By Dashnor Kaloçi
Part Three
Memorie.al / Exactly 48 years ago, on May 31, 1977, somewhere on the outskirts of Tirana, in a place that to this day remains undiscovered, a firing squad set up on special orders from the then Minister of the Interior, Kadri Hazbiu, executed with a bullet in the head, Abdyl Këllezin Koço Theodhosin, and Xhavit Sallakun, who had been arrested in 1975, accused by Enver Hoxha, as the main leaders of the “Saboteur Group in the Economy”. Along with Këllezin and Theodhosin, two other ministers, Kiço Ngjela (Minister of Trade) and Vasil Kati (Minister of Foreign Trade), were sentenced to 20 and 15 years in political prison, respectively, and several senior officials from the Ministry of Economy were also sentenced to heavy sentences.
Këllëzi and Theodhosi, former members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Albanian People’s Party, deputies of the People’s Assembly and deputy prime ministers and ministers for more than three decades, were among the few from the top leadership of the Albanian People’s Party who had studied and graduated in the West, since the period of the Zog Monarchy, and likewise, Ngjela and Vasil Kati, had studied abroad and had returned to Albania immediately after the occupation of the country by fascist Italy, to join the partisan ranks, even with leadership functions. By striking this so-called “Hostile Saboteur Group in the Economy”, Enver Hoxha was striking the “brain of the Economy”, since from the end of the war until that time, Këllez, Theodhosi, Ngjela and Kati, had held key functions of the Albanian economy.
While these things are already very well known, as much has been said and written about them in the more than three decades since the collapse of the communist regime, Memorie.al has secured several documents belonging to the fund of the former Presidium of the People’s Assembly of the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania, headed by Haxhi Lleshi, who at that time examined the issue of the “Saboteur Group in the Economy”, based on the reports and information reports sent to it by the High Court headed by Aranit Çela, which also conducted the judicial process against that “Group”.
In addition to the above, the documents in question also include the requests of Këllez and Theodhos (in their own handwriting), sent to the Presidium of the People’s Assembly, for the pardon of life, as well as the minutes of the meetings of the Presidium of the People’s Assembly, with the discussions of Enver Hoxha (who also gave the report at the beginning of the meeting) Haxhi Lleshi, Spiro Koleka, Shefqet Peçi (two vice-chairmen of the Presidium of the People’s Assembly), Telo Mezin (secretary of the Presidium), Jovan Bardhi, Muharrem Sefa, Nuredin Hoxha, Pilo Peristeri, Rrapo Dervishi, Spiro Moisiu, Zina Franja and Maliq Sadushi, members of the Presidium, which we will publish in several issues, along with the relevant photos and facsimiles.
Continued from the previous issue
DECISION of the CRIMINAL PANEL OF THE SUPREME COURT, ON THE SENTENCE TO DEATH BY SHOOTING, OF XHAVIT SALLAKUT, FORMER VICE-CHAIRMAN OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF TIRANA AND CHIEF ENGINEER OF THE INDUSTRIAL CONSTRUCTION ENTERPRISE IN BALLSH
POLICIAN SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA
SUPREME COURT
CRIMINAL PANEL
NO.125.1 Reg. Fundamental
NO.121 1 Decision
DECISION
“IN THE NAME OF THE PEOPLE”
The Judicial Council of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court, formed under the chairmanship of:
Eleni Selenica – Deputy President of the Supreme Court
Myftar Hoxha – member of ” “
Liri Gjoliku – member of ” “
in the open court session on 16. IV. 1977, considered case No. 125 concerning the defendant:
XHAVIT SALLAKU, son of Ymer and Mejreme, born in 1929, born and residing in Tirana, social origin middle-class civil servant, social status civil servant, expelled from the Party, with higher education, married, has two children, no previous convictions, engineer by profession, decorated with the third-class order for distinguished state and social services, arrested on 27.4.1976.
