By Dashnor Kaloçi
Part two
Memorie.al / From the end of November 1944, when he came to power, until his death in 1985, the communist dictator Enver Hoxha, wanting to resemble his idol, Joseph Visaranovic Stalin, and following his “path”, from time to time undertook purges in the top leadership of the Albanian People’s Liberation Army, which he began with Koci Xoxe (and his group) in 1948-49 and ended in 1981-82, with the so-called “Hostile Group of Mehmet Shehu and Kadri Hazbiu”. In this time interval of more than four decades (he began the purges in 1941), as is now known, he eliminated almost all the founders of the Albanian Communist Party, members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Albanian People’s Party and the main leaders of the so-called “Anti-Fascist National Liberation War”, so much so that from 1960 until the collapse of the communist regime in 1990, only Pilo Peristeri had escaped prison or exile, enjoying the privileges of a lifelong candidate of the Political Bureau and the function of director of the “Enver Hoxha” Autotractor Combine!
But, unlike what he had done until the beginning of the 70s, where Enver Hoxha’s “sword” had mainly fallen on the senior leadership of the CPSU (Koci Xoxe, Kristo Themelko, Sotir Vullkanim Ramadan Çitaku, Tuk Jakova, Bedri Spahiu, Liri Gega, Gjin Marku, Koço Tashko, Liri Belishova, etc.), whom he had accused of “deviators of the Party line” and had condemned as “traitors and enemies of the people”, in the mid-70s, the dictator Enver Hoxha began to attack several members of the Politburo, who also held ministerial positions, such as Abdyl Këllezi and Koço Theodhosi, accusing them of being “saboteurs” of the Socialist Economy!
And just as he had done with Beqir Balluku, Petrit Dume and Hito Çako, (who were sentenced to death and shot), where to prove “their hostile activity”, Enver Hoxha sentenced to prison and exile a large group of senior officers, as well as the so-called “Saboteur Group of the Economy”, where in addition to Këllez and Theodhos, the two ministers Kiço Ngjela and Vasil Kati were also part, several senior officials of the Trade sector, directors and well-known specialists, such as Andrea Manço, Ahmet Jegeni, Bardhyl Frashëri etc., were also accused and sentenced, as well as of the Oil sector, such as; directors, engineers and well-known specialists, such as; Filip Nashi, Beqir Alija, Koço Plaku, Milto Gjikopulli, Protoko Murati, Dhimitër Stefa, Jani Konomi, Nuredin Skrapari, etc.
As we will see in the documents in question, the investigative process against the so-called “Saboteur Group of the Economy”, which was carried out by the Ministry of Interior and State Security, with fabricated accusations and evidence false or obtained under torture, etc., continued the Supreme Court of the People’s Republic of Albania headed by Aran Çela, “channeling” the accusations also from the “legal” side, to “confirm” what Enver Hoxha had said in the Plenums of the Central Committee of the Albanian People’s Party, against Abdyl Këllez, Koço Theodhos, Kiço Ngjela, Vasil Kati, etc.
As for all of the above, after the 90s, much has been said and written about all of them, both by members of those “groups”, their families, etc., etc., Memorie. al has obtained the archival documents of the Supreme Court of the People’s Republic of Albania of that time and the former Presidium of the People’s Assembly, where the “Hostile Group of the Economy”, “Trade” and “Oil” were examined, which see the light of day for the first time, documents which we are publishing together with the relevant photos and facsimiles.
In the first part and second of this series of articles, we are publishing documents concerning the former director of Makina-import, Andrea Manço, originally from the village of Boboshticë in Korça, whose brother Todo Manço, for years had served as chief engineer and director of the Bulqiza chrome mine, and also for several legislatures in a row as a deputy of the People’s Assembly, who when he passed away on November 6, 1974, was given a magnificent funeral ceremony, with homage in the center of the capital, where, in addition to Enver Hoxha, the entire senior leadership of the Albanian People’s Party, headed by Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu, participated. While Todo Manço, (“Hero of Socialist Labor”) would receive all these honors, his brother, Andrea, about two years later, would be tortured in the cells of the State Security and sentenced to death by firing squad, as an “enemy of the people” and “agent of the secret services” “foreign”, and his grave has not yet been found!
Continued from the previous issue
ACT- ACCUSATION OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA AND DECISION ON THE DEATH SENTENCE, BY SHOOTING, OF THE DIRECTOR OF MACINA-IMPORT, ANDREA MANÇO
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA
SUPREME COURT
No. 11. Basic Reg.
