Foreign Ministry seeks ‘complete clarification’ on fatal shooting of ethnic Greek by Albanian police
The Greek Foreign Ministry has called on Albanian authorities to "provide complete clarification" of the circumstances under which an ethnic Greek man was shot by Albanian police after reportedly opening fire at officers with an assault rifle.
"We await for the Albanian authorities to provide complete clarification about the conditions under which the Greek citizen lost his life, and we shall proceed with all necessary action immediately," the ministry said.
Noting that Greek authorities had been "in close contact with Albanian authorities" since the incident occurred on Sunday evening, the ministry said it was awaiting further details.
"In any case, it is unacceptable that the operation led to the loss of human life," it said.
According to Albanian media reports the man, identified as 35-year-old Konstantinos Kacifa (Katsifas), opened fire against officers with a Kalashnikov assault rifle as they were taking down the flag he had raised at a cemetery for Greek soldiers who died in battle.
The incident took place as the village, which is mostly ethnic Greek, marked the anniversary of Greece's entry into the war in 1940.
Kacifa reportedly ran into the village firing his weapon and then into the mountains in an effort to evade arrest but was intercepted shortly after by a team from the Albanian police's special forces, who claimed that the 35-year-old shot at them before they opened fire and killed him.
