Friday, April 24th 2026
The widow of Sergeant Afrim Bunjaku, who was killed in the line of duty when the Kosovo Police was attacked in the north of the country by an armed group of Serbs in 2023, tells Radio Free Europe the memories of his life. Lumnije Bunjaku says she is anxiously awaiting the court verdict to be announced on April 24 against those accused of the attack in Banjska, where her husband, declared a Hero of Kosovo, died.
These are the only two words that Lumnije Bunjaku says best describe her husband, policeman Afrim Bunjaku, who was declared a Hero of Kosovo after he was killed in the line of duty when an armed group of Serbs attacked him and his colleagues, in 2023.
“Sometimes I say: If he had made me sad just once, I would have remembered him”, says Lumnija, as she sees his large photograph with a black tape, which occupies the main place in the living room of the family home.
She says that she was afraid of the dangers of the profession that her husband was aiming for, since the time they got married, 30 years ago
But, as Lumnija remembers, it was a passion that he had no way of supporting.
“He has always loved this profession. They say that even as a child, when they asked him at school what he wanted to be, he said: ‘I want to be a policeman,'” she recalls for Radio Free Europe (REL).
This desire was fulfilled for Afrim Bunjak in 2001, when he started working as a policeman. of Kosovo.
During their entire life together, the Bunjaku couple, together with Afrim’s parents, and their four children, lived in Samadrexha in Vushtrri.
The village is located about half an hour away from the northern area of Kosovo, where inter-ethnic tensions have been constant since the end of the war in 1999.
This area, inhabited by a majority of Serbs, has continuously opposed the recognition of the Kosovo authorities, while the tensions there culminated on September 24, 2023, with an armed attack on the Police in the village of Banjské in the municipality of Zveçan, where Sergeant Bunjaku was killed.
According to the Kosovo authorities, with this attack there was an attempt to annex the northern part of the country.
“Every time something happened there [in the north], as if my heart felt it, I said that I would to send Afrim there. He was always ready, he was never lazy to go”, Lumnija tells REL.
In the early hours of Sunday morning, Sergeant Bunjaku was in the first reaction patrol of the Police, in the village of Banjské.
During the fight between the attackers and the policemen, which lasted for several hours, four other policemen were also injured that day. Three of the attackers were killed.
Bunjak’s bravery and dedication to work, although they make him proud, were often a source of anxiety for Lumnija.
“He has never been afraid in his life. Believe me, when he was going [to the north], I felt in my heart that he would go [and react] first. I told him: Approach, I saw God, when something happens, don’t run. the first [to react]”, the 52-year-old woman confesses.
“If they killed Afrim, kill me too”
Before the attack in Banjska, as Lumnija recalls, her husband had been serving in the northern area for several months.
She says that she had started to get used to this routine, and that her daily anxiety was fading.
But that changed. on the night of September 24, although she was not aware of what was happening in the north.
“…I didn’t fall asleep until around 3 o’clock. After that, I fell into a deep sleep. The yard was filled with policemen, doctors. They knocked on the door. I went downstairs,” Lumnija recalls for REL.
“I told them: If they killed Afrimi, kill me too,” she says, with a voice that she trembles, as she looks through the closet full of photos, acknowledgments and memories from her husband’s life.
Lumnija says she found it very difficult to accept her husband’s death.
She remembers as if in a fog when, a few days after the event, her husband was declared the Hero of Kosovo.
“In those first days, to be honest, I didn’t even know what a hero is… After a while, we had many visitors, they gave us hope. But, in the beginning… I don’t know.
Over time, Sergeant Bunjaku’s widow said that she started to find more strength, to replace the boredom with his good memories. They say that time heals wounds, but it was very difficult,” she says.
The Special Prosecutor’s Office of Kosovo has filed an indictment against 45 individuals for the Banjska case.
For three of them, who are in custody, the Basic Court in Pristina will announce the verdict on Friday afternoon, while the others, who are on the run, has refused to try them in absentia.
For three of them the defendants, Bllagoje Spasojevic, Vladimir Tolliq and Dushan Maksimovic, the Prosecution has asked for life imprisonment.
“We also ask for life imprisonment. Even though he [Afrimi] does not wake up, it can be some relief”, says Lumnija.
In the few times he had free, Afrimi, according to Lumnija, was very busy at home and in agriculture.
“He enjoyed working the land. Recently, he kept some chickens. Until now, I have had those chickens… I didn’t like them. But after he left them [as a memory], I couldn’t get rid of them. He had it as a hobby,” she says.
Unlike her husband’s work in the field, Lumnija dedicated her time to taking care of the children and the home.
With her husband, she says they faced the great difficulties of life, such as the death of their first son, in an accident in 2012.
The image of her husband, Lumnija says she now sees every day in the other three children: a girl and two boys. Her youngest son is 13 years old, while the other two are in their 20s.
The widow of sergeant Bunjaku says that she and Afrim had plans for their old age, which did not go beyond their modest house in the village.
“He planted trees and said that maybe the boys will not stay here [in the village], but where the nephews and nieces come [they will enjoy them]”.
In his eyes Lumnije, Afrim’s dedication, as a husband and father, had made him a hero long before he was declared as such by the state.
“Now all of Kosovo knows us, but they knew Afrim well even before this incident happened. When you asked someone about him, everyone knew him well”, she says.
The Kosovo Police continues to be the main authority that maintains order in the north of the country.
The state army, the Force of The Kosovo Security Service (FSK) does not have the right to go to that area, according to an agreement that dates from 2013, between the Government and the peacekeeping forces of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) – KFOR.
In the north of Kosovo, in addition to Bunjak, in a police action in 2011, the policeman Enver Zymeri was also killed. He was also from the Vushtrri area.
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Source: prizrenpost
Etiketa: Brief