ACCUSED of: having betrayed the Fatherland in the form of espionage, having sabotaged the socialist economy, causing significant damage to state interests and for agitation and propaganda against the popular government, thus committing the crimes provided for by articles 64, 72 and 73/1 of the Criminal Code.
By Decision No. 67 dated 25.3.1977, the Fier District Court declared the defendant guilty and, based on Article 64 of the Criminal Code, sentenced him to death by execution by firing squad, with confiscation of property, deprivation of decorations and electoral rights for five (5) years. Based on Article 72 of the Criminal Code, he was sentenced to death by execution by firing squad, with confiscation of property, deprivation of electoral rights for five years and deprivation of decorations.
Based on paragraph I of article 73 of the Criminal Code, he is sentenced to 9 (nine) years of imprisonment. Finally, by combining the crimes under article 48 of the Criminal Code, he is sentenced to death by firing squad, confiscation of property, removal of decorations and electoral rights for 5 years, and ordering the defendant Xhavit Sallaku to pay N.S.H.N.I Ballsh the amount of 299,984 lek.
The defendant has appealed this decision, who has submitted these statements for its annulment.
“I, the charges for which I was convicted, have not accepted for a long time, but from the physical and psychological violence that the investigator has done to me, I have accepted them, I have never done such things. The correspondence that I have had with my wife is reprehensible, but it proves my innocence. It is not true that I have fulfilled the tasks of Russian espionage, through Piro Gusho. The damage that was caused to the work of Ballsh, was done without hostile intent, but by negligence. The conclusions of the experts are not correct, because they are also based on my false explanations.
The control of the welds in the XII ultra-ray apparatus, was done since 1973, in the 11,000-ton tanks, in the welding of the coke columns and in the welding of the reactor and the generator in 1974. The damages to the Gjanice River are not correct. The expert report states that materials worth 77,000 ALL have been damaged, because the warehouses have not been built. This is not true, because the warehouses that were foreseen have been completed since 1972 and they have been sufficient. The order of construction of the plants has been determined and taken by the investor. The investor has taken the warehouse for the material-technical supply of the chronological objects, which he has not done since 1973. I can bring evidence that even in 1975 they were not completed. Finally, I request the annulment of the decision and to be punished for my false statements”:
JUDICIAL COUNCIL OF THE CRIMINAL PANEL OF THE HIGH COURT
After hearing the report of member Liri Gjoliku, the opinion of prosecutor Skënder Breca, who expressed their support for leaving the decision in force, and after reviewing the case in its entirety,
NOTES
It has been proven that the defendant Xhavit Sallaku has committed the crime of treason against the Fatherland in the form of espionage, has agitated and propagated for the undermining and weakening of the state of the dictatorship of the proletariat and, through sabotage, has damaged the economic basis of our social order, to the extent of 299,984 ALL.
Contrary to what the defendant Xhavit Sallaku claimed in his appeals, his guilt was proven in the statements of witnesses Dhionis Çonçe, Xhavit Muharremi, Zenel Baho, Fejzo Bino, Pandeli Stroni, Rodolf Konomi, Spiro Sofroni, Hasan Hasani, Marko Malaj, etc., in documents, in the correspondence he had with his wife, Ira Sollaku, during the time he was in the isolation rooms, from the content of which his hostile activity emerges, in the conclusions of technical experts, and in his own full statements, made both during the investigation and during the trial of the case.
From the materials in the file and administered by the court, it has been proven that in 1949, he went to study in the Soviet Union in the city of Leningrad and there in 1952 and there he was put in the service of Soviet Intelligence, through the supervising professor Pavel Mihailovich. Initially, this defendant gave Soviet Intelligence data from the attitude and opinion that the foreign students who studied with him had, among them he denounced a Korean student, who said that the Soviet Union did not give Korea much help, just as the USA gave to South Korea.
