From Dashnor Kaloçi
Part Thirteen
Memorie.al / Exactly 43 years ago, on the morning of December 18, 1981, the Albanian Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu, who had held that position since 1953, was found dead in his bedroom (according to the official version, from a bullet from a pistol) in the villa where he lived with his family, at the entrance of the “Block” of the high leadership of the Albanian Party of Labor, just a few meters from the building of the Central Committee of the Albanian Party of Labor and also from Enver Hoxha’s villa. Although more than four decades have passed since that day, considered one of the most serious and notorious events of that regime, there is still no clear and accurate version regarding what happened to the former Albanian Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu on the night leading to December 18, 1981! However, even after the 1990s, dozens of testimonies and archival documents have been made public regarding that event, “the murder or suicide of Mehmet Shehu,” which continues to be the subject of numerous debates and discussions, even wrapping it further in mystery around the truth.
Based on this fact, in the context of publishing dozens of testimonies and files with archival documents from the secret fund of the former State Security and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, or the Central Committee of the Albanian Party of Labor, which we have published over the decades since the collapse of Enver Hoxha’s communist regime and his successor, Ramiz Alia, Memorie.al has secured the voluminous file “of the enemy Mehmet Shehu,” which has been extracted from the secret fund of the former State Security at the Ministry of Internal Affairs (now part of the fund of the Authority for Information on the Documents of the former State Security), where, with a few minor exceptions, most of them have never seen the light of publication and are made public for the first time in full.
In the mentioned file, there are the relevant facsimiles, the expert report of the investigative-operational group that was set up immediately on the morning of December 18, 1981, led by Koço Josifi (head of the Investigative Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Tirana), the forensic doctors Dr. Fatos Hartito and Docent Bashkim Çuberi, the prime minister’s doctors, Milto Kostaqi and Llesh Rroku, as well as the criminalist expert from the Central Criminalistic Laboratory of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Estref Myftari, assisted by high officials of that ministry, Xhule Çiraku, Elham Gjika, and Lahedin Bardhi.
Also, in the voluminous file that we are making public, there are testimonies from the family members of former Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu, from the service personnel, and his escort group, as well as from all other individuals who were summoned and testified about that event. Moreover, the documents in question, which we are publishing along with the facsimiles and relevant photos, provide more information regarding this matter.
However, even though we are dealing only with archival documents, it should be emphasized that; knowing how that system operated before the ’90s, we cannot claim absolute truth regarding what is written there, as not only from the individuals who provided their testimonies, but also from the investigators of this case, it has been made known that the testimonies were obtained under pressure, intimidation, and physical and psychological violence, with some investigators going so far as to write them themselves while the witnesses or defendants merely signed them.
Continued from the previous issue
ARCHIVAL DOCUMENT, WITH THE PROTOCOL OF THE INTERROGATION OF THE PERSONAL SECRETARY OF MEHMET SHEHU, PEÇO KALLUCI, BY THE INVESTIGATORS OF THE MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS, BASHKIM CAKA
P R O T O C O L
(Of the witness interrogation)
Today, on February 3, 1983, in the city of Tirana.
We, the investigators of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Sokol Koleka and Bashkim Caka, interrogate the witness in the investigation:
- Name, father’s name, surname: Peço Tole Kalluçi.
- Date of birth: (day month, year), 1925,….Gjirokastër
- Education: Secondary.
- Place of residence: Neighborhood No. 2, “Marsel Kashen” Street, Building 21, Stair 1, Apt. 10.
- Position: Retired.
- Party membership: Party member.
- Criminal record: Not sentenced.
- ID number: ….
- Relationship with the accused: No family ties.
The investigator warned me about criminal liability, according to Article 202 of the Penal Code, for false testimony.
SIGNATURE OF THE WITNESS
Peço Kalluçi
Regarding the matter, I can say the following:
I know that Mehmet Shehu had many acquaintances with Kadri Hazbiu, Mihallaq Ziçishtin, Beqir Ballukun, Abdyl Këllezin, Llambi Peçinin, Llambi Ziçishtin, Gani Kodrën, Feçor Shehun, Nesti Nasen, etc., enemies. Even after Mehmet Shehu left the Ministry of Internal Affairs until he committed suicide, I remained his secretary until the end.
During the time Mehmet Shehu held the office of Prime Minister, I can say that for the materials that came to him as secret from the Politburo and the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of People’s Defense, I signed in the register of the person who brought them, and without opening them, as I was not allowed, I would give them to Mehmet Shehu.
What he did with them, I do not know, but he did not leave them in the office; rather, he took them in his bag when he went home. There were many instances when, after receiving some notes on them, he would place them in new envelopes and tell me, or directly to Ali Çeno, to send those with his officers, mainly Ali, to the mentioned institutions from where they had come. According to Mehmet Shehu’s instructions, Ali should take the signature on the envelope from the person receiving the material and bring it to Mehmet Shehu, who, after seeing it, would tear it up and throw it in the trash. But these secret documents would be sent without being protocolled and registered, according to the rules.
As for other materials he took home, like those from the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania, whether he delivered them or not, I do not know. For these irregularities, after a few years, in the meeting of the basic party organization, or the party bureau in the Prime Minister’s office, it was raised as an issue, but Mehmet Shehu, who was present, said: ……………………. (An unreadable line, our note) you cannot stop me from communicating privately with the friends of the Politburo, ministers, etc. Such letters and materials, until the recent times, Mehmet Shehu sent to Kadri Hazbiu, Feçor Shehu, Nesti Nase, Veli Llakaj, etc.
