Greek Foreign Ministry summons Albanian ambassador over shooting, to lodge demarche
The Greek Foreign Ministry is to lodge a demarche to Albanian authorities over the fatal shooting of a 35-year-old ethnic Greek in a village in southern Albania on Sunday.
The ministry is to lodge the complaint officially with the Albanian Ambassador, Dashnor Dervishi, who was summoned on Monday afternoon.
Meanwhile sources at the Greek Police (ELAS) said there was no evidence, nor witness accounts, linking the exchange of fire in Albanian on Sunday night to the raising of a Greek flag at a cemetery for Greek soldiers by 35-year-old Konstantinos Katsifas.
Greek Police are cooperating with their Albanian counterparts in the investigation into the exact circumstances surrounding Katsifas's death.
According to ELAS, Katsifas and other members of the Greek community in Vouliarates participated in putting up Greek flags to commemorate Greece's entry to WWII against Italy on Sunday without any problems being reported.
Some reports have indicated that Katsifas, dressed in army fatigues, fired a Kalashnikov assault rifle into the air and then at an Albanian police patrol car.
The car is said to have been hit twice while 17 bullet casings were found at the scene.
There followed a chase, special forces were dispatched, helicopters sent out, and Katsifas was killed in an exchange of fire.
Eight bullet casings were said to have been found next to Katsifas's body along with a bag of around 100 rounds of ammunition as well as a military-style knife and noose.
