Albania’s ambassador to Athens was called to the foreign ministry in Athens on Monday and presented with a protest over the death of an ethnic Greek man a day earlier in southern Albania under still murky circumstances.
Developments were ongoing on Monday, with media in both countries devoting extensive coverage to the case. Konstantinos Katsifas, 35, was killed in a shootout with members of an Albanian police SWAT team just outside the village of Vouliarates on Sunday afternoon.
Some reports had the victim firing in the air, others directly against police, while still others said he was shot at close range. The motive behind the fatal standoff was also a point of contention.
Katsifas was described as holding strong views regarding the rights of the ethnic Greek minority in the area, and over the presence of a newly inaugurated Greek military ceremony.
Later reports on Monday claimed that there was no issue of a hoisted flag atop a hillside as being the cause of the confrontation.
The victim’s family has reportedly sued Albanian police and is also demanding an independent probe of the incident.
