TIRANA, Mar. 1 – Revenge murders, or so called blood feud killings, have registered a significant deadline in the past years, data published by the National Committee for Reconciliation shows.
In a meeting with the delegation of the Monitoring Commission of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly visiting Tirana in a fact collection mission, the chairman of NCR, Gjin Marku, said that numbers of these revenge murders have dropped by 50 percent in the past three years.
“Police have intensified efforts against blood feud and has boosted collaborations with the National Committee for Reconciliation,” Marku, a former Albanian intelligence officer who now works mediating blood-feuds, said.
He highlighted the lack of financial support in the fight against the implementation of the medieval code of justice, neither from the state nor from donors.
Council of Europe rapporteurs on Albania, Joseph O’Reilly and Andrej Hunko, expressed their support for the committee and their work in regards to the protection of the rights of asylum seekers who leave the country forced by these feuds.
In 2016, 35 people were killed as a result of the ongoing adherence to an ancient Albanian code of honor known as the “Kanun.”
This ancient tribal code has about 1,262 rules written by Leke Dukagjini a nobleman who lived in the 15th-century.
Dukagjini ordained that “spilled blood must be met with spilled blood” .
Data shows that since 2012, thousands of Albanians have sought asylum in Europe, claiming they are afraid for their lives as a result of “blood feuds.”