Mehmet Shehu himself did not have a safe in the office; I was the only one who had a safe, where I kept materials from the second hand, such as correspondence and letters with various ministries, with citizens, some materials for Government meetings, etc. I do not remember if Mehmet Shehu had photocopied materials from the Politburo, while for the Government, various ministries, and studies, he did, and even these he handed directly to Kadri Hazbiu, Feçor Shehu, Nesti Nase, Llambi Ziçishtin, and also to other individuals, who were the most frequent visitors to Mehmet Shehu’s office.
It would often surprise me that these individuals entered Mehmet Shehu’s office immediately, and Kadri Hazbiu was the only one who smoked cigarettes inside; he would tap them on the surface of the desk since Mehmet Shehu had removed the ashtrays from his office. The enemy Mehmet Shehu had a large Italian safe in the old house where he lived, divided into two parts (one above and one below), ………………(a line unreadable, our note).
He kept one key in the bedroom, but I never saw what was inside it. As Farije Koçiraj and Agustella Andoni, who worked for a long time in Mehmet Shehu’s household, told me, Mehmet Shehu used the upper part of the safe, while Fiqreta Shehu used the lower part.
When Mehmet Shehu and his family temporarily moved to villa no. 6 for the reconstruction of his house, Mehmet Shehu left the Italian safe in the old house and took a large iron cupboard with two sections from the Prime Minister’s office, which he hung on the second floor of villa no. 6.
I also remember that in 1976, for two consecutive weeks, Mehmet Shehu worked at the Party villa on the Durrës hill for the Strategic Operational Defense Plan. The materials Mehmet Shehu prepared, I typed up while he dictated them to me.
Then these materials were processed again at the Ministry of People’s Defense. During this time in Durrës, Veli Llakaj, Nazar Berberi, Llambi Gegprifti, Maliq Sadushi, Bejto Isufi, etc., often came to work with Hysen Qëndro on the maps, but Mehmet Shehu also had as a secretary in the Ministry of People’s Defense, Skënder Guma and another person.
At this time, here at the Durrës villa, a large heavy safe was brought for Mehmet Shehu, which was moved at night when they would sleep and guarded by soldiers. Three to four smaller suitcase safes, measuring 35 cm x 25 cm x 8 cm, in gray, with a handle on top and an automatic lock, were also brought, which Mehmet Shehu kept.
I do not know where these safes came from, but they passed between me. One of these small suitcase safes, Mehmet Shehu always kept with him at home, when he went on duty or vacation, but he never took it to his office. Mehmet Shehu would hold this safe himself and would not leave it in anyone else’s hands, except for the time when officers would put it in the car! What happened to this safe and what it contained; I do not know?
The last time I saw this small metal suitcase was in August 1981 when Mehmet Shehu had it with him in Durrës, where he was on vacation. As for the items of Mehmet Shehu that were transported from his house to villa no. 6, …………..(a line unreadable, our note).
At the time when the paperwork was being transported from Mehmet Shehu’s old house to villa no. 6, I was also involved. A part of his books was taken to the Party House no. 1, and the rest to villa no. 6. I do not know when Mehmet Shehu took the items he had in his safe in the old house, but he must have taken them himself.
I took his books, printed and bound speeches, that he had on his office desk together with Jonuz Luto, Vasil Leka, and I think Ali Çeno was also present. In the presence of Mehmet Shehu, we placed those in the iron cupboard he took from the Prime Minister’s office, and after Mehmet Shehu locked it, we left.
I also remember that when Mehmet Shehu went with Fiqreta to Mount Dajti for vacation, Jonuz Luto informed Mehmet Shehu that they wanted to paint the iron cupboard and the safe. Mehmet Shehu told them to paint them when he returned himself, and after he came back from Dajti, he entered the room where the safe was in villa no. 6, where he left us in the corridor, took something from a large bag, and then told us to remove the bound books and his speeches from there and place them aside so that the safe could be painted.
After Mehmet Shehu left, Sala painted the safe, but not the interior sides. Mehmet Shehu, it seems, left with the whole bag again to Mount Dajti. When the paint on the safes had dried, Mehmet Shehu told us to bring the books, the paperwork, and his speeches to the iron cupboard mentioned above; then he placed the things he had with him into the bag, which we did not see since we left.
Mehmet Shehu received quite a few books and magazines from all over the world, even without ordering them, and in addition, he would order many books using state funds for himself, Fiqreta, Vladimir Shehu, Bashkim, and all of these, both the magazines and the books, he would send to his house. It made an impression on me that the books and magazines came in my name or through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Committee for Relations with Foreign Countries.
However, for two magazines, one military illustrated magazine about armed forces in the world, which was in English, and the magazine “World Report,” also in English, they came directly in the name of Mehmet Shehu. In fact, the latter magazine “World Report” arrived from 1953 until 1966 without any subscription at all.
Of these illustrated military magazines about types of weapons, etc., I myself did not send them, and I do not know if Mehmet Shehu ever gave any of them to Kadri Hazbiu. After the suicide of the poly-agent Mehmet Shehu, it had occurred to me that in the Prime Minister’s archive, there was a draft speech that he thought he would deliver at the 81-party meeting in Moscow in 1960.
This speech, the enemy Mehmet Shehu delivered during the journey on the trans-oceanic ship “Queen Elizabeth” in 1960, to the UN. This is also noted in Mehmet Shehu’s own handwriting on this material. When he returned to Albania, Agim Popa processed this material, and then I printed it because Mehmet Shehu told me to keep it in the archive as a historical document. As for how well this material aligned with the party line, I cannot explain.
As I stated above, I read it and my statements are true, I sign it. Memorie.al
Witness Investigators
Peço Kalluçi Bashkim Caka Sokol Koleka
Continued in the next issue
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