Bardhyl Ajeti

Bardhyl Ajeti
Born(1977-05-29)May 29, 1977
Përlepnica, SFR Yugoslavia (now Kosovo)
DiedJune 28, 2005(2005-06-28) (aged 28)
Milan, Italy
OccupationReporter for Bota Sot

Bardhyl Ajeti[a] (May 29, 1977 in Përlepnica, SFR Yugoslavia (modern day Kosovo) – 28 June 2005 in Milan, Italy) was a reporter for the Albanian-language daily newspaper Bota Sot, published in Prishtina. He wrote daily editorials for Bota Sot and supported anticrime campaign of international authorities in arresting former members of the Kosova Liberation Army (KLA).[1] Bota Sot also supported Ibrahim Rugova, a leader of ethnic Albanian party, the Democratic League of Kosovo.[2]

Several weeks before he was shot, Ajeti had written a complaint to the Temporary Media Commissioner, which is internationally supervised media regulator in Kosovo. In his complaint he stated that his life had been threatened.[3]

He was shot by unidentified assassins on 3 June 2005, while he was driving a car on the way to Prishtina. On 28 June 2005 he died of gunshot wounds in hospital in Milan, Italy.[4] Police spokesman said that Bardhyl Ajeti was shot in the head at close range.[5]

In the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices of the United States Department of State is emphasised that investigation of the killing of Bardhyl Ajeti had no developments.[6]

Bardhyl Ajeti was not the only journalist of Bota Sot who was killed in Kosovo. Bekim Kastrati, killed on 19 October 2001 in the village Lauša near Prishtina, was also journalist of Bota Sot.[7] The drive-by shooting of Bardhyl Ajeti was one of the apparently politically motivated killings of Kosovo Albanians during 2005.[8] The Association of Journalists of Serbia (UNS) and Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe condemned the attack on Ajeti, emphasizing that his case and several other attacks on journalists on Kosovo have not been solved.[9]

  1. ^ "Bardhyl Ajeti". CPJ. Archived from the original on 10 May 2011. Retrieved 8 May 2011. Ajeti wrote daily editorials for Bota Sot..supported international authorities who arrested former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) as part of a broader anticrime campaign,...
  2. ^ "Attacks on the Press in 2001 - Yugoslavia". United Nations High Commission for Refugees. February 2002. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012. Retrieved 15 May 2011. the Geneva-based Bota Sot, supports politician Ibrahim Rugova and his leading ethnic Albanian party, the Democratic Alliance of Kosovo.
  3. ^ "58 media employees killed in 2005". Press Freedom and Media Development. Retrieved 16 May 2011. A few weeks prior to the shooting, Ajeti had filed a complaint to the Temporary Media Commissioner, Kosovo's internationally supervised media regulator, saying that his life had been threatened.
  4. ^ "IHF report 2006 - Human rights in OSCE region" (PDF). 2006. pp. 362–363. Retrieved 8 May 2011. On 25 June, Bardhyl Ajeti, a prominent journalist of one of the major Kosovo newspapers, died of gunshot wounds he had sustained on 3 June: he was shot by unidentified assassins while traveling toward Pristina from his home town of Gnjilane.
  5. ^ "Bardhyl Ajeti". CPJ. Archived from the original on 10 May 2011. Retrieved 8 May 2011. Police spokesman Refki Morina said that Ajeti was shot in the head at close range,...
  6. ^ Biden, Joseph R.; Howard L. Berman (2007). Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. USA: Department of State. p. 1628. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
  7. ^ "Attacks on the Press in 2001 - Yugoslavia". United Nations High Commission for Refugees. February 2002. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012. Retrieved 15 May 2011. Bekim Kastrati, Bota Sot KILLED (motive unconfirmed) Kastrati, an ethnic Albanian journalist for the Albanian-language daily Bota Sot, was shot on October 19 at around 8 p.m. in the village of Lauša, west of the provincial capital, Pristina, along with two other men who were riding in his car at the time. ... Kastrati's employer, the Geneva-based Bota Sot, supports politician Ibrahim Rugova and his leading ethnic Albanian party, the Democratic Alliance of Kosovo.
  8. ^ "U.S. State Dept-Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2007 (Kosovo)". Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. March 11, 2008. Archived from the original on 25 August 2011. Retrieved 17 May 2011. There were no developments in the following apparently politically motivated killings of Kosovo Albanians in 2005: the killing of Sadik Musaj, a witness at the "Dukagjini group" trial; the killing of Muhamet Sallaj, a former KLA member; the drive-by shooting of journalist Bardhyl Ajeti of the Albanian language daily Bota Sot; the drive-by killing of Muhamet Xhemajili, former commander of the Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedje and Bujanovac, an armed Kosovo Albanian group previously active in Serbia's Preševo Valley; and the car bombing of KPC and former KLA member Naser Ramaj and his brother Jeton.
  9. ^ M, P (June 8, 2005). "Newsline - June 8, 2005". Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty. Retrieved 17 May 2011. The Association of Journalists of Serbia (UNS) condemned on 7 June the recent shooting of Bardhyl Ajeti, who is a journalist for the Prishtina Albanian-language daily "Bota Sot,".... The UNS noted in its statement that a journalist from "Bota Sot" was killed four years ago, adding that his case and several others involving attacks on Kosovar journalists have not been solved. In Vienna, the OSCE also condemned the attack on Ajeti,...