Ballist Morina's wife relates about suffering: Anxiety with two children and the other in the womb, waiting for...

October 14, 2014, the Partizan Stadium in Belgrade, played Serbia-Albania. It lasted only 42 minutes because a threat flew over the stadium waving an Albanian flag, with two photos of Ismail Kemal and Isa Boletin, the map of ethnic Albania based in Skenderbeu eagle and inscription “Autothonous”. It was an incompatible thing for Serbs, which only one thing they could not accept, in their home for more. Attacking our players, protecting the flag, breaking the match and then impossible to play. Albania later found its right in KAS, receiving victory at the table, a gift from the sky, or more precisely from Ismail Morina, who later became famous with the nickname “Balkans player”.

It was that sonar's idealist with the red flag waving over Belgrade, and since then Morina became a public enemy to Serbs, who were looking for her at all costs. He became a hero in Albania, but if the people never forgot, somewhere up there, to those who govern us, they gradually distanced themselves, to avoid even deepening the conflict with Serbia, charging that Morina had acted in co-operation with the Albanian government. In fact, Morina had acted alone and then remained alone enough to think for herself, having received signals that Serbs were doing everything to retaliate. They stopped the day before Albania-Serbia on October 7th 2015, unlicensed weapons and since then launched an absurd opposition for Morina: without a passport until this summer. Morina herself in Italy, passports in Albania and a process that never ended. The inevitable happened: Ballist came to Albania in June to attend his father's funeral, but on 12 June, on his return to Italy, he was stopped in Croatia by Croatian authorities at the border. Lack of the passport was a major problem, but an international arrest warrant issued by Serbia was also revealed. From there the nightmare began for Morina, but it was also for his family. “Sports Express” has contacted Ballist's wife, Federica Lo Toro, who has not parked a real nightmare all these weeks because she has kept two young children alone and another will soon come to life, while often traveling from Italy to Croatia to help her husband, being a lawyer's profession. Although she has suffered no little of this time, Lo Toro has not been demoralised and confessing her family's crazy wine, tries to take her in a mood: Croatian “Pushime, which is much better than Serbian ones. We hope Ishmael will come home now”.

Of course, everything is related to your husband, Ismail Morina, as his arrest in Croatia is a very important issue, all of which are interested in Albania in the hope that everything will be closed in the best possible way.

Thank you, we all hope so. It has been a terrible period, but we already hope that the situation will receive solutions and support has not been absent from Albania, and that is why I thank everyone -- from the Albanian Football Federation to the highest authorities, without any doubt forgetting the Albanian people's support for Morina. We've pretty much received almost daily information about the Ballist situation, but being in closer contact, can you tell us how it is being processed to reach its long - awaited release? As you have learned, Croatia's Supreme Court has returned the issue of his extradition to Serbia for the first time. The Dubrovnik Court will deal with the retrial, as it was the same court that 3 weeks ago ruled Morina's extradition.

Why this step by Croatian authorities, since the matter has been reviewed in Dubrovnik once?

Resumption of the case has been taken because of procedural irregularities. Being also a lawyer by profession, I traveled all night when Ismaili stopped at the Croatian border in June. I arrived at the right time for the session in Dubrovnik, where Ismaili had been appointed an office lawyer who did not actually show up, because he did not even know Italian and we had no communication. The entire session was performed only in the presence of a translator who had no idea of procedures and collection of documentation before him. This is one of the violations of the hearing where the decision was made to extradite Ismaili.

Now, what about bringing back the review case? )

Yeah, of course it's good news. First, a step has been taken after the Croatian state, which has already realised the importance of the issue, thanks to intervention by Albania. Second, the court in Dubrovnik this time has the opportunity to fix its mistakes. Why is this protracted procedure being followed? Perhaps Croatia does not want diplomatic clashes with Serbia and has already decided to return the case to the court in Dubrovnik, to lift responsibility from the Supreme Court or the government. Of course, it is also a delicate issue for Croatia, which does not want to create problems with neighbouring countries, nor with Albania.

Why did all this start? )

It all relates to the lack of Albanian passport for Ismaili. He has been confiscated from police passports in Albania for more than a year and a half. It is truly absurd because Ismaili has been without a passport for almost two years, and this indicates that the system has a huge abnormality because the passport does not provide any evidence of crime, nor has Ishmael stopped moving to Italy. When he left in Albania, he went smoothly, even having a document from the Albanian consulate, but returning Croatian border authorities made extensive verifications due to lack of passport and then a warrant issued by the Serbian state was issued. Was Morina aware of this warrant? Actually, no. Since the event occurred in 2014, we took an interest in an international warrant, but it was not registered anywhere, nor in 2015. By 2016 there has been no such request from Serbia, so we thought it was closed with that story, but after Ismaili's ban, we were informed that Serbia has issued more than a year's detention order, accusing Ismaili of crime and insults of Serbian honour, and other similar charges.

