A Crowd Against Blood Feuds > Reports > Monthly report > Main cases of blood feuds during the month of July
Main cases of blood feuds during the month of July
Everyday, Operazione Colomba volunteers read the main national newspapers in order to record the last cases of murders related to the blood feuds phenomenon in Albania. Such a work allows them to maintain a database by which keeping on monitoring the phenomenon trend and compiling statistics useful to draft the raising awareness reports that Operazione Colomba produces.
During the month of July happened a few cases. A short update about the main cases of blood feuds follows.During the month of July, in Albania some violent acts related to the phenomenon of hakmarrje have taken place, causing some injured. The incidents took place for different reasons, such as private property disputes, debts, and “honour”. The most famous one took place in Italy, where two young Albanians stabbed to death another Albanian guy for sentimental reasons related to the “Sense of Honour”. As known, the “Sense of Honour” is one of the main reasons why the Blood Feuds Phenomenon is widespread: link1, link2, link3, link4, link5.
A case of suspected Gjakmarrje is the one happened in Struga, in Macedonia, where the tax office’s vice-director was shot dead from a running car. link6.
Regarding the topic of the Criminal Law, it is necessary to emphasize the tendency to increase the penalties foreseen for those who commit murders related to the phenomenon of Gjakmarrje. For example, the public prosecutor’s office has request life sentence for some suspected murderers accused to have killed for Gjakmarrje in a case of revenge originated in 1991 link7, link8, link9.
Finally, it has to be noticed that there are many Albanian Citizens who look for asylum abroad for Blood Feud reasons (link10). The fact shows that some Albanians keep on risking their lives, even though many of the petitions are submitted only in order to elude the severe European immigration laws (link11, link12).
