TC:10:00:00:00Pan over river across town, woman at graveside, pan across graveyardAlbanian music (10:00:00 to 10:01:22)
Too many young men fill too many of the graveyards of this country for there to have been any doubt left; Albania’s halting progress, away from Stalinism, towards democracy, has been dangerously interrupted by the rule of the gun.
TC 10:00:32Armoured vehicle driving (away from camera) along street in semi-darkness
Albanians have seen the complete breakdown of the police and justice system.
TC 10:00:43Car driving past tank on street
In this small country of three million people it’s estimated that, since March more than three thousand people have been shot dead.
TC 10:00:52Task Force man in street wearing bright - coloured ‘balaclava-style’ maskvarious shots of people in street around market
In the absence of official justice many ordinary people have resurrected an ancient Albanian text which lays out rules of behaviour governing crime and punishment.
It is called the book of Lek and what it says, in effect, is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. It’s a creed of vengeance that lies behind thousands of blood feuds now happening in Albania.
TC 10:01:21Exterior shot Skander driving lorry through Albanian countrysideInside car - Skander driving
To start a blood feud is easy but to stop one almost impossible.Skander Lilaj (pron.: LeeLie) is on a quest to find his missing brother.
TC 10:01:32Skander LilajTranslation (Albanian)“These days have been the most terrible days of my life as we couldn’t find my brother. We don’t know who to address to look for him, because there is no police, no institutions to help us. We are trying to find him, but we’re depending on the support of our friends.”
TC 10:01:59Top shot Vlora - pan to children playing by shot-out car
Skander’s brother Petrit, an attorney, was kidnapped from a coffee shop here in Vlora, the town at the epicentre of Albania’s recent collapse. For all intents and purposes Vlora is an armed mafia fiefdom. For the children of this city, the mafia are their heroes.
TC 10:02:25Exterior of block of flatsInside flat - Skander looking at photos
From his family home in Vlora Skander has spent this summer investigating the kidnapping of his brother. He and his family have been virtually alone in their work, no-one but their closest friends will help them.
TC 10:02:39Skander LilajTranslation (Albanian)“What happened here in Vlora with this situation that was caused by bad politics - we actually reached a state where people started behaving worse than animals.”
10:02:52Burnt out van at checkpointArmed special force officers at checkpoint
What rule of law there is consists of heavily armed and often heavily disguised special force’s police officers. In the current turmoil they are incapable of investigating crime, instead the best they can hope for is to attempt to limit future crime by stopping the flow of weapons around the country.
TC 10:03:14Armed police officers stop car and carry out their checks
There is little decorum at the vehicle checkpoints. Too often these have been the scenes of brutal fire fights. And as a method of stopping the movement of weapons it works.
TC 10:03:35Driver handing over gun to officerOfficer inspects gunDriver puts gun back into pocket
In this case the gun is legal, - one of thousands licensed in response to the growth of illegal weapons.
TC 10:03:54Crate of bullets, pan to cache of weaponsFlat-bed truckGun The taskforce have been successful, at least in part, in restraining the armed gangs of Albania. This flat-bed truck they confiscated came battle-ready, an ominous clue to the belligerent intentions of its former owners.
TC 10:04:12Exterior of Hospital
The staff at Vlora’s central hospital are too well aware of the effects that this gun culture is having upon the local community. They have become experts in dealing with every manner of gunshot wounds.
10:04:26Bardhosh Begha lying in hospital bed
Bardhosh Begha is a typical victim of this out-of control gun culture. He was in his yard with his next door neighbour when, playfully he says, he slapped him.
TC 10:04:37ASTON: Bardhosh BeghaVictim of ShootingTranslation (Albanian)“He ran to his home, got an automatic sub-machine gun. He then came up to me and he shot me.”
TC10:04:48Edmond in hospital bed
In the next bed Edmond, 19, was shot by accident.
TC 10:04:51Surgeon operating in hospital
In Albania nowhere is safe from the influence of the gun. This hospital has been the scene of a number of shootings.
TC 10:05:02ASTON: Doctor Servet KojdheliDirector, Vlora HospitalTranslation (Albanian)“In one case, a person who’d shot and killed two members of another gang, was wounded and he himself was hospitalised here. The next day the other gang came into the hospital and executed the wounded man right here in the ward. Try to understand what terror the staff in the hospital have to live with when people from outside come and kill their patients right in front of their eyes. Try to imagine how difficult it is for medical staff to give qualified service when they are surrounded by people with Kalashnikovs and grenades.”
