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Portuguese citizen Ruben Saraiva, accused of being the executioner of Ardian Nikulaj, is sentenced to life in prison.
The Lezha Court has sentenced Ruben Saraivan to life imprisonment for the murder of Ardian Nikulaj, an event that occurred on April 19, 2023 in Shëngjin.
According to the verdict, Saraivan was found guilty of executing Nikulaj, a crime that shocked public opinion. The court hearing was held under tight security, with the victim's family members also present.
The investigations revealed the circumstances of the crime and led to the identification and arrest of the perpetrator, while the trial ended with the maximum sentence provided for by law.
On March 3, the Lezha Prosecutor's Office filed a motion, requesting a life sentence for the Portuguese citizen. On the other hand, the defendant himself has consistently denied any involvement in this event, contesting the charges throughout the entire trial.
According to the investigative file, Saraiva is accused of the criminal offense of "Murder committed for interest or revenge", as well as "Unauthorized possession and production of weapons, explosive weapons and ammunition".
The incident took place inside Nikulaj's hotel in Shëngjin, 'Coral'. The businessman was sitting in the hotel bar when the Portuguese man with a diving suit on his head approached and shot him dead.
According to the Prosecution, Nikulaj's murder was allegedly ordered by Edmond Haxhia, who lives in Great Britain, for blood feud motives. Four British citizens were also involved as accomplices.
The murder of businessman Ardian Nikulaj was the continuation of the chain of revenge that the victim's family has with the Lekstakaj tribe, a conflict that began in 1997, causing many casualties between the two tribes.
The Portuguese Saraiva arrived in Albania on February 14, 2023, a month before he executed Ardian Nikulaj, and left that evening for Greece. A few days before the murder, the British Thomas Mithan, Harriet Bridgeman, and Harry Simpson also arrived as an observation group. All of the British were arrested in England two weeks after the murder, along with Edmond Haxhi.
The London court allowed their extradition in August 2024 but they are awaiting the decision of the Court of Appeal.
How did the murder of Ardian Nikulaj happen?
Edmond Haxhia was the mastermind and organizer of the assassination. According to the police, Haxhia took revenge for his uncles, Elton and Klodian Lekstakaj, but despite this, for the two brothers, sources from the investigation group say that there is still no evidence to directly involve them in the execution of Ardian Nikuljat, for blood feud. The Portuguese, Ruben Saravia, was the executor of the plan, the person shown with a motorcycle and a phosphorescent vest who shot businessman Ardian Nikulaj to death with 7 bullets, while the other 4 British men had the role of observers.
The first to arrive was on February 14, the Portuguese Saravia, who appeared as a tourist in the Lezha area. He stayed at Haxhije's house in Kakarric. The British, including the couple Harry Simson and Harriet Bridgeman, arrived one after the other at different times, all disguised as tourists, but they gathered information on Nikulaj's movements. One of them, Steven Hunt, also stayed for several days at the Coral Hotel owned by Nikulaj, as is also a moment captured on camera when he enters the hotel at night and finds the guard asleep. Hunt is thought to have also managed to penetrate the business's security camera system, giving the group the opportunity to observe the businessman's movements in real time.
The escape and extradition of Ruben Saraiva to Albania
19 days after the murder of 51-year-old Ardian Nikulaj, Portuguese Ruben Saraiva was arrested by Moroccan authorities in a bar in the capital Rabat.
During the arrest, no documents were found on Saraiva, but Albanian investigators suspected that the 28-year-old had arrived in Morocco with false documents, as he had not left Greece regularly under his name, a country he used to leave through the Kapshtica border crossing on the day he killed Ardian Nikulaj, in the company of another Englishman, Harry Simpson. The Portuguese was then extradited to our country on December 31, 2023.
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