The boy killed the officer in Maliq, Violand Braçellari's mother speaks for the first time: The policeman shot first, he was not warned

The mother of Violand Braçellari, the perpetrator of the serious incident in which the Eagles' officer, Enea Mekolli, was killed and Edison Adri was injured, during a police operation in Maliq, has spoken for the first time.

In an interview with journalists, she gave her version of the morning of June 4, saying that the incident occurred in a sudden and tense situation. According to her, it all started with the arrival of the police at the premises where her son was.

Braçellari's mother said that her son did not live with the family regularly, but according to her, he mostly stayed in isolated areas and had occasional contact. She denied that he had cultivated narcotics in the family home.

Full interview:

Berdane Braçellari: I was there from the beginning, I entered the stable as always, I entered the other side myself, the boy entered on the other side. The boy never went to work, two workers just left and came. I had a feeling that we had always been protecting ourselves because of the police. The police came, I said to him; “Boy, they came”. The boy had jumped out of the calf window, there was a policeman. The boy comes up, the policeman hits him.

Journalist: You're saying your son didn't shoot the police first?

Berdane Braçellari: The policeman hit them first, then my son shot. The police didn't even say surrender, nor that they were police. Violandi was hiding in the corner and went upstairs

Journalist: How long had Violandi been with you?

Berdane Braçellari: Violandi didn't just stay with me, he was sentenced to 10 years. He didn't stay here with me, he just came sometimes to eat bread. He lived in the mountains, only in the mountains. He never went to the village or the city. This situation has been like this for 8 years. For 10 grams of hashish, they found two grams at home, then they made it 10 grams.

Journalist: Has your son ever grown hashish here?

Berdane Braçellari: Never, in Vlora we worked in construction, they paid lek, we bred 30 goats and brought them here to Lozhan.

Journalist: Is it true that the state has helped them with funds?

Berdane Braçellari: We got it. Not that he helped me, but there are state regulations here because I have livestock. No, Artan Hoxha says, hashish seeds, etc., Look at the house. What haven't we heard?

Journalist: How do you feel as a mother, a police officer passed away?

Berdane Braçellari: I'm very sorry, my son would have died too. Neither my son nor the policeman is to blame. Because the policeman is under orders. If he did this, he would have said; 'Stop'. This situation wouldn't have happened.

Journalist: Were there any cases when the police and Renea came first to arrest Violand?

Berdane Braçellari: Several times. They didn't do what these people did. Not that it was many times, I had one occasion.

Journalist: What message do you have for the family of the fallen police officer?

Berdane Braçellari: I'm so sorry, it's as if my son died. I'm sorry for him, I don't even know him, neither the mother nor the father, nor the son. I'm so sorry. I'm with them. I feel sorry for that boy. I don't know him and he doesn't know me. It's his duty.

Journalist: Will you meet Violand?

Berdane Braçellari: I will meet him because I have a son. With sorrow. I have been with him all these years.

Journalist: How is it possible that he was carrying a weapon, did you know? Are his lives only at risk from the police or others?

Berdane Braçellari: I didn't know he had a gun. I had never seen him with a gun. There's no boy who tells his mother he carries a gun."

Journalist: Have you ever tried to convince him to surrender?

Berdane Braçellari: Many times. He just got angry, he said I should be sentenced to 10 years for two grams of hashish, I don't go to the police. The hashish was not found in my house or in my car, but in an abandoned apartment."

Journalist: There have been rumors that Violandi has escaped all these years because he cooperated with the police.

Berdane Braçellari: What do you say? They had a lot of eyes on him. A lot of eyes on him, every checkpoint, from all four sides, wherever the boy went out, they would check his cars and what he had with him.

Journalist: The day before the event, did your shepherd leave work?

Berdane Braçellari: He left because we made him talk about how he would get 1 million lek salary if he stayed for more than a year. He stayed for 10 days and asked for 33 thousand lek per day. That's how much lek you have - I told him. He was very deceitful.

Journalist: Do you believe that Violandi has no connection to narcotics? There is talk of collaboration with the shepherd.

Berdane Braçellari: What they don't say. It's not about him reporting it to the police, he stayed there for 10 days. When did it become a narcotic, when was it sold for 10 days?