By Dashnor Kaloçi
Memorie.al / Exactly 43 years ago, on October 15, 1982, the Minister of People’s Defense, Kadri Hazbiu, was arrested (from 1953 until 1979, he had held the post of Minister of Internal Affairs). This happened after several marathon meetings of the Central Committee Plenum of the Party of Labor of Albania (PPSH) and the Politburo, held in September-October of that year. Just one week earlier, on October 8, 1983, at a meeting of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the PPSH (where Prime Minister Adil Çarçani was also invited), at the proposal of Enver Hoxha, Hazbiu had been dismissed from all party and state functions he had held until then.
In truth, Kadri Hazbiu’s arrest was not very surprising, neither for the staff of the Ministry of People’s Defense and the Ministry of Internal Affairs nor for the high leadership of the PPSH, nor for the general public, as since the beginning of 1982, his name was “boiling” and being heavily rumored everywhere among the people! There were even rumors that he (Hazbiu) had escaped with a fighter jet, outside of Albania, just as his former Chinese counterpart, Lin Biao, had attempted but failed in 1971.
The origin of Enver Hoxha’s blow to Kadri Hazbiu was spurred by the event of January 18, 1981, when Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu was found dead with pistol bullet(s) in his bedroom, which in the following months, would bring a series of consequences for most of his close collaborators, of which Kadri Hazbiu was one.
In fact, Hazbiu was considered the closest person and the most intimate friend of the former Prime Minister Shehu, even though Hazbiu was actually the last to be arrested among all those who were accused of being “collaborators of the enemy and poly-agent Mehmet Shehu”, since before him, the following had been arrested: Minister of Internal Affairs, Feçor Shehu, Minister of Health, Llambi Ziçishti, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nesti Nase, former Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Mihallaq Ziçishti, etc.
Even though immediately after the event with Mehmet Shehu in January 1982, Kadri Hazbiu’s “star of fate” was on the rise, as Enver Hoxha at one of the Politburo meetings officially proposed the post of prime minister to him (in place of Mehmet Shehu, who was now dead and declared an enemy), something which Hazbiu did not accept, suggesting that Adil Çarçani could do that job best.
In fact, even Enver Hoxha’s proposal to appoint Hazbiu as prime minister was not unexpected, not only for the high leadership but also for the public (at least for those who carefully followed the political developments in the country, beyond what was said in the press and Radio-Television), as one day after the end of the 9th Congress of the PPSH in November 1981, at the closing rally held in “Skënderbej” Square, the main speech was given by Kadri Hazbiu, something that was “translated” by everyone as meaning he would be the country’s next prime minister. This was also taking into account the situation Mehmet Shehu was in since September of that year, after his son’s engagement, with the marathon meetings of the Central Committee plenum and the Politburo, where he was held accountable for why he had allowed that thing!
But, the appreciation that Enver Hoxha had given to the Minister of People’s Defense and member of the Politburo, Kadri Hazbiu, seems to have been “forgotten” and began to fade in the following months, because as we mentioned a little earlier, from the beginning of ’82, rumors spread everywhere among the people that; “Kadri Hazbiu had escaped from Albania with a fighter jet,” something that is also confirmed by some archival documents published after the ’90s, where one of the people who had told Hazbiu that thing, was his barber at the Club of the Ministry of Internal Affairs!
But, while all these words circulating at the time about Minister Hazbiu were considered by the Party as “gossip spread by the enemy,” the large jubilee ceremonies held at the Peza festival on September 16 of that year (the 40th anniversary of the Peza Conference), showed that what was being said about Kadri Hazbiu was not just gossip? Because all those who followed that festival from the news reports on Albanian Radio-Television, noticed that; in the presentation made to the personalities of the high leadership of the PPSH and the Albanian government on the tribune of that festival, Kadri Hazbiu’s function as Minister of People’s Defense was not mentioned at all?!
This would not only cause Kadri Hazbiu’s immediate reaction and irritation right there on the festival tribune, but he would also officially complain to the Central Committee about Prokop Murra, who had given the opening speech of that festival and had “forgotten” to mention Hazbiu’s function as Minister of Defense!
