Arlinda Zekaj killed after repeated protection requests; protests demand accountability

Forty-nine-year-old Arlinda Zekaj was killed late on October 25, 2026, in the village of Vitomirica near Peja, after repeatedly asking police and prosecutors for protection that activists say never came. According to court and police records, Zekaj was found dead in her bedroom, brutally struck with an axe; the suspected attacker is her brother-in-law, Albert Silaj, who was arrested near Peja on October 27 and is now under investigation for murder.

On the evening of October 25, police escorted Zekaj to her home. She left the police vehicle at 20:58. Shortly afterwards an emergency call was received; officers who arrived at 21:10 found only her body. The killing – described by critics as one of the most brutal femicides in Kosovo this year – sparked immediate public outcry.

Warnings ignored, protection order in place

Zekaj had earlier reported threats from her husband and other family members. A court in Peja issued a protection order over the summer that gave her temporary custody of the couple’s son and the right to remain in the family home. The order also stipulated that her husband remain in the same house but not come closer than two metres to her, with a twenty-metre buffer outside the house. Zekaj declined to move into a women’s shelter because she wanted to stay with her son.

Three days before the killing, on October 22, Zekaj told police that members of her husband’s family were staying in the house against her will and that one of them, Albert Silaj, had threatened her with the words: "Go away, otherwise I'll kill you." Despite this explicit threat, sources say Silaj was only questioned as a witness in his brother’s case until the murder.

The killing set off protests across Kosovo. On October 26 a group of activists threw red paint on the entrance of the government building in Pristina and hung a banner reading "The state killed Arlinda." Thousands demonstrated in Pristina and other cities on October 28 and again on November 1, demanding criminal charges for police officers and prosecutors who handled Zekaj’s complaints and calling for the resignations of Interior Minister Xhelal Sveçla and Justice Minister Donika Gërvalla. Both ministers have so far refused to step down. Prime Minister Albin Kurti has acknowledged that certain state institutions "failed."

Authorities have suspended several senior police officers in the Peja region and the public prosecutor who handled Zekaj’s case. Activists say these measures are insufficient and are calling for criminal prosecution of all officials in the chain of responsibility — including the mayor of Peja, Gazmend Muhaxheri, and officials at ministerial level.

Human-rights lawyers and feminist campaigners have pointed to a broader, systemic failure. Lawyer Njomeza Zejnullahu warned that repeated cases cannot be chalked up to isolated failings: "After every murder we hear the same word: failure. The institutions failed. I do not agree. Failure is when something happens once, when a system that normally functions fails at a given moment. But when such cases repeat, when the victims are almost always women and when each of them has previously knocked on the doors of some institution, that is no longer just failure. It is a collapse of the state and society in relation to women," she said.

Since 2010, 55 women in Kosovo have been killed by partners or family members following documented histories of violence and ignored reports, campaigners say. Kosovo has strengthened laws in recent years — including penalties that can reach life imprisonment — but activists say enforcement, coordination among police, social services, prosecutors and courts, and concrete preventive steps remain inadequate. Demonstrators demand a specialised police unit focused on preventing femicides and prioritised social housing measures to protect survivors of domestic violence.

Photo: press material from the event