Valon Belja, the DUI official who was shot twice in the leg on Thursday after an argument with Cair mayor Visar Ganiu, was violently threatening Ganiu in the past.

At one point, Belja reportedly left a bullet in the office of former Cair mayor Izet Medziti, as a threat after Medziti refused to endorse his appointment as head of the Retirement Fund. Belja was working in the Cair municipality, and was eventually appointed as co-manager of the Cair clinic by DUI, but he was angry at Medziti and later Ganiu for cutting his salary from the municipality.

On Thursday, Belja reportedly called Ganiu for a meeting, but Ganiu called for a reinforcement. Five people showed up and one of them shot Belja twice, wounding him. Belja is the latest in a line of DUI officials and members who were killed or wounded in party infighting. Belja was a civil sector activist, through the Realiteti NGO, before forming a small party that first merged with DPA, and then joined DUI.