TC 10:05:41Skander Lilaj walking by sea
It is against this backdrop that Skander Lilaj went in search of his brother Petrit. On his journey to all these places where the body of his brother might have been hidden he was to discover several other victims of shooting.
TC 10:06:04Skander Lilaj searching caveSkander LilajTranslation (Albanian)(o/vision)“According to the information we received, I was told to search inside and outside the tunnels. We went there and found the body but it was not my brother. It was a young man 18 - 23 who had been shot through the temple. I saw that it wasn’t my brother...”
(TC 10:06:23 Top shot of lorry being driven)“..Even at the bridge of Mifoli I found another corpse. He was a young kid with a thin moustache.”
TC 10:06:37Skander getting out of his truck
Skander found another corpse at the Lake of Kanina but it was not his brother.
TC 10:06:43Skander Lilaj (in vision standing by lake)Translation (Albanian)“There was a gun wound at his left ear, a single bullet wound. He had big army boots black hair, black trousers. He was in this position. That was the way we found him dead.” TC 10:07:00 Skander Lilaj walking through fields - to wide shot of country, talking to older man in fieldSkander Lilaj (voice laid under pictures)TRANSLATION (from Albanian)
“My brother’s mother, his father, his wife, his children, his sister, his brother - that is me - we were all waiting for him to come home. We kept hearing rumours, look here look there, because we were told he could be at the Lake of Kanina. He could be at the Lake of Babitza by the castle, or the Kosoviça tunnels. But we found him nowhere.”
TC 10:07:34Men going into morgueScene in morgue - pan to bundle
Skander was to discover the whereabouts of his brother in a small village near the town of Fier. When we went to film at the morgue we did not recognise his brother, Petrit Lilaj, as the body was so badly mutilated it had been wrapped up in a bundle on the table.
TC 10:07:54Skander Lilaj (Sitting looking at pictures)Translation (Albanian)“I as a brother, must try to find out who is the author of this crime. Then I must see that justice is done, I have the obligation to make those guilty face the law. But if the justice system can’t fulfil this, then there is self justice. Because I won’t let the blood of my brother go unavenged. (TC 10:08:09 Skander Lilaj voice laid under pictures of coffin being lowered into the ground)“But I will only do this if the law won’t fulfil this obligation. But this would be worse because then I would have to pass on a vendetta for my son.”
TC 10:08:18Lilo Lilaj (father) in street outside police station
But the victim’s father, Lilo Lilaj, is determined that there will be no revenge for his son’s death until all efforts have been made by the authorities to track down his killers.
TC 10:08:32Chaotic scenes outside police stationPeople in police station
The police, however, are under siege. Armed guards protect the police station from their would-be clientele. As the only functioning authority in Vlora they are, in effect, the bank, the post office and if they have time the police force as well.
TC 10:08:50Lilo Lilaj talking to police officer outside police station Cases of kidnap and murder must unfortunately wait at the back of a very long queue.Lilo tries to befriend one of the armed guards to let him into the police station.
TC 10:09:02Lilo Lilaj (voice underlaid - pictures of Lilo Lilaj waiting outside police station - talking to guard - then crowds in street)Translation (Albanian)“I am trying to meet the investigator in charge so that we can help each other with the common goal that we have. And that goal is to be more precise with details. We are tired of being victims of the dictatorial system.”
TC 10:09:34Crowd outside police stationTC 10:09:42Lilo Lilaj shrugs shoulders(Lilo Lilaj’s voice laid under pictures of people outside police station.”
“I came here today to try to meet the person who is in charge of the investigation to do with my son’s file...”TC 10:09:54 ASTON: Lilo LilajSkander’s fatherTranslation (Albanian)“..But the police tell me that at this moment they are busy. I have to come back later they say. They have a meeting. this is the order that’s been given to me.”
TC 10:10:08Scenes at Petrit’s grave
A week after Petrit’s funeral, his family, as is tradition, gather to mourn at his grave.
There is no doubting their grief nor their frustration at the impotency of the authorities to deal with his killers.
Today in Albania there are thousands of families who share these emotions. Without a concerted effort to rid this country of the scourge of the rule of the gun, people like these will revert to the ancient ways, even though the blood feuds that result may reverberate through the generations to come.
