Albania in shock after judge shot in court over property ruling

A respected 62-year-old appellate judge, Astrit Kalaja, was shot dead in court on Monday, moments after announcing a verdict in a decades-long property dispute in Shkodër. The gunman, Elvis Shkambi, 30, surrendered immediately after firing the rounds that killed the judge and wounded two men, Ragip and Elvis Kurtaj, claimants in the same case.

Why is this important: This is the first time a sitting judge has been killed in Albania’s modern history. The tragedy has reignited national debate over the country’s unresolved property conflicts — a festering social wound rooted in the post-communist transition. Thousands of land disputes remain in court, many inflamed by contradictory laws and political interference.

Context: The case that triggered the shooting dates back to the early 1990s, when state owned communist-era warehouses were allocated to homeless families. The Shkambi family claims ownership of the land, while the Kurtaj family — long-time residents — have disputed those claims, accusing them of document forgery.

Judge Kalaja’s ruling on Monday rejected the Shkambi appeal, prompting the fatal outburst. Shkambi’s family had earlier won in the lower court, but the appellate reversal appears to have pushed tensions to the breaking point.

What else: Speaking to Report TV, Shkëlqim Kurtaj, nephew of one of the wounded, blamed former Shkodër mayor Lorenc Luka for the affair, claiming he was responsible for creating the situation that led to the conflict. He accused the Shkambi family of falsifying ownership documents and being “buried in debt” from years of legal battles.

“My uncle never had problems with anyone. They’ve been fighting for 30 years and the state never solved it,” said Kurtaj. “Now they’ve taken up guns to settle it. They killed the judge in open court. We’ve only seen this in movies.”

Kurtaj added that the shooter’s family had fallen into debt paying legal fees and bribes, saying:

“They were forced to this point because the state gave them no justice. Everything they had was based on false papers. Why did the courts drag this for so long?”

What was said: The killing drew swift condemnation from across the political spectrum. Prime Minister Edi Rama called it “a dark day for justice,” while the opposition demanded a full investigation into how a firearm entered a courtroom. The opposition laid the blame for the murder on the Prime Minister whom they accused of having provoked such situations through his criticism of judges. There were also calls for the resignation of the newly sworn in ministers of Justice and Interior.