albanian society paying the price of a long and painful transition which has left behind broken families and kids with limited prospects.
With the Albanian economy in decline, poverty and desperation is likely to increase crimes of this kind, sociologists warn. The rapid urbanization of many parts of the capital as led to social problems related to internal migration and poverty, experts add.
“Long-term neglect from the family and responsible institutions,” has led to “children who show an excessive aggressiveness,” Belioza Coku, a psychologist, told the local media. “We need to put more emphasis on identifying family needs, and the primary needs of the child and setting a corrections program for them.” None of these safety net systems exist in Albania, she added.
Harsher penalties proposed
Albanian police and prosecutors often complain that they do their job, but judges are often lenient in sentencing, particularly when it comes to young offenders.
Some legal experts like Kreshnik Spahiu, head of the nationalist Black and Red Alliance, and a former prosecutor, say tougher measures need to be taken, including mandatory life imprisonment for murders and the reopening of the notorious Spac and Burrel prison camps — where the communist regime sent its political prisoners – in order to host murders and other dangerous criminals.
“There need to be radical changes to the Penal Code, to adapt it to the Albanian reality, making it harsher, getting rid of alternative and minimal and maximal limits for murder, making them harsher, and unifying them all in one – life imprisonment,” Mr. Spahiu said at a conference in Tirana, adding the state should sequester the property of the criminals to compensate the victims.
“Punishment should be harsh, and not only moral and legal – but economical as well,” he said.
Mr. Spahiu was in part presenting his own opposition political platform in response to the crime wave, and other opposition politicians have also jumped to the occasion.
Main opposition Socialist Party leader Edi Rama reacted to the crime through his Twitter feed, saying crime and social order problems are stemming from bad governance.
“Public order has never been worse since [the riots of] 1997,” Mr. Rama wrote. “There has never been more corruption and crime.”
There has been no official media response from the prime minister’s office, but judging by media reports, the crime wave has not gone unnoticed by the government. Several media reported that Interior Minister had given an ultimatum to police officials across the country: nip the growing crime rate in the bud, or lose your job.
Gruesome coverage questioned
Ms. Tafa’s murder-robbery wasn’t the most shocking crime in Albania this week. A public murder-suicide and body mutilation in the south-central town of Polican left the public so shocked, some were angry at the media for providing the details.
A man shot a co-worker dead over suspicions the victim was trying to have an affair with the shooter’s wife. The shooter then turned the gun on himself and committed suicide. The victim’s brother then got to the scene and mutilated the body of the dead shooter in anger. He was arrested by police a day later.
Albanian newspapers, known for their sensationalism, featured front page stories that came right out of horror movies, involving body parts and saws.
It all lead to media ethicists questioning whether providing the gruesome details of the murder was worth the shock it caused the public at large.
“Can you image a child of nine or ten getting his hands on a newspaper where the top headline is ‘Head sawed off,’? Wrote Respublica.al in an opinion piece.
Police taking steps to make tourists feel safe
The two women and their children where Albanians who lived and worked abroad and who had returned home on vacation, which is fairly typical of the visitors in Albania in the summer.
And the crime happened only a day after police had spoken to the press about steps and measures it had taken to secure the fluent move of the incoming tourists and also prevent any road or other accidents across the country.
The fear such crimes can affect tourism and the general sense of security of the population have led police to meet several times this week to work on a crackdown on crime.
One million foreign tourists have visited the country in the first two months of summer, authorities note – with the vast majority being from neighboring Kosovo, followed in numbers by Macedonia, Greece, Italy, Germany, Britain, Switzerland and other European countries. Many of these travelers are ethnic Albanians, but a growing number of foreigners with no cultural ties to Albania also visit every year.
