“As long as Enveri and Mehmet Shehu are alive, this government will not change, but new leaders will come, like in the Soviet Union and will…”! / Depositions to Dom Shtjefën Kurti at the investigator, Krujë, 1971

NIKOLLË LOKA

Av. ALFDRED DUKA

NIKOLIN KURTI

Part thirty three

                – THE FORECAST MURDER OF A CLERGYMAN OF THE RENAISSANCE –

Memorie.al / Before we begin to briefly analyze the investigative and judicial file in charge of the defendant Shtjefën Kurti and others, for the reader we will make a parenthesis of the right and its history in human society, with the goal of coming to our criminal and procedural law, from its beginnings and throughout the years of the dictatorship.

                                                          Continues from last issue

                            A review of the first trial, to understand the second trial

                                                        I N F O R M A T I O N

During my stay in the isolation rooms in Tirana with Shqefen Kurti, he told me the following:

1- In the intervention that I organized in the house (room) where this person lived, in which evening I had 1 chicken and 1 kg. brandy and some cheese that Bardhok brought, while this person found 8 grains of eggs. The priest, Bardhoku, Zefi and Pjeter Biba, Pjeter’s children and Prenda participated in this evening. When the children fell asleep, we had this conversation:

Pjeter Biba told me that you had the opportunity to escape in time from Albania, where you had the pleasure of wearing; then he asked me if you were running away now, and I (the priest) said yes, and Peter told me where you were running away from; I (the priest) told him that I had fled to Yugoslavia for land, and from Yugoslavia I had gone to Italy and then to America.

Peter told me that he had taken us with him; I tell him I’m with you, we say go away. At this time Prenda was able to spur them on. Peter said to him: you rest. I (the priest) tell those friends that we will do this work when you want, at this time Bardhoku said, we will do this work well, but let us do well this work that we have started, i.e., (theft), but you Peter and Zef, you should be interested in case we are caught for theft, to let me know so we can leave before they arrest us.

I told you (the priest) that, as long as they went to Yugoslavia as the man I am (for the letter I wrote in 1930 about the treatment of Albanians in Yugoslavia), the government would have called me and they would have me walk around Kosovo. The government would have made me talk to myself. And he wouldn’t have allowed me to leave Yugoslavia. The government is unfaithful and bankrupt and stupid (the State Security is walking around Tirana), because this current government has been overthrown by others, its leaders have fled and others have come, with whom they are against them, as was done in the Soviet Union after Stalin’s death.

Peter Biba said: we are waiting. In the fall of last year, he invited me to a feast, I was invited there and I went. Peter raised his glass of brandy and then said: Christ be glorified, I (the priest) said to Peter, don’t let these conversations be in the eyes of the children, because they say it’s in their hands, you will tell how many times you drank milk at your nana’s. They said that I don’t have anything to do with it, that the priest has to serve the King’s Geraldine. He said this to change the conversation and of course with a laugh.

As far as I (the priest) know, that I have known, Bardhoku, Pjetri, Zefi, Nikolli, were often together on Pjetri’s back.

The communist who came several times to the priest, whom I wrote in the first information, was called Gjergj, who was introduced to me by Pjetri, because he was a close friend. Another communist, named Gjon Zef Leka, tried to approach me little by little, but he did not listen. The investigator asked me about many people I went in and out and had conversations with. As for this communist and some kulaks, they didn’t ask me at all.

The truth is that Pjetri’s family served us, that they would give him a bag of beans from the store; of the agricultural cooperative, and I have helped them constantly, even when I saw them, to buy a piece of bread. I said that this power is the power of the police and it has killed its own spies. He says that when I appear in court and the presiding judge tells me: Say the last word, I was told to bring me face to face with the people, like that good shepherd who is left alone. Whereas if we punish me by shooting and if we shoot me in the presence of the people, I have said: Long live the religion of Christ and down with Communism. Bardhoku is the one who told me everything he knows, because they lied to him and now they are releasing him.

Tell me the attitude of the investigator towards you:

When they leave me with someone I am very calm and they tell me the truth, I don’t tell anything. And when I say a good word to him, that man in the dungeon is not called to the inquisitor, only once a day and he is very calm. But when he is called twice a day and I ask him when he returns: Show me something, he tells me that Bardhoku has started to show and I have no reason not to show, because this government is bankrupt, let it be in a peaceful way when these people are replaced leader. Or from some external aggression.

