Sveçla: Suspect in Arlinda Zekaj’s murder had a serious record with the Kosovo Police

Minister of Internal Affairs Xhelal Sveçla has stated that the person suspected of murdering Arlinda Zekaj had previously been registered with the Kosovo Police and had a serious record.

During today’s session, Sveçla questioned the institutional decisions that, according to him, led to Arlinda being separated from her child and losing her rights to the property. He said that instead of protecting the victim, events had taken the opposite course.

“Arlinda had been separated from her child. It is unclear how an institution decided that the child should be taken from the mother and entrusted to the father, who subsequently transferred this responsibility to his brother, even though the latter had previously had a serious record with the Kosovo Police. Meanwhile, the law stipulates that, almost automatically, custody of the child is entrusted to the mother,” Sveçla said.

The minister also addressed the issue of the property, stressing that, based on the information he had, it was jointly owned by the couple.

“According to the information I have, the property belonged to both spouses. It is astonishing how the decision was made to deprive her of the property. Instead of the abuser and the person issuing threats being arrested, while the woman was guaranteed safety in her own property together with her child, the opposite happened,” he said.

Sveçla described the loss of life as the most severe form of deprivation and announced that security institutions were working intensively to apprehend the suspect as soon as possible.

“The most severe deprivation is that of life. We have been mobilized to the maximum to ensure that the criminal is arrested as soon as possible,” the minister said.

He also announced that, at his request, the case had been forwarded to the highest levels of the Kosovo Police. Sveçla requested that the investigation be taken over by the Special Prosecution rather than the regional prosecution office.