TC 10:11:00Move from grave up to father and son looking at grave then fade to black
TC 10:11:13 ENDS
Too many young men fill too many of the graveyards of this country for there to have been any doubt left; Albania’s halting progress, away from Stalinism, towards democracy, has been dangerously interrupted by the rule of the gun.
TC 10:00:32Armoured vehicle driving (away from camera) along street in semi-darkness
Albanians have seen the complete breakdown of the police and justice system.
TC 10:00:43Car driving past tank on street
In this small country of three million people it’s estimated that, since March more than three thousand people have been shot dead.
TC 10:00:52Task Force man in street wearing bright - coloured ‘balaclava-style’ maskvarious shots of people in street around market
In the absence of official justice many ordinary people have resurrected an ancient Albanian text which lays out rules of behaviour governing crime and punishment.
It is called the book of Lek and what it says, in effect, is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. It’s a creed of vengeance that lies behind thousands of blood feuds now happening in Albania.
TC 10:01:21Exterior shot Skander driving lorry through Albanian countrysideInside car - Skander driving
To start a blood feud is easy but to stop one almost impossible.Skander Lilaj (pron.: LeeLie) is on a quest to find his missing brother.
TC 10:01:32Skander LilajTranslation (Albanian)“These days have been the most terrible days of my life as we couldn’t find my brother. We don’t know who to address to look for him, because there is no police, no institutions to help us. We are trying to find him, but we’re depending on the support of our friends.”
TC 10:01:59Top shot Vlora - pan to children playing by shot-out car
Skander’s brother Petrit, an attorney, was kidnapped from a coffee shop here in Vlora, the town at the epicentre of Albania’s recent collapse. For all intents and purposes Vlora is an armed mafia fiefdom. For the children of this city, the mafia are their heroes.
TC 10:02:25Exterior of block of flatsInside flat - Skander looking at photos
From his family home in Vlora Skander has spent this summer investigating the kidnapping of his brother. He and his family have been virtually alone in their work, no-one but their closest friends will help them.
TC 10:02:39Skander LilajTranslation (Albanian)“What happened here in Vlora with this situation that was caused by bad politics - we actually reached a state where people started behaving worse than animals.”
10:02:52Burnt out van at checkpointArmed special force officers at checkpoint
What rule of law there is consists of heavily armed and often heavily disguised special force’s police officers. In the current turmoil they are incapable of investigating crime, instead the best they can hope for is to attempt to limit future crime by stopping the flow of weapons around the country.
TC 10:03:14Armed police officers stop car and carry out their checks
There is little decorum at the vehicle checkpoints. Too often these have been the scenes of brutal fire fights. And as a method of stopping the movement of weapons it works.
TC 10:03:35Driver handing over gun to officerOfficer inspects gunDriver puts gun back into pocket
In this case the gun is legal, - one of thousands licensed in response to the growth of illegal weapons.
TC 10:03:54Crate of bullets, pan to cache of weaponsFlat-bed truckGun The taskforce have been successful, at least in part, in restraining the armed gangs of Albania. This flat-bed truck they confiscated came battle-ready, an ominous clue to the belligerent intentions of its former owners.
TC 10:04:12Exterior of Hospital
The staff at Vlora’s central hospital are too well aware of the effects that this gun culture is having upon the local community. They have become experts in dealing with every manner of gunshot wounds.
10:04:26Bardhosh Begha lying in hospital bed
Bardhosh Begha is a typical victim of this out-of control gun culture. He was in his yard with his next door neighbour when, playfully he says, he slapped him.
TC 10:04:37ASTON: Bardhosh BeghaVictim of ShootingTranslation (Albanian)“He ran to his home, got an automatic sub-machine gun. He then came up to me and he shot me.”
TC10:04:48Edmond in hospital bed
In the next bed Edmond, 19, was shot by accident.
TC 10:04:51Surgeon operating in hospital
In Albania nowhere is safe from the influence of the gun. This hospital has been the scene of a number of shootings.
TC 10:05:02ASTON: Doctor Servet KojdheliDirector, Vlora HospitalTranslation (Albanian)“In one case, a person who’d shot and killed two members of another gang, was wounded and he himself was hospitalised here. The next day the other gang came into the hospital and executed the wounded man right here in the ward. Try to understand what terror the staff in the hospital have to live with when people from outside come and kill their patients right in front of their eyes. Try to imagine how difficult it is for medical staff to give qualified service when they are surrounded by people with Kalashnikovs and grenades.”