But I am leaving you a bequest, that if there is any priest left alive, go to him once and tell him that I spent time in prison with Dom Stejfni and tell him that he also fought for this day. And he left a bequest that in the village where he was shot; they would build a monument to me, where they would write his name, the fight for free Albania. Even before I was arrested and I suffered in the cell. The first time before he was arrested in the cell, in the basement he hid a can of ropes, a good amount.

Tirana July 15, 1970,            Hajrullah Piranej

                                                            I N F O R M A T I O N

During my stay in the isolation rooms in Tirana together with Kurt, from dt. From 6/17 to 7/7/970 Shtjefa Kurti told me as follows:

1. They were impressed by such good treatment compared to the first former prison where they were given special food, good isolation room on boards and blankets.
2. Until the time that the churches were open and functioning, I remained passive, but when the churches were closed I became active, speaking against the popular power, telling you some villagers that I trusted like, a certain Bardhoku, Pjetër Biba, Zefi and any other that, this is the power of suffering, they take our products and we suffer for the bread of our mouths, in order to fight against this government. Where I have confidence, I encouraged them to steal agricultural products in the Cooperative, such as grains, potatoes, onions, etc.
3. Despite the fact that the churches are closed, I still performed the religious service, especially to the kulaks and other people. I performed these religious services in the house where I lived, saying mass, communions, baptisms, confessions and even religious (marriage) crowns, and for the latter he tells us a case where he had placed a crown on a son and a bride.
4. At the time of the closing of the churches, a person who had a pious dog to this (priest), when a meeting was held, and the basic organization of the party for religious errors, he said: Did this priest leave anything undone?!
5. In the village of Gurëz, as a communist says, who was a leading member of Koop. Bujqësore, he has not revealed the name of this communist yet, he has given us information every time about everything else that was discussed in the meetings of the organization, while the father and brother of this communist came constantly to the priest’s house where they discussed religious issues.
6. Most of the villagers we see in Koop. Farmers, such as Pjetër Biba, Bardhoku and Zefi, would tell me that they had stolen and I would give them the blessing, for example, Pjetër Biba told me once that you, Shtjefën, are giving us religious permission to steal in Koop. Agricultural and you told me that it is not a sin to have me (Pjeter Biba), I owe you 2,400 old ALL, can you pay me with stolen money and I said: yes, it is your hard work and sweat.
7. It is very scary, they arrested a certain Pjetri who had a residence in Gurëz, called Dom Doçi, and he is afraid that something will happen against him, because he was allegedly against him because I (Shtjefni) found out that Pjetri and Bardhoku they once stole a carton of corn from Dom Doc.
8. He also shows me the work of a clock he bought, which was then smuggled into our country. Then he told me what he told the investigator about:

• Who owes me?
• To whom did he sell the clothes that came from Yugoslavia?
• For an evening they had at his house with the participation of Bardhok, Pjeter Biba, Zefi and Prenda, and Pjeter’s daughter, Dava, was also present there.
• I showed the houses I built in Gurëz, when I was in Jube, Durres district.

The investigator focused on his guilt through these questions:

1. What did you talk about in the evening about escape, about the attitude towards our country from the Soviet Union?
2. The materials you have hidden.
3. The work I have done against the government to damage it and the fight to destroy Koop. Agricultural. For which I have shown everything I have.

He tells me about some work before the liberation of the Motherland.

1. Once, – he says, – I took about 100 villagers and took them to a meeting with the Pope in Italy. After the Pope greeted, a villager from Shengjin went and knelt before the Pope and said to him: Besa, you spoke very well about religion and Christ, but are you giving me 20 loads of reeds, so we can take them to your slaves because we have bread. Since this villager spoke Albanian, the Pope said to me, what does Dom Shtjefën say? Very well, I told him, thank you for waiting, so you didn’t tell him the truth, because it was insulting.
2. Once I took 60 girls aged 13-14-15-16, 30 from Tirana, 30 from Shkodra and took them to Italy, after a world women’s meeting, where these girls enjoyed seeing the Pope.
3. When Italy shot 3 young men, one from Plana in the Lezhë district, one from Malësia e Madhe in the Shkodra district and one from Mirdita, since they were Catholics, I went and performed the religious rites and assisted in the shooting there, before they to be shot they said: God bless Christ and the Albanian youth.
4. Then he told me about the high aristocratic life he has led, about the conditions outside his homeland, such as in Italy, Germany, Romania, Switzerland, etc.
5. He told me how he informed the Vatican about the situation in Albania during the years 1945-1946, in the midst of the French legation.

