Arlinda Zekaj reported Albert Sylaj to police on October 22: “Get away from me, get away from me or I’ll kill you” – Police questioned him as a witness

On October 22, 2022, Arlinda Zekaj reported her brother-in-law, Albert Sylaj, to the police, accusing him of threatening her and unlawfully occupying the house which, according to her, she co-owned with her former husband, Jeton Sylaj. In connection with the case, Albert Sylaj was interviewed by the police as a witness.

According to the statement obtained, Zekaj said that after the court issued a protection order on October 16, Albert had moved into her house with his wife, children and mother, without obtaining her consent.

“They had never lived there before, but only did so after the decision issuing the protection order. I am a co-owner; they have unlawfully occupied my house. I cannot live with them, nor can they be guests. My brother-in-law Albert threatened me, saying, ‘Get away from me, get away from me or I’ll kill you,’ when I tried to take the television remote. He does not allow me to live there, or even to go into the kitchen to get bread or water, or to use the television. Just as he was heard shouting at the police station, he shouted at me in the same way at home, and he is also threatening my life,” Zekaj stated on October 22.

Meanwhile, Albert Sylaj, who is now suspected of murdering Arlinda Zekaj, denied the allegations of threatening her in his statement to the police. He said that he had been staying at his brother’s house for three or four months with his permission.

Sylaj denied threatening Zekaj and claimed that she was the one who had provoked the situation.

“…I was watching television and Arlinda started making dramatic scenes in order to provoke my family members and me. When I turned on the air conditioner, she turned it off. I want to point out that while the children were doing their schoolwork, she opened the window and the children began to freeze, preventing them from doing their work. Then, while I had the television remote and was watching television, she got up and tried to take the remote by force, but I did not let her. I told her to leave me alone and not to provoke me. Then my mother came and took the remote and gave it to Arlinda, and that was all that happened. After that, a police patrol arrived at the house,” Sylaj said.

Sinjali had previously reported that, in the decision dated October 16, Judge Kastrati had prohibited Jeton Sylaj, Zekaj’s husband, from approaching her at the house where they both lived, to within a distance of less than 2 meters.

The decision also stipulated that on the road, in the city, at school or at the workplace, the distance had to be 20 meters.

“…at a distance of 2 meters in the house where the protected party is currently staying, and on the road, in the city, village, school or workplace, at a distance of 20 meters. He is also PROHIBITED from committing physical or psychological violence in the future, blocking the victim’s movement, insulting, harassing or threatening the protected party,” the decision obtained by Sinjali states.