By Adriatik R. Dosti
The murder that shocked Albania….! –
Memorie.al / Such was the case of Dashamir Fagu, one of the legendary Albanian volleyball athletes of the 1970s-80s, which happened in the early hours of the morning of August 3, 1991…! Although the foggy smoke spread by murderers with “clean hands” and by the criminal Communist State Security, which although living in its last days and hours, was still as sadistic and murderous as it had been, for decades in a row… word of mouth spread the news that Dash Fagu had passed away as a result of a heart attack!
….I’m shocked and shocked that I’m gone, when that ordinary morning of August 3, 33 years ago, I was going to work as usual on my bicycle …somewhere at the corner of a building near the block of prefabs, at the entrance of neighborhood “Ali Demi”, I saw the announcement of the death of Dash Fagut…!
Dashi, not only had I known him for years and respected him a lot, even as a sportsman, but also as a neighbor to Tirone, where we often greeted each other, with mutual respect…but also from the fact that, his wife his, Athina (Tina) Leno, a great women’s basketball champion of the “Partizani” team, at the time of Astri Grevë and Njazi Lleshi and a member of our National women’s basketball team, had been my school friend… even her sister and Aries’ sister-in-law…Diana, for years, was my classmate, even at the bank at 8 years old…! And continues to be to this day, one of the special and wonderful friends of my childhood….!
I hastened to find out the truth from family sources first, and then in other ways and in conversations between mutual friends… and for years, it has tormented me beyond measure, this criminal murder of his… ! This very serious tragic event that shook Tirana and all of Albania at that time… and this bitter and naked truth, in respect of his life and brilliant career, of his very honored and respected family… of Tina and , to her and Aries’ two children… well, to all those who knew her or even heard a little bit about her… today I’m making it public and I’m sharing it with you…!
Who was Dashamir Fagu…?
He was born in 1950, in a Tirana family in the alley between the Pedagogical school and the former Diplomat store… and he was the only boy among 4 sisters…!
His passion for sports was evident from his childhood, so like many others, he was initially framed as a youngster, which he was, among the youth teams of “Tirona”, but he would soon change his mind and, he would go to “Partizani”, with whom, under the guidance of the great Albanian volleyball coach, Andon Kona, a few years later, he would achieve extraordinary successes and have a more than brilliant career…!
He plays for this team, in the role of shooter … for almost 16 years, 1968-’84, where together with the famous Ylli Tomorri, Ver Duravaku, Lash Macaj, Bert Borova, etc., in fierce rivalry with “Dinamon” of that time, of Vangjel Koja and Asllan Rus, …they would give their “Partizan”, 3 Championship titles (1973,-’76,- ’81)…as well as 4 Cups of Albania… (1971,- ’74,- ’77 – , ’82)…!
Aries was physically strong and had the parameters of a world-class athlete, in all indicators and in all directions…!
Even his “Partizan” of that time in the European edition of 1973, would go all the way to the quarter-finals of the Champions Cup, where after they successively eliminated the champion of Turkey “IETT” and that of Italy “Ruini”, … the draw put them in front the Soviet Union…and here their big dream, to go further, is extinguished and overturned…since Albania did not compete in any kind of competition or sport at that time, with the Soviet revisionists…[???]
Meanwhile, Dash Fagun, or in other words the “Twin” of Asllan Rusi…, as they had extraordinary similarities between each other, everywhere and in every indicator,… the same physique, excellent and decisive on the field for their teams, aggressive in diving , wonderful as boys in life…etc., etc.,…”Dinamo” would have him present as its permanent reinforcement, in almost every international match it held, just as the National Team had Fagu as one of its strongest points in those years, in all the many international meetings, which took place…!
In addition, Fagu and Rusi were both opponents on the field, as well as friends and close friends with each other, so the tragic event that happened to Asllan in 1975 shocked Dashi a lot, but even if it ended in himself, made him more serious and silent than ever before…!
He had already learned a lot about this event and, perhaps, knew something more than the others, so he suffered very badly from everything that had happened and was happening to his close friend, Asllan Rusi… and how you mean,…Aries was seething inside like a volcano, which could not wait to explode….!
So much so… in 1983, after the death of the Russian legend, Dashi would end his long sports career a few months later, even though he still had a lot to give, because he was only 31 years old… and still a lot powerful and in a sporty shape to be envied by everyone…!
The events of ’91…and his poisoning…!