Tirana 7/7/1970

Hajrullah Pinaj

                                                            I N F O R M A T I O N

Date 16/V/1970

During my stay in the isolation rooms from 11/6/970 to dt. 16/6/1970 with Shtjefna Kurti, after he asked me where I was from, what work I did and after 3 days why I was arrested and then I started to form some tension, he (Shtjefni), told me his name and told me that he was from the village of Gurëz in the Krujë district, you told me that he had been a priest and spent 16 and a half years in prison and that he was released 7 years ago. Then tell me, they told me that I don’t know why they arrested me.

Later, he told me that an investigator called me and told me (the investigator): Tell me why we brought you here, I told him (Stejfni), you ask me because I am telling you, but he (the investigator) insisted. tell me myself When he (the investigator) called me the second time, I (Shtjefni), told him that I talked to the villagers, you showed them what life is like abroad; I listened to Radio Rome, the Vatican and America.

Then he told me that I (Shtjefni) told the villagers that you steal that you get your sweat. Later he told me how he had confronted a peasant from Gurëzi, who went to prison for theft, and in the confrontation he (the peasant) told me how I had given this peasant some books and burned them. Which were of religious content? This (Shtjefni), I add that I have some pictures of my masses with these books inside and these books were given to me at the time when some of my colleagues (priests) were arrested and later two of them were shot.

He told me that this person (Shtjefni) had translated a book from Italian into Albanian, which book was a war against communism, and after I translated it, I gave it to a priest.

Among other things (Shtjefni), he also told me these things, why all the products like corn, milk, other beans are taken from the village and sold in the city, while we in the village have nothing; they give us whey and this for 3 lek kg., which before the liberation, we used for pigs.

One night (Shtjefni) came to me and they brought me 1 kg. brandy and 1 chicken, after receiving communion we talked about the thefts. What is the truth, I have talked with them, telling you: steal because it is not a sin, take your sweat.

Then he told me about his surroundings, telling me that he has a brother in Yugoslavia in Pula, who has a son and a daughter in America, he also has a sister in Yugoslavia, a brother in Gurëz and two nephews in Tirana, to whom he says, I have made you a good house with my money.

He told me that he has two nephews in Shkodër, then he tells me about the life he spent before the liberation, living a good and luxurious life, he says he had cinemas, billiards, photography from which he had big profits.

He says that they want to finish work with me quickly, because as far as I know, they have arrested many villagers from Gurëzi and they (Shtjefnin) want to shoot me, but as far as I can see, they (investigators) want to kill me group leader, because this government has shot more than 60 priests.

I told him, – he (Shtjefni) says, that the war has already started, it can be fought against China with anyone and it goes to the aid of the Soviet Union, because it is thought that they are together in every point of view.

He told me that he was in Yugoslavia, Italy and Germany. He told me that after that he fled to Greece, then you went to Italy, you lived a good life, and you sent valuable clothes to your family, and then when the situation changed in Albania, you returned. He says that when today’s leaders change here, the government will definitely change as well, just as the government changed in the Soviet Union after Stalin’s death.

By ordering me to be very careful because there are spies in the prison, don’t trust anyone. Be very careful about what we are talking about together, about what I would say. All day and night in the isolation room, stay praying to Christ, they said among others, Christ says for you, I have done this against the infidels, so give me strength not to submit to them!

Tirana, 16/6/970

“Tomorri”

Hajrullah T. Pinaj

                                                       I N F O R M A T I O N

During my stay in the isolation rooms in Tirana together with Shtjefa Kurti, during this time he told me the following:

1. Bardhoku then had a lunch in which Zef Biba, Zef Nishi, Pjetër Gjergji, Uk Kosova took part, and Bardhoku also had a dinner where Zef Nishi and Pjetër Biba took part.
2. Once Shtjefni (the priest) made a dinner where he had: chicken, cheese, eggs and onions, bread. Uk has invited Kosovo to this lunch. Uke Kosova has said that: I am 100 percent against this Agricultural Cooperative and then Shtjefni, you must have more hatred than this government, remove religion completely and show them how religion (Catholic) is taking place in the whole world even and in the Soviet Union, because this is a truth and not as the communists say. As long as Enver Hoxha and Mehmet Shehu are alive, there is nothing from them, but the next one is coming, and he changed the system.

