By ROLAND QAFOKU
The level of domestic violence in the country culminated on 31 August with the gruesome murder of judge Fildes Hafizi by her former husband, Fadil Kasemi. Considered like a phenomenon which takes place in the periphery of our society, domestic violence turned into a real concern for the state, but it has never been seen as a phenomenon which is spread in every instance of society, without exception. Domestic violence has been treated as part of the low class, of the poor and unemployed. In fact, Fildes’ and Fadil’s alter egos are present everywhere in Albania. In a way or another, people like Fildes and Fadil are on the street, in the homes of the Albanian people, in the state offices, among police forces, prosecution, courts and the Albanian media. Figures are not simply alarming. They reflect how easy it is for a husband to beat up his wife, how a man finds a solution, while his former wife doesn’t let him see the kids, by killing her; how a boy beats his father and mother because they don’t give him money; how nephews and nieces beat up their grandparents or even murder them to take their money. According to Tirana District Court, from January to August this year, prosecution has requested 673 restraining orders. Out of these, the court has granted 137 requests, while the rest has been rejected. Figures continue to be even more serious. From January to June 2016, 195 cases of domestic violence have been registered. Out of these, 66 perpetrators have been arrested, 12 have been declared wanted and 260 others are under investigation. Meanwhile, for the same period last year, there have been 254 cases of domestic violence, of which, 318 people are under investigation, while 10 have been declared wanted. In fact, all of these are not just figures, but they tell us where our society is heading and the more time goes by, the more this society shows a lack of civilization and a linear criminal mentality.
But how does our society and state tackle a situation where a policeman must protect a woman from her violent husband, while the policeman himself is the one who is violent against his wife?
How does our state and society solve situations where a politician, MP, minister needs to draft stiff laws on domestic crime and the same ones have used violence against their wives, have abandoned their children, lied about their incomes and do not pay alimony?
How do the state and our society solve a situation where a journalist or representative of civil society needs to publicly denounce domestic violence, while this person is a perpetrator of domestic violence?
How does our society go about when a prosecutor or a judge needs to investigate and deliver a sentence on charges of domestic violence, while the prosecutor or the judge exert domestic violence in their families?
I’m convinced that if the police officer, prosecutor, judge, politician, MP, minister and journalist were not part of domestic violence in their families, then our family would minimize cases of domestic violence.
But let us be frank! Domestic violence has become so common that the daily cases reported by the media no longer surprise anyone.
This is why there are many women like Fildes in Albania, but there are even more like her husband, Fadil Kasemi.
It seems like a relief that Fadil Kasemi will remain for many years behind bars, if not all his life. But where is this society heading to? Did domestic violence end just because some Facebook activists condemned the criminal? I have written this before: In my career as a journalist, I have encountered many serious crimes. I have had bad experiences with crimes that took place in society when I used to cover crime news, but I’ve had even worse experiences when people used to wish for all kinds of gruesome punishments for the authors of these crimes. For me, this has been even more serious than the crime itself. And in the case of Fildes, Fadil is just a criminal who killed the mother of his children, while the people who want to slaughter him are the true problem of our society. These people do not preach peace for a crime that takes place, they do not offer solutions and models, but they manifest a form of violence which is even more serious than Fadil’s. I think that a viral criminal mentality, following a serious crime, is more serious than the crime itself.
As far as restraining orders are concerned, we saw how efficient they were even in the case of Fildes. Restraining orders are inapplicable in theory, let alone in practice. An area inspector in Albania covers on average around 20 thousand residents. Imagine each inspector offering protection for every woman who feels threatened by her husband. This is ridiculous as procedure. We can never rely on the police for every sin of the society. We blame police for crime, drugs, trafficking and now, after fighting all of them, it’s easier for us to say: Where was police at the time when Fadil Kasemi executed his wife, who was the love of his life? Imagine an area inspector emerging at the moment when Fadil Kasemi approached Fildes’ car with a gun in his hand. Imagine him preventing this murder. No, people! These kinds of suppositions and fantasies are as tragic as they are ridiculous. Fildes was murdered by Fadil because in Albania, when a man murders his wife, this is a normal thing. Fildes was first of all killed by our society and then by her husband. When domestic violence becomes a normal part of life, how can we pretend that police will protect us? What’s more ridiculous is that a few hours after Fildes’ murder, police arrested several men. It had been a while that they were reported to police. But does domestic violence in Albania end just because police arrested a man from Kamza and another one from Bathore? Never! When we see that police officer, prosecutor, judge, journalist or politician who has exerted violence against his family is arrested, then we can hope that fight against domestic violence in Albania has started to be won. Otherwise, our society will continue to produce endless cases like Fildes and Fadil. This is the biggest desperation of our society.
Note: The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Albanian Free Press’ editorial policy
