A court in the city of Ferizaj/Urosevac passed down a life sentence for a Kosovo man charged with the aggravated murder of Marigona Osmani in 2021.
Osmani was 18 years old at the time of her murder.
The other defendant, Arber Sejdiu, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for assisting in the murder. Both men were acquitted of rape and assisted rape.
“The court has found that the defendant deliberately committed the crime, pushed by the motive of jealousy towards a close family member, the late Marigona Osmani, who he lived with,” said the presiding judge Sahit Kelmendi.
“The court has taken into consideration aggravating circumstances such as the barbaric manner [in which the murder the murder was committed], by depriving the victim from life in a gradual way, in a closed environment in an apartment where the victim was totally unprotected,” said Krasniqi.
Krasniqi said the court had decided “a life sentence is in line with the scale and seriousness of the criminal offence.”
Osmani’s body was left near the door of the local hospital in Ferizaj/Urosevac in August 2021. The two men who immediately drove away after dumping her body.
Doctors found that the woman had died as the result of prolonged physical abuse. According to the prosecution, Osmani was abused for two consecutive days leading up to her death.
Sejdiu and Krivaqa became suspects in the case after police identified them using the hospital’s security camera footage.
Ahead of the verdict announcement, youth NGO ‘The Collective for Feminist Thoughts and Action’ held a protest in front of the court, demanding long sentences for both defendants.
Following the verdict, President Vjosa Osmani wrote that “the authors of femicide deserve capital punishment.”
“Let this serve as a message to all those who chose violence against women as a tool. Violence will not be tolerated. Femicide will be stopped,” Osmani wrote on Facebook.
“Let this serve as a message to all those who chose violence against women as a tool. Violence will not be tolerated. Femicide will be stopped,” she continued.
Kosovo’s Minister of Justice, Albulena Haxhiu, called the judgment a “fair verdict for a cruel crime.”
While local NGO Kosovo Women’s Network welcomed the verdict of a life sentence for Krivaca, the organisation argued that the 15-year sentence passed down to the second defendant, Sejdiu, was too lenient based on the nature of the crime.
Image via Wikimedia
