Overnight, graffiti condemning the rape of a 15-year-old Albanian girl, and the response of the state institutions and media, has appeared around Tirana.
The girl was abused and blackmailed by Abaz Doku, the former guard at her school. He videoed the assault, showed to two other young men who then used it to blackmail her into further sexual violence. It was reported that people in her community knew of the incident, yet no one stepped in to help her or report the abuse.
Several media portals have published the name of the child as well as conducting interviews outside her house and in the neighbourhood, further violating her privacy. As a result, hundreds of comments have circulated on social media, blaming the victim for her ordeal.
The graffiti appeared in a number of locations around the city, including the Ministry of Education, Sami Frasheri Highschool, and Ali Demi School.
Slogans included “It’s not your fault. Guilty state, police, media, rapist”, “whoever beats you does not love you”, “paedophiles belong in prison, not in school”, and “teachers, don’t be slient about rape.”
A group called “Feminist Collective” have taken responsibility for the graffiti. They released the following statement:
“The walls of the city of Tirana have been awakened today with messages of denunciation on the sexual and systematic violence that we as girls and women experience in Albania. We strongly condemn the crime committed against two minors and all victims of sexual violence by their rapists, but also the multiple crime committed by abandonment of state instances, exposure and media denigration, as well as the overall submission of a patriarchal society that in the face of violence, always decides to remain silent.
We are many and revolted, so we will not be silent, but we will join hands and walk side by side until this is not repeated to anyone anymore and until we are treated with dignity and respected, and treated equally.
Until we are afraid to distinguish the perpetrator and the crime until justice is done and until we have a better society for girls and women! Until then and always, together and loud!
Silence does not protect us!”
A protest will be held on Thursday at 4pm at Nene Teresa Square in Tirana.
