Balkan Mystery: Who killed Chamber's self-declared president, Festus Lato?

From “Wall Street Journal”

The corpse Dutch police found in a ditch outside Amsterdam was naked last summer, cut in pieces and wrapped in garbage bags.

Investigators identified the victim as the 43-year-old Albanian, Festus Lato, who lived in a small town 70 miles from Amsterdam. What they didn't know was who had killed him or why.

Today, investigators suspect that the murder of Mr. Lato may be linked to his unusual work as self-declared president of what he called the Republic of Chamari, an area of Greece that once had a large Albanian population. His attempt to gain international recognition for his republic put him on a diplomatic tour of several small European states and the European Parliament. He slowly established a self-declared nation by issuing passports and organizing military parades at his home.

But behind this freedom fighter, the Dutch police found a fraud. Police said various Albanian and Dutch investors had given him hundreds of thousands, or perhaps millions of euros to establish the Chame republic, in hopes of success. His advisers appeared as diplomats and helped organise meetings with European leaders, but later complained that they had not been paid for their efforts.

Lato and his assistants offered citizenship in the Chame Republic along with passports of $500. His assistants link Mr. Lato's death to his dark ties in the Balkans and organised crime. Some supporters said he may have been killed by Greek nationalists who were alarmed by his plans to establish a nation along Greece's northwestern border.

“There were many people who had problems with the celebration, at the political and financial level,” said a Dutch police spokeswoman. “It's an extremely complicated investigation. ”

Chums have long sought recognition of the murder of their ancestors, who were expelled from western Greece for Albania during the end of World War II. After Albania emerged from the claws of communism in the early 1990s, the lame organisations began promoting their culture and demanding Greece's rights.

Lato had a more radical approach. It was from the coastal city of Vlora, but had lived in the Netherlands for more than two decades before a difficult period passed several years ago because of funding problems.

He was unknown among the main activists until he declared the creation of an independent Chummeria republic at a hotel in The Hague in October 2016.

Idajet Jahaj, a retired teacher from Vlora and friend of Mr. Lato's brother, said he was involved in this initiative despite his lack of tea. It was my dream to go to Holland,” said Jahaj. It was a great thrill to fly on a plane and watch all of Europe. ”

At his funeral ceremony, three men dressed in Chameria's Liberation Army coated faces with paint and marched with an Albanian flag.

Another year at another ceremony in Edinburgh, Lato signed an agreement with a nongovernmental group called the Organization of Nations and Independent Peoples. There, he was linked to two specialists who went to the ends of European politics: Jeroen Zardberg, a Dutch man who worked for The UNPO and called itself diplomat, and Yohan Byrdde, a political adviser and businessman born in Sri Lanka. They said they took Mr. Lato on a 10-day tour of several European capitals, including the Vatican, San Marino and Monaco.

Lato issued a constitution for his republic in September 2017. Lato and his aides also began offering citizenship along with passports for $546. They wrongly claimed that passports were valid in many European, US and Canadian countries, and could be used to invest in land and property.

In late September 2017, a delegation from the so - called republic visited Mr. Lato's hometown of Vlora, accompanied by dozens of Dutch investors. “He had a reliable history,” said a Dutch investor who had travelled with Lato.

Courts in Albania had sentenced him in absentia in 2014 and 2015 for fraud and smuggling, according to a Justice Ministry document, and he risked imprisonment if he returned.

Instead, he was turning his villa into a headquarters in the Netherlands. A video posted on the Facebook page of the Republic of Chemmeria showed that Lato was inspecting a military-style parade of 10 men wearing camouflages along with American, Dutch and Albanian flags. His former helpers say that hundreds of Albanians passed through homes, including many women to entertain Mr. Lato, who was divorced.

In February 2018, local authorities raided the property to check whether it is violating the borders of occupation. Officials found a dozen people living in marine beds and dozens of uniforms, said Martin Cupel, a city mayor.

Byrdé and Zardberg began to have doubts. Byrdé abandoned the project in early 2018. Zandberg said he was disappointed that Lato appeared more interested in photos with European politicians than bureaucratic slogans to further the chasm cause. Zandberg said he is a devoted diplomat of the nations not represented and worked for a separatist group in Indonesia. He said he invested time and energy in the present cause and that Mr. Lato often allowed him to lead talks at meetings.

Zandberg also said it was unclear what happened to investors' money.

In April 2019, a Dutch court declared Mr. Lato's bankruptcy after an investor demanded the return of 225,000 euros according to court files. He later opened an exhibition in the European Parliament dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the expulsion of Albanians in Chameria from Greece, but had to open it in a small room after Mr. Lato lost the deadline to apply to use a free hall, and could not afford the bill.

Then, on July 16th, Lato met with a businessman at a village café near Amsterdam, while Mr. Zandberg and other associates waited, according to police-published surveillance images. Lato left the café and took the businessman's sports car, who then threw him out of the car and left him on the street. The police, who refused to appoint the person because he is not a suspect, said they could not remember exactly where Mr. Lato.

Four days later, his body was found. At his funeral in Albania, his coffin was covered with a flag from his self-declared republic and accompanied by men in premiliary clothing.

Zandberg said his involvement with the Republic of Chamber is over and he expects Mr. Lato's death to remain a mystery. He has joined Mr. Byrdé again, and together they recently visited Somalialand, a self-declared state in East Africa