Dashnor Kaloçi
Memorie.al publishes some archival documents and testimonies given by some former high-ranking officials of the “Dictatorship of the Proletariat”, such as the former Vice President of the Supreme Court, Lieutenant Colonel Mustafa Qilimi, regarding some events and facts unknown from the history of much talked about in the years 1960-1961, with the so-called “Conspiracy of the Cham group”, where the Minister of Internal Affairs Kadri Hazbiu, with the support and approval of Enver Hoxha, arrested a large group of 38 citizens originating from Chameria, where most of them were in high positions, such as: Teme Sejko, Rear Admiral of the Navy, Tahir Demi, chairman of the Executive Committee of Elbasan, Taho Sejko, chief of staff of the Economy in the newspaper “Zeri i Popullit” , Avdyl Resuli, Lieutenant Colonel and Chief of the Military Recruitment Branch of Tirana, etc., accusing them that: “in cooperation with the Greek Asphalt, the Yugoslav UDB and the US 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean, would try to the rise of popular power in Albania ”, etc. How was it attempted to force Major General Hilmi Seiti “for the sake of the great interests of the Party and the homeland” to admit that he was “the head of the conspiracy”, as this accusation was to expose the Soviet and Yugoslav revisionists? and after his refusal, he died in the office of the First Secretary of the Shkodra District Party Committee, while drinking coffee with “Comrade Rita Marko”…?!
“A trial was opened in Tirana against a group of defendants for crimes against the state that aimed to overthrow the popular power through a coordinated conspiracy between the Greek monarcho-fascists, the Yugoslav revisionists and the 6th American Fleet.” “The enemies of the people in the dock of the accused.” These were some of the big headlines that occupied the front pages of the main newspapers of Tirana, such as “Zeri i Popullit” and “Bashkimi” and some other press bodies of May 16, 1961. What was this trial, who were the defendants who were taken out of the dock and what functions and positions did they hold up to that time in the senior administration of the communist regime in Tirana? Who were the leaders of that “conspiracy”, what were their connections with the “foreign discoveries”, how would their goals be realized and what were their goals? How was the “conspiracy” discovered and its leaders, and what did the Minister of Interior, Kadri Hazbiu, write to the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the ALP, Enver Hoxha, regarding the activity of that group? How was the trial against the “Cham conspirators” conducted, what did they testify during the hearings and what punishments did they and their followers receive? What was the echo of that trial in Albania and abroad and why did the Soviets ask to bring a group of experts to Tirana to verify what was said there? Why in 1982 when Enver Hoxha struck at the meeting of the Plenum of the Central Committee, the Minister of Defense, Kadri Hazbiu, accused him saying that: he, together with Mehmet Shehu and Beqir Balluku, had invented the legend of Teme Group Sejkos, in order for the senior Albanian leadership and Enver Hoxha himself, to remember that he might be attacked by the Americans and in this context, the senior Albanian leadership, to decide to keep the Soviets in Albania, without removing them those from the base of Pash-Aliman ?! Regarding these and other events and facts based on evidence and archival documents, will be published exclusively by Memorie.al in several issues in a row, starting from this writing.
Major General Hilmi Seiti the first victim of the “Conspiracy”
It was March 28, 1960, when Major General Hilmi Seiti, Chairman of the Internal Affairs Branch of the Shkodra Region, hurriedly climbed the stairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, after an urgent phone call made by his superiors from Tirana. In the office of the Minister of Interior, Lieutenant General Kadri Hazbiu, in addition to his deputy, Major General Halim Xhelos, Director of the Army Counterintelligence Directorate at the Ministry of National Defense (or as he was otherwise known as: Chief of Security Rita Marko, one of Enver Hoxha’s closest associates, was also in the position of Secretary of the Central Committee of the ALP (since 1956-1966), who were waiting for the arrival of the general originating from Chameria who served in the Shkodra Region since the early 1950s. After General Hilmi Seiti met with the three presents in that office, Minister Hazbiu invited him to his large desk and put in front of him some materials that he had extracted at that moment from his safe installed on the wall. After glancing at the open materials on the table, General Seiti, overly nervous, punched the table and demonstratively walked out of the minister’s office into the long corridor, leaving the three astonished to look each other in the eye. -the other. At that moment, the secretary of the Central Committee, Rita Marko, got up first and called a secret number that belonged to Villa 31, in the Senior Leadership Bloc of the ALP. A few minutes after that phone call in the square in front of the Ministry of Interior, he stopped Enver Hoxha’s “Zim”, where from his slightly open back door, someone addressed Hilmi Seiti, saying: “Comrade General, the Commander is looking for you in office”. General Seiti took a seat next to the person who spoke to him and the car quickly disappeared in the direction of the Central Committee. It is not known exactly whether General Seiti really met with Enver Hoxha or any of his envoys (it is said that Enver again delegated Rita Marko), and also what conversation took place between him and the Chairman of the Internal Affairs Branch of Shkodra, General -major Hilmi Seitit…?! That thing, that meeting has remained an enigma that was never solved?! What had happened and why was General Seiti called urgently to the office of Minister Kadri Hazbiu?! What material was put in front of him on the table by the Minister of Interior and why did he come out of his office nervous?!
