Following the shocking incident at the Durrës Court of Appeal, where judge Astrit Kalaja was shot dead during a court session, social networks have been engulfed by a wave of reactions that have crossed the boundaries of the absurd.
Following comments on social media justifying or even supporting the perpetrator's violent actions, a GoFundMe page has recently been opened to raise funds for the perpetrators, Elvis and Gjon Shkambi, under the slogan "Support for legal rights for all." The campaign, distributed by the Albanian Women of Michigan website and organized by a family member of theirs, Francesk Shkambi, is seeking financial assistance to "provide professional and independent legal defense" for the two accused.
In the campaign’s lengthy description, the bloody event is presented as “the result of a corrupt justice system and institutional failures,” attempting to turn the perpetrator into a symbol of “state injustice.” Words like “lack of transparency,” “institutional negligence,” and “protection of rights” are frequently mentioned, while nowhere is there a word about the victim, Judge Kalaja, or the pain of his family.
This is an alarming action, given that there are people who find reasons to justify the murder of a judge in the courtroom, losing the basic sense of humanity, morality, and law.
While the GoFundMe campaign has raised over $4,300, many citizens have condemned the initiative as an attempt to romanticize a serious criminal act and manipulate public opinion under the guise of "justice."
The murder of Judge Astrit Kalaja, an unprecedented event in the history of the Albanian judicial system, has opened a deep debate about security in the courts, the functioning of justice, and the degradation of public discourse that, instead of condemning violence, is producing empathy for the perpetrators.
