FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
Albanian journalist in Belgium, Fatos Mahmutaj, has given a statement to Euronews Albania regarding the serious event that has shaken Brussels, where an Albanian citizen was found hanging from a traffic sign on the city's main ring road.
According to Mahmutaj, the victim was found near the Anderlecht neighborhood, an area in southwest Brussels, where several of the main traffic arteries intersect and a well-known shopping center is located.
"The victim was found outside the Anderlecht neighborhood, which is one of the southwestern neighborhoods of Brussels, one of those neighborhoods where many of the main streets and arteries of Brussels intersect. Nearby is a well-known shopping center and somewhere nearby, on one of the street signs, this person was found hanging from a cable," Mahmutaj said.
Journalist Mahmutaj emphasized that the victim was not known to have any criminal records, while investigations are being conducted on three main leads, where according to the Belgian police the first lead is related to a possible conflict with people from the underworld; the second lead is possible involvement in drug trafficking and the third lead is suicide.
Investigators are also taking the suicide case seriously, after some acquaintances of the victim received a mysterious message from his phone, in which he wrote: "I'm going to the next world."
"The victim is not known to have a criminal record. Track number one speaks of involvement in serious crimes, but this contradicts the fact that the person is not known to have a criminal record. Track two, for involvement in drug trafficking, is not that there is evidence, but we have evidence of a telephone message that came from the victim's phone and was sent to relatives, which says: 'I am going to the next world,'" the journalist said.
However, suspicions have also been raised about a murder scenario, due to the strange and unusual way the body was found.
Mahmutaj added that forensic experts and prosecutors have been at the scene, but there is still no official conclusion.
"The investigations are rightly raising the possibility of execution, because they say: if he wanted to commit suicide, he could have committed suicide in his own home and not gone out there. This has raised suspicions, but until it is clarified, it is unnecessary to talk at this time," he said.
The journalist said that speculation about an execution similar to those of Mexican cartels has been made by Belgian media, due to the way the body was connected with electrical cables - a method that resembles several documented cases in Mexico.
But, according to the journalist, such a comparison is hasty and unfairly burdens Albanians living in Belgium.
"Hypotheses about murders similar to Mexican cartels have been put forward by Belgian journalists, considering the way the victim was found — tied to an electrical cable. They have put forward this idea after such executions were carried out by cartels in Mexico," says Mahmutaj.
Asked by journalist Ilir Kazaferi if it is possible that the victim committed suicide, Mahmutaj said that this hypothesis cannot be ruled out, especially because of the message he sent.
"The suicide track is strengthened by the message that has reached his acquaintances, which says that he is fleeing to the other world. As for the place where he was found, it was a place with vegetation. He was a person without a criminal background. The parallelism with the Mexican cartels simply burdens the Albanian community, but does not solve anything. Official conclusions are expected very soon. Belgian justice functions efficiently, so we must wait for the investigation to understand the truth. The body was taken by forensic medicine and at the moment there is no official statement," said journalist Mahmutaj.
Lini një Përgjigje