What began as a routine border crossing ended as an absurd drama. Three officials of the Vredi party, among them MP Bekim Ćoku and the deputy secretary-general of the Government, were held for more than an hour at the Ćafasan border crossing on 9 July, then turned back - the Albanian authorities denied them entry into the country.

The reason? Officially - none. That's precisely the most unusual part. Not a single explanation why state officials of one country aren't allowed to enter a neighbour with which they share so many ties. Ćoku himself offered a possible reason: his public support for the recent protests in Albania against Prime Minister Edi Rama. "If the reason is that I publicly supported the latest protests in Albania, that would be deeply worrying," he said.

And that's where the story stops being just a border anecdote. If someone is punished for expressing an opinion or backing a peaceful protest in a neighbouring country, then the question isn't just about one crossing at Ćafasan - it's about how much freedom of speech is worth the moment you cross the border. Vredi is right to demand an answer, because the silence of authorities in cases like these is never neutral.

For the people of this region, where borders have divided families, friends and communities for decades, an incident like this hurts more than it seems. Democratic standards aren't measured only at elections, but also at a border crossing - in whether the state lets you think differently without punishing you for it. The question that remains is whether this is an isolated whim or the start of something wider.