The Lezhe court has remanded the 17-year-old accused of the murder of Lek Lekgjonaj due to a blood feud, in custody pending the continuation of proceedings.
Florian Pervathi was orphaned as a child after his father was murdered by the brother of Lekgjonaj and the subsequent suicide of his mother. The youth appeared in court in an aggravated psychological condition and did not speak.
His lawyer Andi Duraj said there were two victims of the crime, his client and Lekgjonaj, and blamed society for inciting hatred in the young man.
Pervathi has been charged with murder for blood feud, illegal possession of weapons and ammunition, and illegal possession of hunting or sporting weapons. Judge Sabri Kastrati imposed the measure of prison arrest in a hearing that lasted around one hour.
The defendant risks more than 30 years in prison if found guilty of all charges.
An attempted murder in Shkoder in the first days of 2022 is also believed to be related to a blood feud.
Gjakmarrje or ‘blood revenge’ refers to the obligation placed on an individual to murder to salvage one’s honour. For example, if a member of another family dishonours an individual from another family, the former can seek revenge and the restoration of their honour by killing a member of the latter.
Some of the actions that can initiate gjakmarrja include killing a guest, violation of private property failure to pay a debt, kidnapping, seduction of a woman, or rape. It can also be triggered by murder. Once the action has occurred, the ‘wronged family’ will seek out a member of the other family to kill to settle the wrongdoing.
Albanian authorities have often denied the existence of blood feuds in recent years, but those working with families impacted by them, say there are around 3000 thousand living in fear in the north of the country.
There have been more than 10,000 revenge killings since the fall of communism in Albania but they are often not reported as such by the media, or authorities. Furthermore, there are tens of asylum cases lodged citing blood feuds as a reason in the EU and UK every year. A number of them are granted.