The violent political events that gripped Albania at the beginning of 1991, where the communist-dictatorial system was taking over and breaking its neck, found Dashi as a physical education teacher at the “Skenderbej” United Military School!
Here he will stand out from the others, for the positions he held where he was openly in favor of the people who had taken to the streets and squares and demanded the overthrow of that criminal system… as well as with the respect and authority he enjoyed among his students, he had managed to convinced most of them not to go after their military and civilian commanders and leaders, who demanded that everything be resolved by force of arms and bloodshed…!
Dashi would even risk his life, as he did not allow the violent opening of the weapons depots, there … where the hysterical crowds of angry soldiers demanded the restoration of the bust of the dictator Enver Hoxha, again in the center of Tirana…!
Of course, Dash Fagut at that time…no one could forgive such attitudes and actions, precisely in a military school founded by the dictatorship…so immediately his name was put in a red circle…!
And this year…a few months after the violent events of February – March 1991…in the middle of July, the Volleyball Assembly takes place…!
Here Dash Fagu, stands up with courage and great courage and sternly and with the force of logic and argument, asks the leaders of the relevant federation to open the file of the murder of Aslan Rusi and find the murderers and criminals who led to his death. .! In the meantime, he publicly vows that he would do whatever he had in hand to uncover the naked truth, no matter how bitter it was…!
This strong signal, coming from a pretty reputable name, such as Dash Fagu, seems to have hit the alarm sirens hard and scared quite a bit those up there, who were actually the real killers of the Russian legend….!
On the morning of August 2, 1991, after having a coffee with a friend of his in the neighborhood…called by someone or he went by himself…Dashi also consumed a coffee and a colored drink at the Central Officers’ House (where today it is the seat of the Democratic Party), where together with him at the table, there were a “companion and friend” of his, a doctor, as well as a third unknown person (at least according to the doctor’s subsequent depositions)…!
After drinking the coffee and the drink … after almost half an hour … he did not feel well, … he was filled with cold sweat and asked to return home …!
During that day and especially at night, there were fainting spells…headaches and stomachaches, vomiting and even hemorrhages…and a few hours later…the morning of August 3, 1991 dawned…that colossus and physically powerful…the giant Dash Fagu, who he had never suffered from any kind of illness in his life and he had never drunk even a single aspirin…, he had closed his eyes, never to open them again,…at the age of 41…!
“No signs or symptoms of the heart”… – say his family members, who categorically deny the news that spread secretly and, to lose track, the next morning after his death, that Dashi allegedly died, as a result of a cardiac arrest…!
The fatal mistake of his family members, was the fact that they did not accept that the body be autopsied… preserving the privacy of, respecting the tradition and customs of their family…! But this “brought water to the mill” of those who committed this macabre crime…who were looking for it….!
The loss of traces…who then disappeared from the scene to not be seen, heard and looked for me…and after the end, they achieved their criminal goal, that he, who threatened them publicly, that he would also find in the mouse hole, the real killers of his former friend and close friend, Asllan Rusit…, they had already physically eliminated him…!
After that, no one dealt with this story – pure and tragic murder…no investigation, no open case,…no kind of trial,…no charges…and no…completely “accidentally” and not even for routine work, negligence and closed job …….absolutely NOT!
The simplest logic normally leads you to ask even today after so many years…! “More, who were those people who invited him for coffee… did they invite him, call him or did he go himself… where did they go… who served him the coffee at the Central House of the Army… who was the waiter, the bartender… who was this the “unknown” person, who according to Dash’s other friend at the table….(the doctor) …was also unknown…?! What about this doctor, his “friend and comrade”, who was he, what did he want right there at that table, in the wrong place and time, etc., etc.?! These are the questions they were looking for, but even today they require urgent and clear answers…!
Although the answer is already as clear as the light of the Sun… “Dash Fagun poisoned and killed the former State Security of that criminal time, where even though he was in his last days, he had remained as criminal and murderous as what” you had been for years…!
And you think that; only in the span of 9 years, 1982-’91, Albania was shocked by three major murders of elite athletes, symbols, icons and legends, as they were; Skender Halili, Asllan Rusi and Dashamir Fagu… and their killers were never publicly revealed, never for these macabre murders, nobody was accused or arrested… neither was the accused tried, let alone punished…?!
It makes you want to scream at the top of the sky, in the midst of the terrifying terror where the murderers and bloodthirsty criminals of that sadist-communist system still live without a single thorn in your feet…! KILL! Memorie.al
