Five murders in one week in Kosovo, alarm over illegal weapons

Five murders in Kosovo have occurred in just one week.

On this occasion, attention has been drawn back to the worrying level of crime and easy access to illegal weapons.

Experts point out that sentences for murder in Kosovo are among the harshest in the region and Europe.

They say that among the main causes of the murders are the presence of illegal weapons in the hands of citizens, estimated to be around 300, and socio-economic factors.

Lawyer Skënder Musa, in an interview with Ekonomia Online, estimates that the sentences imposed for murder cases in Kosovo are the most severe compared to the region.

"No, in the criminal and legal aspect, these are not light sentences, they are even more severe than in the European Union and the region. Because for a serious murder, the sentences that are usually imposed are from 15 years, 25 years, 30 years, 35 years and so on, up to life imprisonment. Meanwhile, for common murders, although the sentences are expected to start from five years, in Kosovo it is very unclear to impose sentences for common murders under 15 years or 20 years. So the sentences are extremely severe. However, the influencing factors should not be viewed only from the criminal aspect, because criminal procedures or institutions such as the prosecution, the court and the police that investigate murders, usually deal with the causation of the consequence," he said.

Musa considered the presence and free provision of weapons in Kosovo to be worrying.

"Punishments also have an educational character, because we take into account the severity of the punishment when imposing a criminal sanction, we also take into account the preventive effect on other possible persons so that they do not commit a criminal offense in the future. However, it is more related to the sociological, educational, traditions and so on. Meanwhile, as a main factor that influences the criminal-legal aspect of murders and attempted murders, is the large number of weapons, because in Kosovo almost anyone who wants to equip themselves with some type of weapon, easily comes to the weapon. And this is worrying because then they end up with murder. A characteristic of serious murders in Kosovo is that the murder is committed for extremely unclear reasons, usually committed by the unemployed, there is no planning like in other countries (a year, six months, three months and so on) to commit a murder. However, murders usually happen very quickly and this phenomenon cannot be criminally justified "It is clarified, this is more of a sociological nature," he says.

The lawyer also called for the government to act with a strategic plan to raise citizen awareness.

"Here, in addition to punishments, the state must also undertake something regarding the issue of illegal possession of weapons. A state and national strategy must be built to raise awareness among citizens, for citizens in general not to carry weapons, not to point weapons, not to use weapons. And in particular, a campaign or strategy must be implemented that the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Justice are considering, so that people are informed about the consequences caused by the murder of a person. Both for the injured party who loses his life and his family, as well as for the person who is the perpetrator of the criminal offense, because the consequences for the perpetrator of the criminal offense are extremely great, because the punishments are very harsh. On the other hand, the consequences that are created for the family, starting from the risk of consequences for revenge, and on the other hand then economic destruction, the loss of all spheres of life, such as the education of children and all that negatively affect, and in fact two families are destroyed by one murder. Here, "The state should take measures and find ways to influence and not just wait from the criminal aspect, because prisons can be filled with people, but criminal law does not educate people," added Musa.

While the former Inspector General of the Kosovo Intelligence Agency (KIA), Burim Ramadani, for Ekonomia Online, highlights the presence of illegal weapons and does not exclude socio-economic factors in the impact of murders.

"It seems that unfortunately there are several factors that influence the high number of murders and the number one factor is absolutely the large presence of weapons in the hands of citizens. A very large part of them are illegal weapons. So we have not seen a specific national program that would deal with the reduction or decrease of illegal weapons in the hands of citizens. But also, other factors could be social or economic issues, in which the citizens of Kosovo nevertheless remain under the pressure of socio-economic circumstances," he said.

Ramadani emphasizes that around 300 illegal weapons are found among Kosovo citizens, while calling on the government to take measures.

"There have been several reports, mainly from UNDP, that have measured illegal weapons and there has been constant talk about the figure of around 300 illegal small arms in the hands of citizens. But, in order to update this data, the institutions should be much more agile in their work. First, it is necessary for the Government of Kosovo, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, to have a program that would include many departments of society, including the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Economy and others, municipalities in an absolute way, in order to remove the large number of illegal weapons in Kosovo. Including here also reward programs or others that are given or distributed at the moments when citizens return illegal weapons. Meanwhile, the part of formalizing weapons in the hands of citizens is another program. So, a national approach of the Government of Kosovo to remove illegal weapons of Kosovo citizens is missing," Ramadani added.

Meanwhile, sociologist Bekim Selishta, for Ekonomia Online, listed the factors of education, starting with primary schools.

"We have seen, starting from this process, that even in high schools or elementary schools, social studies or sociology is completely anathema or ironclad as a subject, as a result of it dealing with social phenomena. That is, we, even from elementary school to high school, have given too much importance to scientific subjects, while we are not in a good financial position to grow science in such a way that we only invest in science and completely forget the social side.

Even in these institutions that deal with social welfare, that is, social workers or sociologists, there are very few people engaged in early marriages or marriages, people need advice on how to properly handle marriage or how to properly develop married life. Then we have the other process, how to properly handle property problems. We cannot only handle property phenomena with the legal aspect or with legal acts, because they are quite problematic in Kosovo. It is taking us a little longer to handle them and then a more serious approach in this aspect, because it is not easy to leave the financial aspect aside now, because we are seeing where the problems are", he said.

Selishta says that the government should undertake reforms to address social phenomena, also mentioning cases of financing.

"The hand of the state should be more present in relation to the citizens of this country. For that reason, the state also owes it to the citizen to deal with social phenomena and to deal with its citizens. It is not to deal with its citizens only during election periods, or during some act, some solemn day or special day, but it is necessary to pay attention to it all the time. That is, we also have the problem of leaving Kosovo, which no one has dealt with emigration, no one has dealt with financial problems. Or as a state, we have had the opportunity to deal with it, namely to give priority to young couples in employment in state institutions or elsewhere. In our country, this priority does not exist at all. You only have the priority, it does not matter what qualification, whether you have a connection or are known, and you go first. This is a very bad phenomenon that is very present in our country. It is also in other countries, but in our country it is very present, because with this we give space for the new generations, who are very good professionally, to leave Kosovo. "They don't have the patience to wait another ten years when they are given the chance to get a job, they are leaving their country and finding themselves professionally somewhere else and having a lot of success. This remains a phenomenon that needs to be treated a little better," he said.

The sociologist points out that the birth rate in Kosovo is declining and that just one murder has a major impact on the country.

"We have a very low birth rate, mortality is its own trend, while murders... even one murder is a lot that happens in our country, so we have to take into account natural mortality, murders or natural birth rate. Natural birth rate in our country is declining very rapidly, meaning mortality is also its own age trend, but murders are also an increasing number, and the state has done very little to treat social phenomena a little more seriously," Selishta further emphasized.

Five people killed is the balance of a serious week of crime in Kosovo. Last week, which began with a murder in the center of Gjakova, continued with another in Klina and ended with an even more serious murder in a village in Podujeva, where 3 people lost their lives, including the perpetrator who is suspected of shooting herself after the crime.

Three people died, including the perpetrator, in a serious murder in Majac, Podujevo.

A 31-year-old woman with the initials AG is suspected of killing IB (male, 45 years old) – who died at the scene – and also wounding her uncle's wife, MG (73 years old), who also later died at QKUK, where she had been sent for medical treatment.

The perpetrator could not cope with her injuries either, and after shooting the two victims, she allegedly shot herself. She also died at the Emergency Center at UCCK.