No. 11 of Decision
DECISION
IN THE NAME OF THE PEOPLE
The Supreme Court of the People’s Republic of Albania composed of:
Lumturi Resnja, Member of the Supreme Court
Mit’hat Goskova, Deputy Judge of the Supreme Court
Fehmi Lagreta, Deputy Judge of the Supreme Court
Assisted by the Secretary Sadik Mema, with the participation of the Prosecutor Edmond Sanxhaktari, today, on 20.5.1976, I examined in a closed court session, criminal case No. 11 concerning the defendant. By acting in this way, the defendant Andrea Manço was trying to realize his enemy’s goals, to sabotage the economic construction of the country and to open the doors of this sector to imperialism and social imperialism, which would have the opportunity to introduce as many spies as possible into Albania.
The administration of evidence in the court session confirmed that this electronic calculator worth 500,000 dollars still does not fully perform the function for which it was purchased, because it presents many technical defects. Giving explanations about this fact, the defendant Andrea Manço stated that the electronic machine lacked several programs and a field station, which are necessary for complete geophysical studies.
With hostile and sabotaging intentions and in order to pave the way for the arrival in Albania of as many American agents as possible, the necessary condition that specialists with American citizenship are not allowed to come to Albania has not been determined in the act-agreement of the purchase of the machine. This has led to the fact that, supposedly, to fix the defects that the machine presents, allowed by the company itself, they have sent various “specialists”, who have added to its defects.
The American company, by concluding this deed-agreement, thought that it had now opened a door to freely introduce its agents into Albania. Thus, in a response to a request addressed to it by “Makina-importit” to send specialists with Canadian citizenship to Albania to repair the car, it pressed that there were no specialists with such citizenship and therefore it was allegedly forced to send them with American citizenship. In this way, the deed-agreement deliberately does not specify the possibility of withdrawing spare parts, when this becomes necessary.
In this way, both for the specialists and for the spare parts of this machine, the American firm, with the hand of the traitor and saboteur Andrea Manço, has tried to dictate its conditions to us according to which, either we are forced to accept American “specialists” (spies) or, the defects become irreparable, or we are forced to accept, that in order to receive spare parts, we must seek permission whenever it is deemed necessary, from the Department of State of the United States of America, or this electronic machine will cease to function and, according to them, there will be no studies in this important field of the economy.
This is the calculation made by the Department of State and its CIA, together with the enemy Andrea Manço, when they concluded this act-agreement. But their calculations are wrong, as they did not calculate the strength of our Party, the intelligence and patriotism of the people, of our working class and of our popular intelligentsia, to break through every blockade of the enemies, to implement to the letter the Party’s order to build socialism with our own forces.
The defendant Andrea Manço, consistent in his hostile activity, using the position of director of “Makina-import”, has allowed the conclusion of agreements with other American firms, such as “Ampeks”, “Welleylob Colorado Usa”, with whom he has contracted for an amount of 1,420,000 dollars.
Following this sabotage activity, the defendant Andrea Manço, with the help and under the direct influence of the traitors Kiço Ngjela and Koço Theodhosi, has allowed the conclusion of a contract for the purchase of 18 self-unloading “Dumper” trucks, with an English firm, for the Fierza hydroelectric power plant. Not counting the delay in resolving this problem, the manner in which this agreement was concluded has cost our economy 1,300,000 dollars, since all 18 self-unloading “Dumper” trucks had serious defects.
Due to these defects, they remained for a relatively long time without being put into operation, seriously hindering the work at this hydroelectric power plant. In addition, under the pretext of repairing them, the defendant allowed the arrival of 27 English “specialists” (spies) in Albania. This is confirmed by the fact that even the few machines of them that were put into use were repaired by our specialists. “Regarding this agreement, the defendant Andrea Manço affirmed during the trial, I have addressed an anonymous letter to the government, and I have called this action sabotage. – But, – he continues, the saboteur is me”.
The other direction of the economic sabotage carried out by the defendant is the violation of the orientation given by the Party, according to which our country has developed and will develop trade relations with capitalist and revisionist states, based on the principles of peaceful coexistence, equality, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs and mutual benefit.
