The Punch That Exposed Kosovo's Rotten Press

A politician’s punch is not provocation or “self-defence.” It is authoritarian violence and the media that excused it helped assault truth, democracy and the public itself.

A sitting MP punched a citizen in the centre of Pristina¹ and too many of our media treated it like banter. That is the thesis and the shame. Instead of drawing a bright boundary around violence by elected officials, they blurred it, instead of defending the public’s right to challenge power, they mocked the citizen and massaged the politician’s alibi. A straightforward test of democratic reflexes became a showcase for propaganda habits, denial, deflection, moral mirroring, and the ritual smearing of anyone who demands standards. The message to rulers was clear, you can swing, and we’ll spin.

The facts are not in dispute. During a public interview, a citizen told Armend Zemaj, “You are all the same, you only lie.”

Zemaj answered first with an insult:

“Your mother and your wife are the liars” and then with his fist.

Police intervened. Later came the half-apology² “self-defence in affect,” not representative of his values. The LDK then inverted reality and framed the episode as an “attack a…