Britannia Daily has obtained disturbing video footage appearing to show an elderly Albanian man beaten unconscious on his own land by two younger men who had allegedly been carrying out illegal excavation and construction work there without his consent — before police arrived and arrested not his attackers, but the victim himself.
The victim, identified by Britannia Daily as Rexhep Ademi, can be seen on the ground being struck repeatedly. A Hitachi excavator is visibly present in the background of the footage, placing the attack directly on the land in dispute. A woman, believed to be a relative, can be heard in evident distress pleading for the violence to stop. Mr Ademi loses consciousness during the assault, yet the attack continues. Officers subsequently attended his home and detained him in front of his elderly wife.
Mr Ademi getting arrested by local police after being beaten unconscious
Sources who approached Britannia Daily allege that the two attackers have connections to organised criminal groups operating in Albania that unlawfully seize land from private citizens and develop it for commercial purposes, including resorts and other business ventures.
Britannia Daily has also learned that Mr Ademi had staged a protest outside SPAK — Albania’s powerful anti-corruption prosecutorial body — in the months before the assault. SPAK holds a broad mandate to investigate and prosecute high-level corruption, organised crime, human trafficking and abuses of power by public officials, including ministers, judges and senior police figures.
Mr Ademi protesting infront of SPAK court for his rights
The incident sits against a backdrop of deepening concerns over the rule of law in Albania. By 2024, more than 60 senior officials — among them ministers, MPs, mayors, judges and police chiefs — had been investigated or charged with corruption offences, according to available records.
It is not the first time alleged failures in the Albanian justice system have provoked a dramatic response. In a separate case, a citizen named Mr Shkëmbi opened fire on Judge Kalaja in a courtroom immediately after losing a property dispute, firing several times with a pistol he had concealed on his person. He had maintained throughout proceedings that he held original documentation proving ownership of the land.
Britannia Daily has approached Albanian authorities for comment.