First of all, he might have crossed the border without further verification. Second, if there were passports, it would have been released on bail, pending trial and final decision. Without a passport, Croatian authorities could not allow him to move freely, as he could easily leave Croatia and not come back. How did the extradition procedure to Serbia stop? )

In fact, the reaction from Albania has been strong. There has been great interest in the Federation, but also the Albanian government. When Ishmael first stopped, it seemed simple, but when Dubrovnik's decision came out, we realized that he was in serious danger. I spoke to Ismaili's parents, explained that the situation was very serious, unlike what they were told, even from different politicians, that it was a trivial matter, and that it would be resolved quickly. They too realized the importance of what was happening and needed an interview in Ismaili's brother Giwehir's media so that the issue could be enormous and all activated from the media to the state. Initially, when Ismaili stopped in Croatia, there was very little reaction, perhaps even because it was an election time in Albania. I called to the Albanian consulate in Croatia on June 12th, but I can't communicate with her and they told me she would call me, which didn't happen. I found the Croatian lawyer myself, paid him, and started working on the defence strategy, while after Ismaili's brother spoke, there was strong reaction from Albania as well.

- What strategy did you pursue for Ishmael's protection? )

Together with the lawyer, we have requested a halt to extradition, given that Ismaili is life threatening in Serbia. Even unlicensed weapons have had his fear of a potential attack. Now we are waiting for two processes -- the first one, the one in Dubrovnik, where we ask for the annulment of the extradition, while the second is for political asylum, after we have argued that Ismail Morina's life is at risk in Serbia and the warrant for arrest in his charge is like a death penalty. Exactly how the Albanian state is now operating.

- Actually, it's absurd that it went all this way. Ismaili was not protected after the match in Serbia and chose the way of self-defense, which was not taken into account as protective thesis following the ban in Albania, but that Albanian authorities are now using to argue why he should not be extradited to Serbia. It would be good to have the process in its charge in Albania completed long ago, but the passport has been given only now, following the ban in Croatia. Who has helped most from Albania to change the decision by the Croatian state?

The Albanian Football Federation has been very helpful, it has been very active in recent weeks and has stood by its envoy and talked with the lawyer who is protecting Ismaili, they met leaders of the Federation of Croatia and many other people. We are grateful because it took a movement of all to accomplish the goal of canceling the extradition. Even the Albanian government has been active, I have been informed that Prime Minister Rama himself has intervened, even though he does not know other details about his conversation with Croatian authorities.

When is Morina's opposition expected to end, and what are the options?

The decision to review the matter was made two days ago, so we still do not know when the new session will take place. Hopefully as soon as possible, maybe within a few weeks. The first scenario is to cancel extradition and Ismaili is free to return to Italy. The second is that in Dubrovnik there will be no change in the decision, and that means we will appeal again to Zagreb and there will be months of procrastination again. As for Serbia, he can do whatever he wants, even in absentia if he wants to. How does Ishmael psychologically cope with all this? He's been under tremendous tension. Even with us were limited, 15 minutes a week, no more, while his greatest fears were transfer to Serbia. For him, the violation in Serbia was equal to death.

How have you experienced this situation, since you are also pregnant? )

It's true, I'm now in the sixth month and it's not easy. I've always gone to Croatia with our two children, who are 3 and 5 years old, because I have no one left in Italy. It's a pretty embarrassing situation, because even kids don't really understand what's going on and they always ask me about their father and why we're not home. I brought them to see their father, and they were afraid to keep us inside. There were also delicate moms, I had health problems when we were in Zagreb, and I had to return with urgency to Italy, but fortunately from the Albanian Federation, they stood by us and helped us a lot, in every direction, also providing our travel tickets to Italy. Finally, how big are the hopes of Morina being released? Nothing is done, but the perspective is good, we have high hopes. Finally, we are seeing light at the end of the tunnel, and Croatian authorities are looking at the issue differently, and certainly there will be another treatment of Morina in Dubrovnik, as has changed its behaviour since it is currently held. Beyond the delay, it is important for Ishmael to return home, and we thank all who have assisted him.