They kept telling them that Pjeter Gjergji and Llesh Nishi are good and loyal citizens, and I remember that these two were arrested. Peter Gjergji is a Koop storekeeper. Agricultural and has a daughter with his first wife and a daughter in Tirana. At the time when I was chairman of Koop. Agricultural, at this time he was in Koop. The priest’s brother is also an agriculturalist.

At this time there was some relationship with Zef Has, Pjetër Gjergji and his brother. So the priest, we were afraid for Pjetër Gjergji and Llesh Nishi. Until they said that I (the priest), since I was released from prison, I have never been to my nephews in Tirana, now he says that he has been several times, even now he says that he was once and there he found the son of Kola Jakovo.

He (the priest), says whenever I have traveled to Tirana, I have slept at Noc Sahatçia despite the fact that this is one of them (with your government, Sigurimi). I have often seen a Security officer come there, I even saw him when the ranks were released, and he was a major. At Noc Sahatcia, I listened to foreign radios such as the Vatican, Rome, and Noci himself did this, who told me that I (the priest) was really afraid of the Security.

Dava who has shown all these names that have come and gone to me, why didn’t she show that her sister often came to me with her husband. But he didn’t show that he wanted to protect them. When Luigi was released from prison, I (the priest) did not go to see him because we were afraid. Even after a while I told him that I could not come. Once I met with Luigi and I told him that I went to prison and my sufferings in prison, that now it is not like before.

… He told me about a Dod, who then went to the priest and helped him a lot with food from his spire, with milk, yogurt, cheese, and other brandy. He told me, the investigator carefully told me. I ask you to tell me who I am meeting with and who came to my house. The priest says that: I take away my flesh; I do not show that we take these people by the neck and put them in prison. The requests of the investigation are for thefts and other crimes in Koop. Agricultural and in agitation against the government. He says that: why more money is demanded from me, since I am a sworn enemy against this regime. He showed that he has a black cloth suit, at his brother’s in Gurëz.

Tirana 23/7/970

Hajrullah T. Pinaj

Today, on 24/7/970, Shtjefën Kurti was told that other people in Gurëz heard that, the former chairman of Koop. Farmer, Zef Has, gave a woman grain, and it is suspected that this grain was stolen. Yes, he also gave this woman straw for the cattle. Zef Hasi, has often given agricultural products. The priest says others have also received these, but he does not say who they are.

Likewise, he says that a woman he met in the women’s organization to go to Kruja for the problems of the women’s organization told her not to go, that they will slowly turn you into a communist and you will leave the religion of Christ. This woman was followed by the priest.

Tirana, 24/7/970

Hajrullah T. Pinaj

From Op.10.XI.70

Agostini appears shocked, he is afraid of being shot. They don’t believe him, he says, they call me a liar. That Bardhoku and Frani have told them that I have relationships with other people, that I have conversations with Ded Vuka and Zef Bici. Deda told me about the arrival of saboteurs.

In 1967, I came to Tirana with a school document, I met Bardhok and I told him to undermine the monument of Satlin, because I had taken dynamite with me. I told Bardhok about this action, we will take care. But Bardhoku told me that we should also talk to Fran Voci about this. I lied to Bardhok and Fran that I have relations with priests and criminals.

The prosecutor with the date 9-XI-70 told me that this is the ram of the monument, i.e., my head will go away. While on Sunday, some officers dressed in military, one spoke to the other in the Greek language, about the work of the monument.

Tomori

                                                     I N F O R M A T I O N

During my stay in the isolation rooms in Tirana, together with Shtjefa Kurti, he told me that:

1. When Dom Anton Doçi passed away on the appointment day, we gathered to celebrate; there was also another priest, whose name he did not tell me. Now he is afraid that these priests have also been arrested and that they will slander him (Shtjefni) after him. The suspicion of his arrest was formed because one day, he heard the soldiers say: did the priests come to Peter.
2. He says that he will tell the investigator himself that they discussed some other things with Llesh Nishi, which I gave to the investigator, that he told them how life was in capitalist countries.
3. He told me that, before we will make a visit next year to Switzerland and another country. Memorie.al

Tirana, 30/7/970

 Tomori

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