Offer to General Seiti, as “Head of the Cham group”
At the end of March 1960, as he climbed the steps of the ministry to the office of the Minister of Internal Affairs, Lieutenant General Kadri Hazbiu, Major General Hilmi Seiti had never thought that there, he would found “The operational plan of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, to crack down on a conspiracy which aimed to: in cooperation with the Greek Asphalt, the Yugoslav UDB and the 6th American Fleet in the Mediterranean, overthrow the popular power in Albania and would they install capitalism there ”?! And the most unexpected, was that, Hilmi Seiti, would be the “Head of that conspiracy” hostile?!
“You have to accept this, it is for the high interests of the Homeland Party, the Commander is also aware of this. We need this to unmask the Soviet and Yugoslav revisionists… “, Kadri Hazbiu is said to have said in his office to General Seiti, who came out nervously from there, saying to Hazbi:” Comrade Minister, I will talk to you myself with the Commander”.
After General Seiti refused the “offer” that he accepts the game being played, that he be the “Head of Conspiracy” devised by Hazbi and his subordinates, they gave him a few days to “reflect” and give you answers. After the “ultimatum” left to General Seiti to expire and accept the task assigned to him by the Party for the “higher interests of the homeland” expired, on the fourth day, April 26, 1960, he was sent to discuss the matter once again. in Shkodra, the Director of the Army Security Directorate, Major General, Halim Xhelo. On the same day that General Xhelo was traveling to Shkodra, General Seiti’s wife was traveling to Tirana, after being notified by the Ministry of Interior to report to Tirana for a “work problem”. All this was a “combination” or “legend” (as it was said in the State Security jargon), as General Seiti, not having his wife at home, was forced to invite his friend and colleague from Tirana to lunch, in one of the restaurants in the city of Shkodra under the eyes of many other customers?! And as it was predicted, that day the two generals sat together for more than three hours in the main hall of the “Big Coffee”, talking about the problem for which General Seiti was called to the office of the minister, Hazbiu. After General Xhelo failed to convince his friend and colleague, Seiti, and get a positive response from him, that is, for him to admit that he was the “Head of the plot”, he broke up with him and took the road back to Tirana. without fulfilling the task assigned to him.
(All of the above, from some credible sources, is said to have been witnessed by Major General Halim Xhelo himself, shortly before he passed away in Burrell Prison, at the end of 1974, where he was serving his sentence after the letter. anonymous that he had done to Enver Hoxha in 1966. And it is also said that Halim Xhelo did not hang himself as in a cell as stated in the official version, but he was poisoned, precisely because I start “talking” deconstructing some state secrets, such as it was exactly what had to do with Major General Hilmi Seiti and the whole “Cham Conspiracy”!)
What happened to General Hilmi Seiti after parting ways with his friend and colleague, Major General Halim Xhelon? General Seiti went to the Party Committee of the Shkodra district where the meeting of the Plenum was expected to begin, where as a delegate from the Central Committee of the ALP, was Rita Marko. And in one of the breaks between sessions, he sat down for a coffee with “comrade Rita” (it is said in the office of the First Secretary of Shkodra Sul Baholli), where after coffee he does not feel well?! A few minutes later, the news spread throughout Shkodra that the Director of the Directorate of Internal Affairs of Shkodra, Major General Hilmi Seiti, had died suddenly in one of the offices of the Shkodra Party Committee after the coffee he had drunk with his friend Rita Marko. Concerning the death of General Seiti, from that time onwards there have been several versions said somewhere openly and somewhere under the voice, but all of which concluded at one point, that of poisoning. But after the ’90s this was said openly and publicly in the press by the former Vice President of the Supreme Court, Colonel Mustafa Qilimi, who years ago testified to us: “I had a lot of friends Hilmi and as soon as I heard the news, I arrived immediately in Shkodra where I first met Hilmi’s brother, who told me: ‘Hilmi was killed’. I entered the autopsy room the moment the doctors were opening the lid of my head and I fainted, and the doctors pulled me out. That day I learned from Dr. Lito, that Hilmiu had behind his head, in the blood vessels, a small bladder, which if it explodes brings death. “And it exploded only with some external stimulus, with some poison.”
