For us, he has always been hero”: Afrim Bulnjak's life from his wife's memories

Brave and patriot.

These are the only two words Lumniye Bunnjak says they best describe her husband, police officer Africa Bulnjak, who was declared Kosovo Hero after being killed in office when an armed group of Serbs attacked her and his colleagues in 2023.

I always say: Once upon a time, I would have remembered the”, says Lumniya, as she looks at his large black - taped picture, which takes the lead in the living room in the family home.

She says that she was afraid of the dangers of the profession her husband intended for since they got married 30 years ago.

But as Lumnia recalls, it was a passion that could not help.

“E always wanted this profession. They say that even as a child, when asked at school what he wanted to do, he said: I want to be a cop.  Radio Free Europe (REL).

This wish, Africa Bulnjak, was fulfilled in 2001 when he began his work as a Kosovo police officer.

Throughout their common life, the Bulnjak couple, together with the House parents, and their four children, lived in the Samurai of Vushtrri.

The village is located about half an hour from the northern Kosovo area, where interethnic tensions were ongoing since the end of the 1999 war.

This area, inhabited by Serb majority, has consistently opposed recognition of Kosovo authorities, while tensions there culminated on September 24th of 2023, with an armed attack on police in the village of Banjska of Zvecan municipality, where Sergeant Bunjak was killed.

According to Kosovo authorities, this attack attempted to annex the northern part of the country.

Whenever something happened around [in the north], as if my heart felt, I would say that they would send the Acfer there. He's always been ready. He's never intended to go”, he shows the River for the REL.

In the early hours of Sunday morning, Sergeant Bulnjak was on the first police response patrol in the village of Banjska.

In spite of the clash between attackers and policemen, which lasted several hours, four other policemen were also injured that day. Three of the attackers were killed.

Bulnjak's courage and devotion at work, although proud, were often a source of anxiety.

He's never scared in his life. Believe me, when he went [in the north], I felt my heart feeling he would go [and react] first. I would say: Africa, I saw God when something happens, don't you run first [to react]”, reports 52-year-old.

If they killed Avim, kill me too”

Before the attack on Banjska, as Lumnia recalls, her husband served in the northern area for several months.

She says she had begun to get used to this routine and that her daily anxiety was getting dim.

But this changed on the night of September 24, although he was unaware of what was happening in the north.

“ ...I didn't sleep until about 3. Then I fell asleep deep. The yard was filled with cops, doctors. They knocked on the door. I'm down”, remembering the River for the REL.

I said: If they killed Avim, kill me”, she says, with her trembling voice, as she swings her gaze through the closet filled with photographs, gratitude, and memories of her husband's life.

The man's death, Lumnia says it was very difficult to accept.

She remembers as in the mist when, a few days later from the event, her husband was proclaimed Kosovo Hero.

In those first few days, to be honest, I didn't even know what the hero was... After a while, we have surely had many visitors, and we have been given hope. Our pain was normally relieved. But then... I don't know”, Lumnia explains.

In time, Sergeant Bunnjak's widow says that she began to find more strength along with her children to replace her frustration with his good memories.

Now, just one bit, we're starting to adapt [with reality]. They say time heals wounds, but it's hardly been a lot of”, she relates.

Kosovo's Special Prosecutor has filed charges against 45 individuals in the Banjska case.

To three of them, who are in custody, the Constitutional Court in Pristina will declare the indictment Friday afternoon, while the others on the run have refused to try in absentia.

For the three defendants, Blagoje Spasojevich, Vdalmir Tolliq and Dusan Maksimovich, the prosecution has sought life imprisonment.

“We also require life imprisonment. Although it [approximate] does not rise, it may be a measure of relief”, Lumniya says.

“

In the few days that were available to him, Affliction, according to Lumniye, was very busy at home and in agriculture.

“has enjoyed working the land. Recently, he carried some chickens. So far I've had those chickens... I didn't have to. But after he left them [as a memory], I couldn't take them away. She had it like a hobby”, she says.

In contrast with her husband's field work, Lumniya devoted her time to caring for her children and her home.

Their husband says that they faced the great challenges of life, such as the death of their first son, in an accident in 2012.

The husband's image, Lumniya says that she now sees each other's three children each day - a daughter and two sons. Her youngest son is 13 years old, while the other two are in their 20s.

Sergeant Bulnjak's widow says that there were plans for old age that did not go beyond their modest home in the village.

He planted trees and said that maybe the boys wouldn't stay here [in the village], but when the grandchildren [will taste]”

In the eyes of Lumniye, the dedication of Affliction as husband and father had made him a hero long before it was declared by the State.

The “now recognises all of Kosovo, but the delivery is well known even without this case happening. When you asked someone about him, everyone knew him for good”, she says.

Kosovo police continue to be the main authority maintaining order in the country's north.

The state army, the Kosovo Security Force (FSK), does not have the right to go to that area, under an agreement dating back to 2013, between Government and peacekeeping forces of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) KFOR.

In northern Kosovo, except for Bunnjak, in a police action in 2011, police officer Enver Zymer was killed. He too was from the Vushtrri area. /Periscope