Assizes Liège: Shqiprim Avdyli is sentenced to 30 years for having committed the murder of his wife

The facts took place on January 10, 2019 in Herstal.

Fatlinda Bungu, the accused’s wife, was found dead. His death had occurred by asphyxiation. Shqiprim Avdyli had claimed to have found her in this state when she returned to the house they occupied on rue des Cerisiers in Herstal.

Shqiprim Avdyli evoked a possible suicide by drug ingestion. Drugs were found in the throat of the victim during an attempt to resuscitate by the emergency services, but the medical analyzes and the autopsy revealed an absence of drug poisoning and death by asphyxiation. The medical examiner had evoked a suffocation caused by the affixing of the hands on the mouth and the nose.

Not his brother

Shqiprim Avdyli had denied the facts. His lawyers argued that the facts could have been committed by the brother of the accused, after a sexual assault and an argument.

The jurors of the Assize Court of Liège had declared Shqiprim Avdyli guilty of murder. In the reasons for their decision, they had taken into account the disputes which had occurred in the couple and the deterioration of their agreement, in particular after the discovery by Fatlinda Bungu of significant expenses incurred by Shqiprim Avdyli. They had also taken into account significant contradictions in Shqiprim Avdyli’s explanations about his schedule, the fact that the scenario he presented was impossible and the presence of genetic traces.

In the reasoning of their sentencing decision, the jury and the court took into account the extreme gravity of the facts, their dramatic consequences, the personality of the accused who presents antisocial traits, his risk of recidivism and his lack of remorse.

After reading the sentence, the court ordered the immediate arrest of Shqiprim Avdyli. The defendant had appeared under the regime of the electronic bracelet and could therefore return home at the end of each day of the trial.