17 years closed in

1990 signed a new start for Albania's history. After the communist dictatorship, one of the wildest in Europe, our country was joining the great occidental democracy family. The elections of March 22, 1992 signed the true fall of an Albanian rudimental state and the start of a new dimension of democratic culture, starting with the property. Only a few months after this day, the Parliament led by the DP took important steps on giving to the private what was called "socialist" or state's property. It started with houses and shops. Having a legal basis, the process was supposed to start and end normally without problems. Actually, time showed this wasn't the reality, at least for the family of Maliq Kraja.
According to the law, Maliq Kraja took and paid a shop in the "Rus" quarter of Shkodra. After that, he started a business, joinery, and his business was successful. Yet, this didn't go on for a long time. The citizen B.M. showed himself to Maliq Kraja pretending the land on which his shop was built had been his property 50 years ago. According to the law, Maliq Kraja became the proprietor even of the land where he built the shop. With the price he paid at the time, Maliq Kraja had bought the shop and the land. Despite his efforts to convince the citizen B.M., showing him even the documents and the payment receipts, B.M. didn't care about the law, supposing to go according to the Canon of Lek Dukagjini. Astrit Kraja, though a 19 year old boy suffered physical violence as a pressure to give his property. After death threats, the citizen B.M. had also the courage to undertake criminal acts. In 1993, B.M. shot on Maliq Kraja and his son, Astrit Kraja, who escaped miraculously. Despite their efforts to defend their property, B.M. took that shop with threats and attempts to kill them, so the family Kraja lost it.
Since 1993, when it was the attempt to kill them and the usurpation of their shop, the family Kraja had to close in. Not only the citizen B.M. took their property, not only he shot on them putting the life of Maliq and Astrit Kraja in serious danger, but he also is asking for compensation for the use of the shop.
The Albanian Peace and Reconciliation Missionaries Association tried many times to reconcile them, but they could never plain the conflict. According to the Canon, only blood can close the conflict, as it unfortunately happened in similar cases especially in Shkodra.the Albanian Peace and Reconciliation Missionaries Association gave the information about this conflict to our newspaper, and they also arranged a meeting with the old man Maliq Kraja. The mostly threatened is Astrit Kraja, born on July 8, 1974, his wife Eda, born on May 8, 1986 and even their little daughter Harisa Kraja, born on July 26, 2010, born closed in, and also condemned not to live. According to the Canon, the revenge falls mostly on the young Astrit Kraja, living closed in since 17 years ago. Maliq Kraja, filled with pain, shows us a picture, which we decided to publish. The Albanian Peace and Reconciliation Missionaries Association is their only hope to close this conflict, which didn't ease for almost two decades and has no chances to have an end. The State and its specialized structures are unable to defend the life of the innocent people, who live in the anxiety of the bullet awaiting them in the name of blood-feud. Will the name of Astrit Kraja be part of the necrologies, as it often happened in Shkodra?! We hope it won't, but the last years showed life is hanging on a strand, which was often broken…
The Editorial Office

The misfortune of a young man

People don't always decide its own destiny, more over in Albania, where the ancient Canon of Lek Dukagjini disregarded the state. Self-justice, especially during the last 20 years, has taken initiatives by killing thousands of people, even innocent or priests, as it was the case of Dritan Prroni, executed lastly at the center of the city of Shkodra, by Mark Njomza, who admitted he killed him for blood-feud.
Canon hangs on the civilized conscience. What can you expect when the priest or the intellectual is killed?! Blood-feud keeps on running all around making hundreds of families live closed-in in groups, as it is the case of "Livade" quarter in Shkodra.
As a form of honor survival, which, according to the Canon, is re-established with the bullet, the Albanians in conflict are victims living between life and death until the moment they're shot dead. One of the innocent victims is the young Mario Çesk Sermi, born in Shkodër on March 07, 1992. Though very young, he lives hiding since June 2nd 2009. It was a property conflict that closed this young man in. His uncle Kolë, had many times conflicts with the citizen Gjovalin Guri about a property, until the moment when he killed Gjovalin in self-defense. This happened on June 2nd 2009. In that moment Mario was present, who had his hand burned by the gun of Gjovalin, as the bullet just touched him. Since that time the families of Kolë and Çesk are chased to be killed at any cost. Mario Sermi is one of those mostly in danger, because according to the Canon, if the murderer cannot be killed, then it can be killed any man of the family. Efforts made by the "Conflicts Solution and Disagreement Reconciliation" Foundation couldn't reconcile the two families. So revenge seems to be the only solution to this conflict.
Rifat Ymeri