The show "Në Shënjestër" has revealed further details regarding the murder of 49-year-old Albanian Jani Aliaj in the Koridhalos prison in Greece, an event that, according to Greek authorities and investigative sources, is suspected of having been carried out as part of a "death contract" ordered outside the prison premises.
The incident occurred on January 19, 2026, inside sector no. 3 of the high-security prison in Koridhalos Prison, where Aliaj was serving his sentence after his arrest in Greece at the end of 2024. He was arrested on the evening of December 31, 2024, while hiding under a false identity, under the name Aleksan Kreshnik.
Suspicions of a "death contract"
According to Greek media and sources close to the investigation, there was prior information about a plan to eliminate Aliaj. For this reason, he was temporarily transferred to the women's section for security reasons. However, he was later returned to the men's section, without a public explanation of the reasons for this decision. A few months before the murder, Aliaj had been the subject of another knife attack inside the prison, which he had survived. The final murder was committed with a knife in his cell.
Initially, the suspected perpetrator was a Greek convict, known for his involvement in serious crimes and sentenced to life imprisonment, whose cell was located next to Aliaj's. However, the investigations are suspected to have been oriented towards the track of an order coming from outside the prison.
Criminal past
Jani Aliaj was a well-known name in Albanian and Greek law. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of an Albanian citizen in Athens in 2006, as well as for illegal possession of weapons. Earlier, he had escaped from prison in Corfu and had taken refuge in Albania. In Albania, Aliaj was involved in several serious criminal episodes, including a failed assassination attempt in Përmet in 2015 and, on May 1, 2016, the murder of Elton Çiço in a bar in the former Blloku area of Tirana. For this event, he was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment.
The conflict with Elton Chiço
According to the investigation file, the conflict between Jani Aliaj and Elton Çiço had begun years ago, while both were serving sentences in a prison in Athens. The clash between them had degenerated into violence with cutting tools, where Çiço had been seriously injured. The investigation into Çiço's murder revealed that Aliaj had openly expressed the intention to kill him, considering him responsible for the assassinations carried out against him in Tirana and on the Tepelena-Gjirokastër axis in early 2016. On May 1, 2016, Elton Çiço was shot to death inside a bar in Tirana. The footage and evidence collected by the police led to the identification of Aliaj as the suspected perpetrator of the crime. The vehicle used in the assassination was registered in the name of a friend of his, while the clothing found in the rented apartment matched that of the person filmed at the scene.
The network of conflicts and assassinations
The investigation shows that the clash between Aliaj and Çiço was deepened due to previous conflicts in Tepelena and connections with other people involved in criminal activities. Both sides are suspected of having deployed people to follow and monitor each other. After Çiço's murder, some people associated with his circle fled the country, while others were involved in subsequent episodes of violence.
