Opinion
A report that stayed an official note
Arlinda Zekaj told police her former brother-in-law had threatened her life. Three days later she was killed. The anger in Pristina deserves an answer in procedures, not only in resignations.
By ANN Newsroom · Newsroom
October 28, 2026, 18:45 · Updated 18:43 · 2 min read
On Oct. 22, Arlinda Zekaj told the police station in Peja that Albert Sylaj had said to her: “Get away from me, get away or I'll kill you.” According to documents published by KALLXO.com, he was questioned only as a witness, while the prosecutor on duty instructed that the case remain an official note pending camera footage. On Oct. 25, Zekaj was killed with an ax in Vitomirica.
On Wednesday, the Basic Court in Peja ordered Sylaj held in detention for a month on suspicion of aggravated murder. Prosecutors say he acted out of revenge because Zekaj had reported her former husband for domestic violence, and that he has four final convictions. The ruling is necessary, but it comes after everything had already happened.
The problem is not just one prosecutor or one police officer. The Kosovo Judicial Council confirmed that Zekaj had held an emergency protection order since Sept. 7, but only against her former husband, while Albert Sylaj did not appear in any document. The system knew this woman was at risk within her family, but it treated the risk as a single name in a file rather than as the circle of people around her.
The anger in Pristina is legitimate. Activist Liridona Sijarina said four women have been killed in Kosovo in less than two months. Yet red paint on the police building does not strengthen the cause; Zekaj's own relatives pleaded: “We don't want violence.” The demand to dismiss ministers Gërvalla and Sveçla, however understandable, does not by itself change the procedure that failed.
Our proposal: any threat to life from a relative of a person under a protection order should automatically be treated as a high-risk case, with a risk assessment within 24 hours and the option of extending the order to that person; and the institutions that handled the case should publish a full timeline of their decisions, with clear deadlines for changing their practice. A report should be the start of protection, not a note in an archive.
