The father of Elton Mermal, who was killed by Artan Tafani on the orders of Laert Haxhiu, is testifying at the Criminal Court.
The head of the Lushnja criminal gang was convinced that Mermali, also known as “The Chinese”, had a hand in the murder of his uncle’s son.
Kujtim Mermal’s testimony:
Elton Mermalin has a son. The night before the incident, on Saturday evening, he went out and never returned home. We were informed of the murder of the son, they had found the body. Initially, we took him to Peqin, then to the morgue in Elbasan. The police had notified the eldest daughter who lives in Italy, she called me. I left work, went to the morgue, took the son’s body and brought it home. I did not know the motives at all.
I can’t put my finger on who did it, because I don’t know. Elton was my second child, he didn’t work. After he did prison, he wasn’t sober and didn’t work. I don’t know what he went to prison for. The boy was arrested in 2004 in Italy, initially. He spent 2 months in prison, after the trial they put him under house arrest for two years. It was his mistake that he broke the house arrest and then they brought him here.
They arrested him there because he was accused of murder here in Albania. For the murder of Artan Sulçe. In 1997, the boy was in Albania. To my knowledge, the boy was not involved, because revenge was going to be taken at that time, as was taken for everyone. The boy was accused together with Aldo Bare’s group. I know Laert Haxhiu very well, because he ate bread at my house. I sheltered him when his father beat him. I can’t say if my son’s murder was committed for revenge motives due to the murder of Artan Sulçe and Bledar Haxhiu in 1997. My son was not protected by anyone. He was released from Peqin prison on May 6, 2021, on October 17, 2021 he was killed. When he was released from prison, the boy was not well, I did not find out who was putting narcotics in the prison. He never drank narcotics at home.
The boy’s behavior towards me was very good, he was not aggressive. He never mentioned to me if he was threatened by anyone in prison, or who he shared the cell with. The boy was known by the nickname “Chinese” because he had small eyes, that’s what they called him since he was little. When he got out of prison, he went to the civil registry office and changed his name, making it Alban Semaku. Artan Tafani would find a job for the boy when he met him. That’s what the boy told me.