The bloody saga of Mirdita, 9 years of clashes and victims: from Saimir Jaku to today's execution of Viktor Bardhi

2026-09-03 10:12:18Aktualitet SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
The bloody saga of Mirdita, 9 years of clashes and victims: from Saimir Jaku to
Martin Bardhi and Kastriot Reçi

The murder of 69-year-old Viktor Bardhi this Thursday in Mirdita is suspected to be the continuation of a long ordeal of conflicts that have ended with many victims.

The latest clash of bullets between the tribes was the murder of Viktor Bardhi's nephew, Kristian, who was executed in January 2025, an event for which Kastriot Reçi's nephew was also involved.

September 9, 2016

It all started on September 9, 2016, between the Reçi and Gjini tribes in Rrëshen, a conflict that would result in many victims. That day, Saimir Jaku, former director of the High Voltage line for the north at OSHEE, was killed. He was shot dead with a cannon while drinking coffee in a bar.

April 28, 2017

On April 28, 2017, Gasper Reçi, 43, was murdered in Rome, Italy. According to authorities, it was suspected that Gasper Reçi's murder was in retaliation for the execution of Saimir Jaku.

September 6, 2017

It wasn't long before Kreshnik Gjini, the nephew of Saimir Jaku, was murdered in Belgium on September 6, 2017. Belgian police suspected that the incident was revenge for the murder of Gasper Reçi in Italy. Gjini was killed in the municipality of Forest, Belgium, by masked men who shot at him and he died instantly. The Bardhi and Gjini families are known for their friendship with each other.

August 13, 2019

Armando Gjini, also known as Tonin Gjini, was executed on August 13, 2019, in front of two children. He was shot several times while inside his vehicle in front of the cathedral. The victim was a well-known person in the city of Rrëshen, also due to his arrest in 2018 and the placement of explosives in his car shortly before the murder.

January 7, 2020

Kastriot Reçi was executed by gunfire in front of his bar in the center of Rrëshen, as he reopened the old wound of revenge in Mirdita in early 2020. His name had long been linked to drug trafficking, although in fact it had never been filed. Reçi was executed in a well-organized plan with a single bullet to the heart, by a sniper, suspected of being a hired killer. After meeting a woman holding a child on the city promenade, he is shot and immediately falls to the ground.

September 15, 2020

On September 15, 2020, an attempt was made to physically eliminate Preng Gjini on the Nisharak Bridge in Tirana. A quantity of 400 grams of C4 TNT was placed in the front of the car he was traveling in, with a remotely controlled explosion. The assassination was then suspected of being related to the saga of revenge between the two tribes, but in a statement made by Gjini himself, he later denied it.

December 15, 2020

Anton Keli was executed on December 15, 2020, getting out of his car in Rrëshen. After being shot, he walked for a few meters, then entered a supermarket wounded. It was the saleswoman who called the police and the ambulance, but he could not survive. The 51-year-old was shot with a pistol from close range and one of the bullets hit his chest. Keli was the cousin of Armando and Preng Gjini. His murder is suspected to be related to the revenge saga between the two tribes, the Gjini and Reçi.

September 26, 2023

Martin Bardhi was shot in his bar in September. He was sitting at a table with three of his relatives when two masked gunmen got out of a vehicle and opened fire. A month before he was killed, Martin Bardhi had been released from Lezha detention, having been arrested for an attempted murder of Saimir Reçi, Kastriot Reçi's nephew.

January 13, 2025

Kristian Bardhi alias Marku was executed on the Fier-Vlora axis on the afternoon of January 13, 2025. The perpetrators, who are suspected of being 3, ambushed him at the Novosela overpass and then shot him more than 13 times with a pistol.


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