DRENAS, Kosovo — In February, a local news website in Kosovo published a shocking story: A teenage girl had allegedly been raped and abused for two years, first by a teacher and then by a local police officer, who forced her to have an abortion after she became pregnant.

In a Balkan region where gender-based violence has been a rampant problem, the girl’s tragic tale struck a nerve. Hundreds of people, mostly women, took to the streets in support of the teenager, chanting slogans against the police and judiciary, accusing them of failing to protect the rights of women, as well as their bodies.

“Shame!” and “Rapists to jail,” the protesters chanted in February outside the Kosovo Police Headquarters in the capital, Pristina. They carried signs that read in Albanian, “We have courts, prosecution, police, intelligence, but we don’t have security!” and “Who’s the next victim?”

Now the case has shaken the political leadership, forced a public discussion about the second-class status of women and exposed the shortcomings of Kosovo’s new state institutions.