Kosovo's Prosecutorial Council suspended two senior prosecutors on Thursday over the handling of the case of Arlinda Zekaj, a 49-year-old woman who was murdered on Sunday evening just minutes after being escorted home from a police station where she had reported her husband for domestic violence, Balkan Insight (BIRN) reported.

Source: BIRN via Bytes Europe

The suspended officials are Lumturije Vucetaj, the chief prosecutor of Peja, and her deputy Arlinda Nallbani Gacaferri, who also served as coordinator for domestic violence cases. Council member Dardan Vuniqi told BIRN after the meeting that “both have been suspended”. Kosovo Police, at the request of the Police Inspectorate, also suspended 11 police members from the Peja region, including the regional director, a police station commander and the head of investigations.

She warned them three days before

BIRN found that Zekaj told police on October 22 that her brother-in-law, Albert Sylaj, had threatened her, saying: “Go away or I’ll kill you.” He was interviewed only as a witness, and the now-suspended deputy prosecutor was informed of the case. On the same day, Zekaj wrote to chief prosecutor Vucetaj asking for an investigation into officials who were neglecting her case and warning that she feared for her life; in the letter, reported by the Associated Press, she said officials were “shifting responsibility from one to another”, allowing “the danger to my life to continue”.

Albert Sylaj is suspected of murdering Zekaj with an axe. He fled the scene, was arrested two days later and was remanded in custody for 30 days by the Basic Court of Peja on Wednesday, BIRN reported. Her ex-husband, Jeton Sylaj, who was detained after she reported him on Sunday, was remanded for 30 days on Tuesday for violating a court order. The allegations against both men are as reported by BIRN and have not been tested at trial.

Thousands in the streets, parliament inquiry under way

Hundreds rallied in Pristina on Wednesday — thousands, by Associated Press reporting — marching from the main square to the Ministry of Justice and other government buildings, chanting “The state’s hands are bloody, women’s murders are forewarned, how many more Arlindas”, and splashing red paint on government buildings. Protesters demanded the resignations of Justice Minister Donika Gervalla, Internal Affairs Minister Xhelal Svecla and Peja mayor Gazmend Muhaxheri, social housing for survivors, vetting of the justice system and for femicide to be treated as a national emergency. A further protest was held in Ferizaj on Thursday.

Source: Associated Press via Bytes Europe

Kosovo’s Parliament held an urgent session on Monday and set up a parliamentary investigative committee into possible institutional responsibility. Prime Minister Albin Kurti told a government session on Wednesday that he blamed a “systemic chain of failures by the institutions responsible for security and justice”, adding that a murder preceded by such unanswered warnings made the situation “even more unforgivable”. Activists say Zekaj, who held dual US and Kosovo citizenship, was the eighth woman killed in a domestic-violence case in Kosovo this year. According to the Justice Ministry, police received 2,815 reports of domestic violence in 2025 in Kosovo, a country of around 2 million people.