TC 10:05:41Skander Lilaj walking by sea
It is against this backdrop that Skander Lilaj went in search of his brother Petrit. On his journey to all these places where the body of his brother might have been hidden he was to discover several other victims of shooting.
TC 10:06:04Skander Lilaj searching caveSkander LilajTranslation (Albanian)(o/vision)“According to the information we received, I was told to search inside and outside the tunnels. We went there and found the body but it was not my brother. It was a young man 18 - 23 who had been shot through the temple. I saw that it wasn’t my brother...”
(TC 10:06:23 Top shot of lorry being driven)“..Even at the bridge of Mifoli I found another corpse. He was a young kid with a thin moustache.”
TC 10:06:37Skander getting out of his truck
Skander found another corpse at the Lake of Kanina but it was not his brother.
TC 10:06:43Skander Lilaj (in vision standing by lake)Translation (Albanian)“There was a gun wound at his left ear, a single bullet wound. He had big army boots black hair, black trousers. He was in this position. That was the way we found him dead.” TC 10:07:00 Skander Lilaj walking through fields - to wide shot of country, talking to older man in fieldSkander Lilaj (voice laid under pictures)TRANSLATION (from Albanian)
“My brother’s mother, his father, his wife, his children, his sister, his brother - that is me - we were all waiting for him to come home. We kept hearing rumours, look here look there, because we were told he could be at the Lake of Kanina. He could be at the Lake of Babitza by the castle, or the Kosoviça tunnels. But we found him nowhere.”
TC 10:07:34Men going into morgueScene in morgue - pan to bundle
Skander was to discover the whereabouts of his brother in a small village near the town of Fier. When we went to film at the morgue we did not recognise his brother, Petrit Lilaj, as the body was so badly mutilated it had been wrapped up in a bundle on the table.
TC 10:07:54Skander Lilaj (Sitting looking at pictures)Translation (Albanian)“I as a brother, must try to find out who is the author of this crime. Then I must see that justice is done, I have the obligation to make those guilty face the law. But if the justice system can’t fulfil this, then there is self justice. Because I won’t let the blood of my brother go unavenged. (TC 10:08:09 Skander Lilaj voice laid under pictures of coffin being lowered into the ground)“But I will only do this if the law won’t fulfil this obligation. But this would be worse because then I would have to pass on a vendetta for my son.”
TC 10:08:18Lilo Lilaj (father) in street outside police station
But the victim’s father, Lilo Lilaj, is determined that there will be no revenge for his son’s death until all efforts have been made by the authorities to track down his killers.
TC 10:08:32Chaotic scenes outside police stationPeople in police station
The police, however, are under siege. Armed guards protect the police station from their would-be clientele. As the only functioning authority in Vlora they are, in effect, the bank, the post office and if they have time the police force as well.
TC 10:08:50Lilo Lilaj talking to police officer outside police station Cases of kidnap and murder must unfortunately wait at the back of a very long queue.Lilo tries to befriend one of the armed guards to let him into the police station.
TC 10:09:02Lilo Lilaj (voice underlaid - pictures of Lilo Lilaj waiting outside police station - talking to guard - then crowds in street)Translation (Albanian)“I am trying to meet the investigator in charge so that we can help each other with the common goal that we have. And that goal is to be more precise with details. We are tired of being victims of the dictatorial system.”
TC 10:09:34Crowd outside police stationTC 10:09:42Lilo Lilaj shrugs shoulders(Lilo Lilaj’s voice laid under pictures of people outside police station.”
“I came here today to try to meet the person who is in charge of the investigation to do with my son’s file...”TC 10:09:54 ASTON: Lilo LilajSkander’s fatherTranslation (Albanian)“..But the police tell me that at this moment they are busy. I have to come back later they say. They have a meeting. this is the order that’s been given to me.”
TC 10:10:08Scenes at Petrit’s grave
A week after Petrit’s funeral, his family, as is tradition, gather to mourn at his grave.
There is no doubting their grief nor their frustration at the impotency of the authorities to deal with his killers.
Today in Albania there are thousands of families who share these emotions. Without a concerted effort to rid this country of the scourge of the rule of the gun, people like these will revert to the ancient ways, even though the blood feuds that result may reverberate through the generations to come.
TC 10:11:00Move from grave up to father and son looking at grave then fade to black
TC 10:11:13 ENDS