However, (even before the anniversary of the Peza Conference), in order to calm Kadri Hazbiu, that what was being said about him “was simply gossip spread by the enemy,” a telegram from Enver Hoxha, sent to Hazbiu on August 15, 1982, on the occasion of his birthday, also served, where he (Enver) addressed the Minister of Defense with superlatives, sparing no praise for him! While in the family of Kadri Hazbiu and his close family circle, that telegram from the main leader of the Party was considered a “gift from heaven,” Hazbiu himself is said to have been badly upset, as from there he foresaw his end. Since he (Hazbiu) knew better than anyone else, that it was an already known method or tactic of Enver, when before hitting someone, he would praise him to put him to “sleep”!
This is what he had done with Koci Xoxe, when he replaced him with his closest man, (Nesti Kerenxhi, whom he used to hit and accuse Xoxe), to come 30 years later with Beqir Balluku, whom he initially praised and “raised to the sky,” for loyalty to the Party, Petrit Duma and Hito Çako, whom after using them to accuse Balluku, he also sentenced them to death afterwards! But, this game of Enver with his collaborators when he condemned them, even Kadri Hazbiu himself did not escape, whom Enver initially proposed for prime minister, using him in the hitting and accusations against the now-deceased former Prime Minister, Mehmet Shehu. It seems that Kadri Hazbiu would understand that thing that is, Enver’s game, at the ceremony of the Peza festival, but it was already too late. Just a month later, on October 15, 1982, he was arrested in the courtyard of his villa (located where the “Pyramid” is today) next to the Vietnamese embassy and the building of the Second Directorate of State Security (the Directorate for the Preservation and Physical Security of the Leadership, with chairman Raqi Iftica), from where he was surveilled 24 hours, the last week before the arrest!
While the above are more or less known facts (with testimonies from people who were connected to these events, or with archival documents published after the ’90s), in this article we are publishing an archival document, which clearly shows how the arrest of Kadri Hazbiu was carried out and who were the extremely trustworthy people (sons of the high leadership and sons of “People’s Heroes” etc., who were entrusted with that thing!
As well as another document, which talks about the situation that prevailed in the Hazbiu family, just before his arrest on October 15, 1982, as well as the last orders he had given to his family members and his will, “that one day they should find his grave, gather his bones and take them to his village”! For more about these, etc., we get to know these archival documents taken from the archive of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (now part of the fund of the Authority for Information on the Documents of the former State Security), which are published for the first time together with the corresponding facsimiles, by Memorie.al
SECRET ARCHIVAL DOCUMENT, APPROVED BY THE MINISTER OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS HEKURAN ISAI AND DRAFTED BY THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE DIRECTORATE OF INVESTIGATIONS PELIVAN LUÇI AND PËLLUMB KAPO, WITH THE PLAN FOR THE ARREST OF KADRI HAZBIU
A P P R O V E D S E C R E T
MINISTER OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS Single copy
HEKURAN ISAI Tirana, on 15.10.1982
ARREST PLAN
In Tirana, on 15.10.1982, with the approval of the Prosecutor General of the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania, the arrest of the enemy Kadri Hazbi Dautaj will be made.
The following comrades will take part in his arrest:
- Investigator Luan Bega
- Ylli Birçe
- Asllan Ulqinaku
- Hasan Ulqinaku
The arrest will be carried out at his house and he will be transported with the “ARO” vehicle, with driver Fadil Zela.
The following comrades will take part in the search of the apartment:
- Bashkim Caka
- Ferid Sula
- Kiço Petro
- Ylli Birçe
- Hasan Ulqinaku, as well as two witnesses from the People’s Council of Neighborhood No. 1.
DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE DIRECTORATE OF INVESTIGATIONS
PELIVAN LUÇI PËLLUMB KAPO
SECRET ARCHIVAL DOCUMENT WITH THE REPORT OF THE OPERATIONAL WORKER OF THE INTERNAL AFFAIRS BRANCH RRËSHEN, MIHAL MONKA, REGARDING THE MATERIALS AGAINST PETRIT HAZBIU
S E C R E T
COPY NO. 1
RRËSHEN, ON 5.3.1983
REPORT
ON THE MATERIALS AGAINST PETRIT HAZBIU
Petrit Hazbiu is the son of Kadri and Hedije, born in 1954 in the city of Tirana, residing in the city of Kurbnesh in the Mirditë district, comes from a family of a civil servant of the people’s power, with higher education, divorced, with one child, unorganized, interned in the city of Kurbnesh in the Mirditë district, with Albanian citizenship and nationality.
