How 4 members of a family disappeared in Shkodër due to domestic violence

2024-05-05 21:58:45, Kronika CNA

Four members of a family residing in the city of Shkodra; 39-year-old mother Alma Arrazi together with her three children aged 9, 8 and 3, allegedly drowned themselves in the waters of the Buna River. According to the local police of Shkodra, "in-depth investigations revealed a case of domestic violence, which caused suicide".

The first suspicions arose after the discovery of the dead body of the 9-year-old girl, for which the police confirmed at noon that, "from the preliminary examination in the presence of forensic experts, no signs of violence were found".

Local police forces and RENEA paratroopers have been continuing the search along the Buna River for several hours, in an effort to find the bodies of the other three members of this family, as they are suspected to have drowned.

Meanwhile, an investigative group is interrogating relatives of the Arrazi family, to find out the circumstances of the event, which is considered the most serious that has happened in recent years within the family.

The mother of the children left the apartment with her three children on May 2, and the police suspect that the cause was violence by her husband, identified as 31-year-old Ergys Arrazi.

The police of Shkodra were set in motion to find the mother and three children after the report made the day after, on May 3, by the husband and father of the children. The 31-year-old Arrazi has already been detained by the police on the charge of "causing suicide as a result of violence". According to the police, he was previously convicted of cultivating narcotic plants.

Cases of domestic violence continue to increase in Albania, despite the tightening of the law on domestic violence. According to official data from the Ministry of the Interior, during 2023, 4798 cases of domestic violence were registered with 2030 perpetrators identified by the police, where 733 of them were arrested and sentenced by justice. While most of them were judged in a free state. However, non-governmental organizations claim that the scale of domestic violence is even greater than what state structures declare.

According to non-governmental organizations, 19 people lost their lives in Albania last year due to gender-based violence./ VOA