“The final submission”
After the murder of Arlinda Zekaj, the police, court, prosecution and government each presented their own version of events, and in none of them was the house hers.
Like the men of Troy with Cassandra, officials understood Arlinda well: they heard her, recorded her testimony and words, and, in the court’s case, ruled in her favor. Yet no one removed her ex-husband’s family members, who had usurped her house.
The institutions treated her son’s custody and her return home as two separate matters, with separate decisions and separate offices, while for Arlinda, they were the same issue.
No one took responsibility, and no one resigned, not even symbolically, as if no one were at the helm of the chain of institutions that returned Arlinda to the door of her own home.
The only story that did not allow its narrator to live was Arlinda’s, because she was the only one demanding that something change.
Dafina Halili
Dafina Halili is a senior journalist at K2.0, covering mainly human rights and social justice issues. Dafina has a master’s degree in diversity and the media from the University of Westminster in London, U.K..
DISCLAIMERThe views of the writer do not necessarily reflect the views of Kosovo 2.0.
This story was originally written in Albanian.