Thus, the defendant Andrea Manço, in September 1974, concluded an agreement with the Czech firm “Kerementall”, which provided for the purchase by our side of 60 “Tatra” vehicles, in exchange for 24,550 tons of chrome. The conclusion of this contract, with the right to re-export to the Czech firm “Karementall”, has caused significant damage to our national economy.
The evidence administered in the court session and in particular the defendant’s statements, proved that the above quantity of this chrome was given above the limits of the 1974 agreement protocol, at the “Stop” price. It was allowed in a period when the price of chrome in the world market was increasing. Asked about this fact, the witness Vasil Lato, stated during the trial that he was called about this problem by the enemy Kiço Ngjela, former Minister of Trade at that time.
“In the meeting attended by the defendant, who is the contractor of this agreement,” says witness Vasil Lato, “I insisted that it not be concluded, since at that time chrome was in high demand on the world market and its price was increasing every day. Concluding such an agreement was not profitable for us. So I proposed that the “Tatra” cars be purchased with free foreign currency. However, this proposal was not accepted. So we were forced to conclude an agreement that has caused our economy a damage of 833,000 dollars.”
Being fully aware of his sabotage, this defendant did not take any measures to denounce this agreement, even partially, even when the loss that would be caused to our economy by the conclusion of this contract was clearly visible. In continuation of the hostile activity, in 1973, with the approval of the defendant, an agreement was concluded with the Romanian firm “Uzina Eksport Import”, for the purchase of a dredge worth 2,003,000 rubles, of which 83,000 rubles 20 were to be paid in foreign currency, free, while the difference of 2,000,000 was to be paid in transferable rubles (free rubles).
In this agreement, the defendant intended to bring our country into the “free ruble” zone, which is headquartered in the international bank of the KNER in Moscow, and in this way, according to him, our country officially became a member of this capitalist-revisionist organization, which our Party and state have long denounced and exposed as an organization with a slavish character.
In addition to the above, the defendant Andrea Manço, in flagrant contradiction to the orientations of our Party, but with the aim of sabotage, for the period 1971-1975, has significantly increased contracts with capitalist-revisionist countries, in particular with Tito’s Yugoslavia and has significantly reduced them with the P.R. of China. In this way, he intended to create ground for the penetration of the capitalist economy in Albania and to weaken relations with the People’s Republic of China.
These facts, fully affirmed by the defendant and confirmed by witnesses and a series of documents, prove that Andrea Manço, by exploiting his position as director of “Makina-import” in the Foreign Trade sector, has consumed the figure of the crime of sabotage, provided for by article 72 of the Criminal Code.
Consistent in his hostile activity, the defendant Andrea Manço has vomited bile against the political, economic and ideological line of our Party, and against its main Leader. From the evidence administered, it was proven that the defendant in February 1975 wrote several anonymous letters to the leaders of the Party and our state, with deeply hostile content.
In these letters he speaks with hatred towards the Party and its Leader, accuses and slanders him as a counter-revolutionary. He speaks out against the political line and revolutionary measures taken by the Party against conspirators and other enemies, whom he also defends. The defendant Andrea Manço has developed a wide hostile activity, with the aim of overthrowing and undermining the popular power, wanting to make as many elements dissatisfied as possible.
Thus, he has talked with various people, such as Bardhyl Frashëri, Filip Nasho, Vasil Katin and others, against the political and economic line followed by our Party, commenting with them; the “superiority” of revisionist and capitalist countries, has praised the Yugoslav system of economic self-administration, trying with his sabotaging actions to implement it in our country as well and has propagated that in these countries there is “freedom of thought and action”, that there can be more “fun”, while according to him in our country, there is backwardness, lack of freedom, thought and that this situation must be changed.
When asked about this accusation in the court session, he stated, among other things, that; “I liked such a social and state system, where many political parties rule, in order to be more liberal and to have more fun”. Starting from these hostile concepts of a bourgeois liberal, which our Party has strongly attacked at the 4th plenum of the Central Committee of the Party, the defendant has propagated the bourgeois-revisionist way of life, a way of life, which he had long made his own.
With his arrogance and arrogance, characteristic of conspirators and enemies of the Party and the state, condemned at the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th plenums of the Central Committee of the Party, he tried to turn the enterprise where he worked into a capitalist self-administration enterprise, tried to extinguish the class struggle in the Foreign Trade sector, and undermine the leading role of the basic organization of the Party. He violated all the Party norms in cadre politics, gathering around himself people with dubious personalities. Memorie.al