He denounced a Mongolian student, who said that there is no meat in Mongolia, since the Soviet Union takes it, etc. In 1955, the defendant married the Soviet Ira Sallaku and in 1954, he returned to Albania where he initially worked as a construction engineer, then as a construction site director/chairman of the Executive Committee of the People’s Council of the Tirana district, until 1965, when two of his brothers were convicted of treason against the Fatherland in the form of an attempt to escape abroad. Over the years, the defendant Xhavit was transferred as a construction engineer to the “Mao Ce Dun” Combine, and in 1968, as a Chief Engineer of the Berat Construction Enterprise.
From 1954, when the defendant came to Albania, until 1960, he provided information of a highly classified state secret to Soviet intelligence through agent Valentina Peza and the advisor to the Soviet embassy in Tirana, Novikov. It has been proven that upon completing his studies and before returning to Albania, the defendant Xhavit Sollaku met with his supervising professor and he assigned him the task of delivering the data needed by Soviet Intelligence in Albania through Valentina Peza. The defendant, diligently fulfilling the requests of Soviet espionage, in 1957 and 1959 sent the supervising professor, as instructed by the latter in Leningrad, data on the work he and other Albanian students were doing there.
In 1959, the defendant himself came with a delegation to the Soviet Union and after the delegation ended, he stayed to spend his leave with his wife. In the same year, the defendant met in Tirana, with the advisor of the Soviet embassy Novikov, unmasked by our party for his subversive activity against our country, the aforementioned asked the defendant to continue his espionage activity in favor of Soviet Intelligence. Upon his departure from Albania, Novikov gave the defendant instructions that he would maintain subsequent connections with Soviet Intelligence through a person who would present himself under the pseudonym “Selim Muço”.
The latter would be recognized by the defendant by giving him the slogan; “The five-pointed star, greets you”, and the defendant would respond: “Ezzeni greets you”, and this is how it was done, in January – February 1962, the defendant was called by Piro Gushoja on the phone and told him that he needed to meet with him about a housing issue, and when he came to his office, he told him that he was “Selim Muçoja”, he gave him the slogan and the defendant, the counter-slogan and they agreed that all the data that interested the Russian Intelligence, from now on he would hand it over to this, the defendant acted in this way until 1965, at which time two of his brothers were convicted of crimes against the state, in order not to compromise the enemy Piro Gusho!
After being dismissed from the deputy chairman of the Executive Committee of the People’s Council of the Tirana district and after being expelled from the Plenum of the Party Committee of the Tirana district, the defendant was transferred to Berat. During the period 1965-1968, the defendant was ordered by Piro Gusho to behave well, to work and to camouflage himself as much as possible, in order to gain the trust of others, and not to leave any doubt about his activity.
With the enemy Piro Gusho, who at that time was the first secretary of the Party Committee of the district in Berat, the defendant also became the chief engineer of the Berat Construction Enterprise and, later, he was transferred to Tirana to the Ministry of Construction and, at the request of Piro Gusho, he became the director of N.N.I. Ballsh. During the years 1972-1975, the defendant Xhavit Sallaku, continuously provided the enemy Piro Gusho with important information on the Metallurgical Plant in Elbasan, as well as on the phases, the volume of the work to be built in Ballash, on the number of workers, on the capacities of the work, on the equipment and the various contracts that had been signed with the People’s Republic of China, etc.
The enemy Piro Gusho, in addition to the information he requested from the defendant Xhavit, gave him instructions that during his activity as director, he should do his best to sabotage the construction of the work and discredit as much as possible the fraternal assistance that the P.R. of China was providing. The defendant Xhavit Sallaku, in order to achieve his counter-revolutionary goal, throughout his entire activity, spread the spirit of liberalism among his subordinates. He has encouraged debauchery and the violation of discipline during socialist work and property. He has not implemented the requirements of the projects, but in contradiction to the assigned tasks has violated them, has spread the methods of self-administration, using materials without criteria and giving a part to the agricultural cooperative. With his illegal orders, 186,834 lek were spent without criteria from the misappropriation of the funds of the work, using these for the reconstruction of buildings, for the construction of private apartments, etc.
