by Teuta Mema
Making public the Communist Secret Police archives is a moral necessity. The documentation of anti-human activity which took the lives of thousands of innocent Albanians must be entirely exposed. It is the right of all the people persecuted by the Communist Regime to learn the truth. The same significance is in the political realm; to consolidate a new democracy it is absolutely necessary to expose the identities of the spies of the Communist State Security – who, easily blackmailed, can work against the interests of the country.
In an interview with the Voice of America, Remzi Lani, Executive Director of the Albanian Media Institute said, “We came to Washington, invited by the State Department, for a visit organized by the American Embassy in Tirana for meetings with American institutions: the Department of State and the National Security Council, about… the image of Albania in the world.”
The question arises to any decent Albanian: What could Remzi Lani have said to the State Department or the National Security Council that they did not already know? Might he have said that his Communist State Security bosses had sent him to convince the American high officials to ignore communist crimes? Or did he confess that he, himself, as a Communist State Security spy, soils the image of Albania in the world?It is unknown what Remzi Lani said in Washington, but we now know what the former political prisoner, anti-communist writer, Dode Bajraktari, had said during an interview with the journalist, Anila Dodaj.
“I have had a terrible life in the communist prison; it cannot be put into words. Even now, I still cannot believe what a life it was. I was sentenced on the 20th of March in 1979, charged with ‘agitation and propaganda against the Peoples’ Power.’ I was then 39 years old. Three people testified against me, one of whom was Remzi Lani. When I was released from prison, the other two accusers asked for my forgiveness, whereas Remzi Lani remains proud of his actions. He falsely testified against me and put me in prison for ten years.
Remzi Lani accused me of reciting verses of poet Gjergj Fishta, that I had made propaganda for Faik Konica, and that I kept the Bible in my home. These three accusations which he fabricated were enough to condemn me to rot in prison.
I had seen Remzi Lani on the street, but I was never acquainted with him. I had never had a coffee with him, or even spoken to him throughout my entire life. To convince the State Security that he knew me, one day he came to my house. On that day, we talked about a novel written by Teodor Laço, who wrote about some teachers who walked on a snowy street, and nothing more. But Remzi Lani had intentions otherwise. He wanted to justify his later accusations.
I learned of the accusations after five months of horrific interrogation. Communist Interrogators continued to torture me inhumanely for five months. When they put me in the interrogation cell I weighed 88 kilograms. After four and a half days, when they took me out of the cell, I weighed 56 kilograms. So, through terrible tortures, they had caused me to lose 32 kilograms - while I did not even know who my accuser was.
During the trial, the terrorist communist jury based its decision on the recorded testimony that Remzi Lani had made at the State Security Operative as he did not accept the normal practice, to come face-to-face with me during the interrogation. At the State Security office in which Remzi Lani served, he had crafted a long testimony. During the trial, he was brought in to read it in the presence of 1100 people.
Remzi Lani felt proud, very proud, about what he had fabricated. He held his head up high. In contrast, the two other accusers felt very ashamed and discredited, so much so that they could hardly find the door to exit.
Remzi Lani had good reason to falsely testify against me. He wanted to get a scholarship to university, which he could not achieve in an honest way because he was a degenerated student in high school. The State Security rewarded spies for what they did, a fact he knew very well. Remzi Lani received the scholarship he longed for because of his service while I was locked up in a terrible prison cell.
The Communist Secret Police Archives must be opened. He who has gotten lice cannot remove them using his fingers. Either he has to disinfect them or burn his coat. Communist spies are very heavy burdens on the shoulders of the Albanian people. Today all of the communist spies have created the most powerful businesses. They need to be removed from the government and institutions because a communist spy is not suited to be the director of an institution and moreover institutions like the media.”
Translated from The Albanian by Hilda M. Xhepa
Making public the Communist Secret Police archives is a moral necessity. The documentation of anti-human activity which took the lives of thousands of innocent Albanians must be entirely exposed. It is the right of all the people persecuted by the Communist Regime to learn the truth. The same significance is in the political realm; to consolidate a new democracy it is absolutely necessary to expose the identities of the spies of the Communist State Security – who, easily blackmailed, can work against the interests of the country.
In an interview with the Voice of America, Remzi Lani, Executive Director of the Albanian Media Institute said, “We came to Washington, invited by the State Department, for a visit organized by the American Embassy in Tirana for meetings with American institutions: the Department of State and the National Security Council, about… the image of Albania in the world.”
The question arises to any decent Albanian: What could Remzi Lani have said to the State Department or the National Security Council that they did not already know? Might he have said that his Communist State Security bosses had sent him to convince the American high officials to ignore communist crimes? Or did he confess that he, himself, as a Communist State Security spy, soils the image of Albania in the world?It is unknown what Remzi Lani said in Washington, but we now know what the former political prisoner, anti-communist writer, Dode Bajraktari, had said during an interview with the journalist, Anila Dodaj.
“I have had a terrible life in the communist prison; it cannot be put into words. Even now, I still cannot believe what a life it was. I was sentenced on the 20th of March in 1979, charged with ‘agitation and propaganda against the Peoples’ Power.’ I was then 39 years old. Three people testified against me, one of whom was Remzi Lani. When I was released from prison, the other two accusers asked for my forgiveness, whereas Remzi Lani remains proud of his actions. He falsely testified against me and put me in prison for ten years.
Remzi Lani accused me of reciting verses of poet Gjergj Fishta, that I had made propaganda for Faik Konica, and that I kept the Bible in my home. These three accusations which he fabricated were enough to condemn me to rot in prison.
I had seen Remzi Lani on the street, but I was never acquainted with him. I had never had a coffee with him, or even spoken to him throughout my entire life. To convince the State Security that he knew me, one day he came to my house. On that day, we talked about a novel written by Teodor Laço, who wrote about some teachers who walked on a snowy street, and nothing more. But Remzi Lani had intentions otherwise. He wanted to justify his later accusations.
I learned of the accusations after five months of horrific interrogation. Communist Interrogators continued to torture me inhumanely for five months. When they put me in the interrogation cell I weighed 88 kilograms. After four and a half days, when they took me out of the cell, I weighed 56 kilograms. So, through terrible tortures, they had caused me to lose 32 kilograms - while I did not even know who my accuser was.
During the trial, the terrorist communist jury based its decision on the recorded testimony that Remzi Lani had made at the State Security Operative as he did not accept the normal practice, to come face-to-face with me during the interrogation. At the State Security office in which Remzi Lani served, he had crafted a long testimony. During the trial, he was brought in to read it in the presence of 1100 people.
Remzi Lani felt proud, very proud, about what he had fabricated. He held his head up high. In contrast, the two other accusers felt very ashamed and discredited, so much so that they could hardly find the door to exit.
Remzi Lani had good reason to falsely testify against me. He wanted to get a scholarship to university, which he could not achieve in an honest way because he was a degenerated student in high school. The State Security rewarded spies for what they did, a fact he knew very well. Remzi Lani received the scholarship he longed for because of his service while I was locked up in a terrible prison cell.
The Communist Secret Police Archives must be opened. He who has gotten lice cannot remove them using his fingers. Either he has to disinfect them or burn his coat. Communist spies are very heavy burdens on the shoulders of the Albanian people. Today all of the communist spies have created the most powerful businesses. They need to be removed from the government and institutions because a communist spy is not suited to be the director of an institution and moreover institutions like the media.”
Translated from The Albanian by Hilda M. Xhepa
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