The macabre murder of an 8-year-old in the village of Grecalli in Fier, southern Albania, on Tuesday, has shocked the entire Albanian public opinion.
Police said the tragedy happened when the 8-year-old did not return home, and his mother reported the disappearance to the Fier police, which then launched an investigation. The testimonies of the villagers show that they saw him together with the author. This evidence has been crucial in clarifying the situation, but in the impossibility of reaching to save the life of the infant.
The 8-year-old was found dead, submerged in mud in the yard of the author’s house. According to the published information, the perpetrator kidnapped him and then killed him by hitting him on the head with a shovel. The 38-year-old perpetrator was arrested and during the interrogation he confessed that he abducted the eight-year-old boy, took him home and killed him and buried him in a mud pit after some hours.
The funeral of the 8-year-old took place in Grecalle, Fier, on Wednesday.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama demanded that justice be done and that the perpetrator receive the punishment he deserved. However the rising calls for sentencing him to death were rejected by Rama. As a candidate country Albania abides by the EU rules not allowing death penalty.
Violence against children and women is on the rise in this Balkan country but it seems that it’s impossible to halt this tragedy. Bodies of international organizations stationed in Tirana have not reacted. Albania is party to the UN Convention on the the Right of the Child. / Argumentum.al
