The Tirana Prosecution Office has completed the investigations into the murder of Appeals Judge Astrit Kalaja, and has sent three people to trial, Elvis Shkambi, Gjon Shkambi and Banush Koxhaj .
According to the Prosecution, Elvis and Gjon Shkambi are accused of criminal offenses related to the murder of the judge and the attempted murder of two other people, while Banush Koxhaj is accused of "Abuse of Office".
The serious incident occurred on October 6, 2025, inside the courtroom of the Court of Appeal in Tirana, during a court session related to a property dispute. Astrit Kalaja was shot shortly after announcing the court's decision and died as a result of the injuries he sustained.
According to the Prosecution's investigations, Elvis Shkambi pulled a pistol from his belt and shot several times at Judge Astrit Kalaja.
Then, according to the prosecution, Shkambi pointed the gun at two other people, RK and EK, who were trying to leave the hall. As a result, EK was wounded in the hand, while RK suffered injuries to his body.
Elvis Shkambi is accused of "Murder of public officials", "Murder in other qualifying circumstances" remaining in attempted form and "Unlicensed possession and production of weapons, explosive weapons and ammunition".
Gjon Shkambi, Elvis Shkambi's uncle, is also included in the Prosecution's file.
According to the investigation, Gjon Shkambi is suspected of having collaborated with his nephew in the incident. The prosecution has filed charges against him of "Murder under other aggravating circumstances."
According to the prosecution, there was an ongoing property conflict between the Shkambi family and the family of one of the persons involved in the judicial process.
Announcement:
The Prosecutor's Office at the Court of First Instance of General Jurisdiction, Tirana, completed the investigations and sent citizen E.Sh. to trial for the criminal offense of 'Murder of public officials' and 'Murder in other qualifying circumstances' against the litigants, which remained in the attempted stage, as well as 'Illegal possession and production of weapons, explosive weapons and ammunition' provided for by articles 79/a, 79/ç and 278/1 of the Criminal Code.
Likewise, citizens Gj.Sh. were also sent to trial for 'Murder in other qualifying circumstances' and BK, for 'Abuse of office' provided for by articles 79/ç and 248 of the Criminal Code.
The investigations into criminal proceedings no. 7416, year 2025, dated 06.10.2025, began after at around 15.38, in the operational room of the Tirana Local Police Directorate, it was announced that in the internal premises of the Tirana Court of Appeal of General Jurisdiction, Judge AK was shot with a firearm.
From the performance of the first investigative actions, including the examination of the scene, the administration and preliminary examination of the video footage, it resulted that Judge AK was shot in the premises of the Court of Appeal of General Jurisdiction of Tirana during the course of the court session with the subject matter "Opposition of enforcement actions", with the plaintiff RK, where the third parties were also citizens Gj.Sh. and his nephew E.Sh.
Immediately after the announcement of the verdict by Judge AK, the defendant E.Sh., pulled a pistol from his belt and shot several times at the judge. He then pointed the pistol at citizens RK and EK, who attempted to leave the courtroom, causing injury to citizen EK in the right hand and injury to citizen RK in the body.
Immediately after this action, the defendant E.Sh. handed over the firearm to the Court security officer and went out into the Court yard, where he was caught red-handed.
At the end of the investigation and from the evidence administered, it resulted that the defendant E.Sh. committed the criminal offense in collaboration with the defendant Gj.Sh. and these citizens have consumed all the criminal offenses for which they are accused. Citizen E.Sh. stated that he had the weapon in other sessions and that his uncle knew this fact. From the evidence it results that between them and the family of citizen EK, there was an ongoing property conflict.
As for the defendant BK, it appears that he has fulfilled all the elements of the criminal offense of Abuse of Office provided for in Article 248 of the Criminal Code.
The investigations showed that both citizens E.Sh. and Gj.Sh. entered the court without being searched, and one of them had a weapon, which he used inside the courtroom, resulting in the death of Judge AK and the injury of two other people. In this case, we have a concrete, direct and extremely serious violation of the legal interest that the security rules were intended to protect.
Citizen BK remains seated and does not perform any physical search. At the same time, he does not record them in the entry-exit book, and this is also proven by examining the register.