Original article (in Serbian) was published on 03/11/2022
A video in which a nurse repeatedly slaps an older woman, holds her by her hands and laughs at her has spread in the media and on social networks in Serbia and the region. Web Portal Alo announced that it was a Serbian woman being slapped by an Albanian nurse. The video really shows violence against a woman in Peja, and the Kosovo authorities have initiated proceedings against several suspects. However, the abused woman is not of Serbian nationality, as Alo and some social network users claimed. The woman is from the Albanian community, whose last name is Nura, and the Albanian language can be heard in the video.
“VIOLENCE IN THE NURSING HOME An Albanian nurse slaps and mistreats an old Serbian woman”, the web portal Alo.rs announced in its headline yesterday.
In the video Alo posted below, which lasts about one minute, a nurse is shown mistreating an older woman – she slaps her several times, holds her by her hands, and laughs at one point, and the laughter can also be heard in the background of the video.
In the following text, Alo claims that “incidents in the nursing home are increasing”, and they report that the Kosovo prosecutor’s office has initiated proceedings in connection with this case and that the Kosovo police have detained three people suspected of violence against a woman. In the entire text, however, Alo does not provide evidence for the claims from the title – that the woman is of Serbian origin.
The same video of the mistreatment of a woman with claims that she was a Serbian began to circulate on social networks. The video became viral on Twitter when it was shared on the account “Dr Branimir Nestorovic” with the description “a Shiptar nurse slaps and mistreats an old Serbian woman in the hospital while her colleagues are obviously supporting her and laughing at all this”.
The video was retweeted more than 400 times in less than 24 hours and gathered several hundred likes.
The same video, featuring a claim that the woman is Serbian, was shared today, among other things, on Viber groups “Istinom protiv plandemije” (“Truth against the plandemic”) and “Kovid biblioteka” (“Covid library”) as well as on YouTube.
According to Radio Free Europe in Albanian, the abuse occurred in the nursing home “Orenda” in Peja.
As the Kosovo fact-checking web portal Hibrid.info writes, the abused woman is not a Serb but a resident of Kosovo of Albanian nationality.
Euronews shared parts of the statement that the abused woman’s daughter, Zaneta Nura, gave to Dukadjini television – she said she was “shocked by the violence that her mother experienced”.
As Euronews further writes, the abused woman’s daughter stated that “four days ago, during a visit to the home for the elderly, she noticed signs of violence on her mother’s face, but she could not believe that it was done by workers there”.
“I visited her at least once or twice a week, and four or five days ago, I saw traces of violence on her face, but I couldn’t believe that in such an institution it could come from a worker. I automatically got my mother out of there, and now I hope that justice will be served and the case will be solved. It happened to my mother, but let’s not let it happen to others”, said Zaneta Nura, reports Euronews.
Several Kosovo’s officials spoke about the video of the abuse of a woman, including the President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, who called the mentioned case of violence “shocking, unacceptable and intolerable”.
The Montenegrin web portal Raskrinkavanje.me also wrote about the false claim that the abused woman was Serbian.