In 1972, 66,229 ALL were spent on gas pipes for the boiler which has not yet been completed and which will not serve the work at all. He has dragged out the construction for a long time. Thus, after the lime kiln in Aranitas was delayed for two years, the expenses that represent only the difference in lime transport amounted to 47,000 ALL, after the lime was taken from Ura-Vajgurore. The Ballsh-Poçem road was not done as per the project, for the removal of gravel from Mollasi, taking gravel from Çerveni and Qesarati, which was too far away and increased the cost to 332,500 lekë, the Levan-Kallm-Kashisht road was paved without the investor’s approval, spending the amount of 232,365 ALL, etc.
He has increased the cost of the work, from the 251 million that was estimated, to 325 million ALL. Due to his liberal attitude towards work, he has deliberately caused 1,200 working days to be lost, for violations of discipline and 2,720 working days for granting permits on illegal roads. Meanwhile, for not respecting the technical conditions, there has been a damage of 33,732 lek from the construction work, 12,902 lek in the assembly work and 136,922 lek, the value of the damages that were caused during the works on the Gjanica bed.
He has squandered socialist wealth, giving 25,230 lek to the generalists, 12,146 lek to the mechanists and 387 lek to the asphalt-concrete workers. He, with hostile intent, did not build warehouses for the storage of socialist property and as a result of this activity, damaged socialist property worth 77,425 lekë. They allowed materials to be sold in a crooked way and not to document the entries and exits of goods, which allowed socialist property to be stolen and wasted. Thus, the defendant, fulfilling the tasks set by the Soviet Intelligence, under the direction of the enemy Piro Gusho, sabotaged in all directions the construction works of the Ballsh project, he by breaking discipline, not implementing the plan, damaging socialist property, not implementing the requirements of contracts, selling materials in a crooked way and in violation of state laws, etc.
In addition to the spirit of liberalism that the defendant has spread and which has helped him to realize his hostile goals, he has spread and stimulated technocratic manifestations. According to the statements made by the defendant himself and the statements of several witnesses, especially the observations of the workers, it appears that the defendant has always been guided by technocracy. He has seen every action with the eyes of a technocrat, for this he has relied only on intellectuals and people with bad political makeup, even on political prisoners who have worked in the field. He has ignored the opinions of the masses and, as he himself has stated, despised the working class.
Through these actions, the defendant has been able to sabotage and damage the economic basis of our social order, to the extent of 299,984 lek. In addition to the crime of treason and sabotage, the defendant has also committed the crime of agitation and propaganda against the people’s power. Thus, with various persons, he has boasted of the political course followed by Soviet revisionists, etc. He has called our Party guilty of breaking relations with the Soviet Union and other former socialist countries. On the other hand, the defendant Xhavit, by carrying out the tasks of the Soviet agent, has worked to discredit the friendship between our people and the people of China.
As can be seen, the defendant Xhavit Sallaku has committed three acts that pose a very high social danger. His own person also poses such a danger. This defendant has been in the service of Soviet Intelligence since 1951 until the date of his arrest. For a long period of time, he has collected and provided the agency as a foreigner with data that represent a particularly large state secret, which, with his hostile actions, has caused very significant damage to both the political and economic basis of our social order. His worldview has been completely bourgeois-revisionist. There are two brothers convicted of crimes against the state.
FOR THESE REASONS
The Judicial Council of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court, in support of the first paragraph of Article 315 of the Criminal Procedure Code
DECIDED
The decision No. 57, dated 25.3.1977, of the People’s Court of the Fier district, shall remain in force
This sentence cannot be executed without the convict receiving a response for the pardon of life from the Presidium of the People’s Assembly.
Tirana, on 16.IV.1977. Memorie.al
MEMBERS MEMBERS Chairperson
L. Gjoliku M. Hoxha E. Selenica
Continues next issue
