Toll from blood feuds shoots up
After the arrest of a 32-year-old Albanian national in connection with the murder of his 37-year-old compatriot in the Ambelokipi area, central Athens, police told Kathimerini yesterday that they were dealing with an increasing amount of vendetta killings among Greece’s Albanian community. The unnamed suspect was arrested after shooting elevator technician Alexandros Gikopoulos as he left his apartment on Monday. The alleged gunman is said to have admitted to killing Gikopoulos because he murdered the suspect’s brother and father in Albania five years ago. Officers told Kathimerini that it was the fourth murder of its type in recent months involving an Albanian in Greece. The killings have been put down to blood feuds in Albania which are regulated by the customary law, known as the «Kanun,» that the Albanians relied on during centuries of foreign occupation and is especially prevalent in the northern parts of the Balkan country. Police said that another Albanian was killed two weeks ago in the area of Hymettus by a gunman who had come to Greece and befriended the victim for the sole reason of killing him.
