Former referee Lorenc Jemini, invited to A2 CNN, commented on Sunday's event, where the Kastrioti-Bylis match was suspended due to the threat of referee Juxhin Xhaja, who has been taken into protection by specialized police structures, as he feels endangered for his life and that of his family members.
"I, who have 20 years of experience in this field, find it abnormal that this should happen, but this thing has been simmering for a long time. The denunciation should have happened much sooner. We say it was threatened, but referees are threatened every day. They are pressured on the street, on the bus, at work... Pressure from fans, club officials and the president. While the threat is another thing, it took on large proportions because the Albanian Football Federation (AFF) reacted. I have denounced the threats many times, but they told me that "heh, we will deal with it".
My threats were made by leaving bullets on the table before the match, by pulling out a gun, they came out with a gun in the middle of the road. These threats start before the match, with anonymous phone calls or people sending you to training. Even now that we are talking, referees are terrorized", said the former referee.
"The state must intervene here. You cannot threaten someone on duty and continue as if nothing happened. Every week the referees are hit and what happens? This event was reported because it is atypical. If the referee was pressured directly, it would have been shut down. But the "technical error" was made because the family members were threatened", added Jemini.