The mentioned person has completed his higher education at the University of Tirana, has worked as an architect engineer at the Institute of Designs No. 1 in Tirana, has been married to Dhurata Iljaz Fishta, who was born in Tirana in 1956 and is a teacher at the “Jordan Misja” Artistic High School, has made the marital separation on 3.2.1983, they have a daughter named Alvana, born in 1981, who was taken into the care of her mother.
Petrit came to the city of Kurbnesh on 18.10.1982, of the Internment-Expulsion Commission; they were interned for 5 years, as a member of the family of the Party’s enemy Kadri Hazbiu. Currently, Petrit works as a worker in the Kurbnesh copper mine. During the time he was in Tirana, he was characterized as a dandy and arrogant.
According to a telephone eavesdropping information, No. 927, dated 15.10.1982, Petrit Hazbiu talks on the phone with a woman named B…. who tells him: “B…., I find two of these watches, the other one is outside locked, so it has a handle that opens, what do I know how to open it, now I will tell you the numbers; 4.6.7.6.2 and the other one; 0.2.1.1.8.0.4, that’s all these two, the other one they will put themselves, those from NISH-Elektrik, they usually come.
The collaborator “Observer” of the Directorate of Internal Affairs Tirana, on 26.11.1982, reports that; I have learned from Sa….K….., (S….K…., an engineer at the Enterprise of Teaching Tools, in 2/A as a possible agent of Soviet Intelligence), that the son of Kadri, has told some of his comrades in the military exercise, without mentioning which of the sons, that he, his father, before being arrested, had told them that; besides the lack of vigilance, he has no other fault, but he knows that he will suffer heavily, they know what awaits him, that’s why he leaves a will to his children, to search and find his grave, gather his bones and take them to the village, advising them to be quiet and polite and to do what they are told.
B.p. “Shkëlzeni”, on 22.1.1983, reports that: “Around 16:20 on 20.1.1983, in a chance meeting he had with Petrit Hazbiu, the latter told him that; the father is to blame, we are not to blame, the work is very difficult and cannot be overcome, and if I know that I will stay more than 5 years, I will kill myself”.
Petrit was taken into preliminary processing on 9.2.1983, for agitation and propaganda and connection with the Party’s enemy Kadri Hazbiu. For the deep and wide discovery of his hostile activity, the plan of agent-operational measures has been made, and the tasks have been determined, during this time 5 eavesdroppings with T.O. have been made in their apartments, on the dates 2.2.’83, 3.2.’83, 12.2.’83, 18.2.’83 and 26.2.’83.
From the information of the T.O., it appears that they mainly had simple conversations, without touching on issues of a political nature, they talk and talk about actions, household problems, they have never mentioned the name of the enemy Kadri Hazbiu in any of these five cases. In the eavesdropping with T. O. of 3.2.’83 in the evening, after returning from the divorce trial from his wife, Dhurata and his sister, Mimoza, from her husband, Agron Aranitasi, which takes place in Rrëshen, from the information of the T. O. it appears that all 5 family members show correctness and principledness, they have moralizing conversations, as for example Helena, crying says: “Please, we have not become enemies with the Party”, while Petrit; “Well, you haven’t become one, it’s very good that you haven’t become one and we shouldn’t become enemies, that’s how it is, and why should we become enemies”?!
From the information it appears that the mother asks Petrit; and what did the bride say about the girl; Petrit replied that she said that she is so gentle, she is not heard at all, she neither cries nor plays, when you get bored she told me, I will bring her to you”.
B.p., “Shkëlzeni”, on 10.2.1983, reports that Petrit Hazbiu on 1.2.’83, met in front of the restaurant of the city of Kurbnesh with Ba….M….V….and talked for about two minutes and then entered a building and stayed for about five minutes, after a while he went to the vegetable shop and stayed there for a while and left.
On 10.2.’83, Petrit met D….Ba….P…. in the vegetable shop! (D…. has been sentenced to 18 years of imprisonment for embezzlement of socialist property, he is currently a worker in the Kurbnesh copper mine) and stated that; this work is nothing, there are a lot of people, I’m going home and I’ll come back later.
In the direction of Petrit, B.p. “Shkëlzeni”, B.p. “Jupiteri”, a social connection of Agron’s, has been recently drawn, a joint plan of agent-operational measures has been made with the Branch of Internal Affairs Pukë and the Directorate of Internal Affairs Tirana, for the discovery and deepening of the hostile activity of these elements. / Memorie.al
Operational Worker
Mihal Monka