While this statement of the famous doctor, Dr. Litos (who told his friend in good faith), Lieutenant Colonel Mustfa Qilimi would keep him for himself for years, the next day he assisted and attended the magnificent funeral organized by the Ministry of Interior in the city of Shkodra, where the body of General Seiti was escorted to the last apartment with a cannon bed covered with numerous crowns and the bodyguard of honor, where the keynote speech was given by the Minister of Internal Affairs, Kadri Hazbiu.
The “mistake” that was made with Hilmi Seiti, should not be repeated and what he did not accept, he should now accept at all costs, another high military with the rank of general and originally from Chameria, who was, Teme Sejko, Rear Admiral of the Navy, who had graduated from the military academies of the Soviet Union. This was Kadri Hazbiu’s final order approved by Enver Hoxha in his villa in Dajt, but unlike what was done with General Hilmi Seti, Teme Sejko had to be arrested and he had to admit that in the State Security cells. In this regard, among other things, we are introduced to some archival documents with the investigative process against him and the so-called “Cham plot group” that Memori.al is publishing starting from this article.
Report of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
ARCHIVE OF THE MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS
DIRECTORATE OF STATE INSURANCE. DEGA E PARE
FILE 278 VERY SECRET C2 TIRANA 24.3.1961
TITLE OF THE FILE “On the activity of the hostile organization headed by Teme Sejko and Tahir Demi”. Quantity of sheets 22
In the second half of 1960, a group of 38 members of the foreign intelligence service were arrested, including 20 party members. The main elements that have led this activity are Teme Sejkua, Taho Sejko, Tahi Demi and Avdyl Resuli. With the exception of 9 people, all the others are from the province of Chameria. Of the above mentioned, 24 of them and the most important are participants in the national liberation war, while 9 people have been with the Balli organization. Among the main elements of the group Taho Sejko, Abdyl Resuli, Sami Murati and Rexhep Plaku who during the national liberation war have been associated with the Greek ranks and as such have tried to hinder the Party’s policy regarding the National Liberation War. Having important functions during the National Liberation War, in the province of Konispol Teme Sejkua, Sami Murati, Abdyl Resuli, Resho Plaku, in cooperation with Haki Rushiti were put in opposition with the decisions of the party and the instructions of the Central Committee of Gjirokastra, propagating the element Cham and especially in the partisan formations of Konispol province the idea of secession from the leadership of the Communist Party of Gjirokastra, prevented the deployment of cadres on the ground and the battalion “Chameria” and dealt with intrigues and non-existent conflicts, prevented the partisan forces in fight against invaders inside and outside their provinces. Haki Rushiti, in agreement with Rexho Plaku, Teme Sejko, Avdyl Resuli and Sami Murati, deserts and openly throws himself in the fight against the party and the National Liberation movement. He joins the forces of Nuri Dino and the occupier. These elements, even after the escape of Baki Rushiti, did not escape the connections with him, on the contrary, they continued the hostile work. Characteristic is the fact that in the letter after the escape which Haki Rushiti called on the partisans to desert and pass by him. Written by Sami Murati, former commissioner of the “Chameria” battalion.
The hostile activity mentioned above is confirmed by the very statements of Sami Murati, Abdyl Resuli, Tahir Demi, etc. After the liberation of the country, many of these elements such as Taho Sejko, Rexho Plaku, Sami Murati, Vehip Demi, etc., are not only in opposition to the Party line, but continue to propagate as before that the Cham element is being mistreated in Albania, that It is alleged that the main Cham cadres are not given their rightful place in Albania, that the contribution of the Chams in the National Liberation War is allegedly denied, that the province of Konispol is allegedly neglected, the Chams are not decorated, they are not represented in the People’s Assembly, etc. Through this propaganda, Taho, Temja, Rexhep Plaku, Avdyl Resuli make efforts to bring the Cham element closer to themselves and to emerge as defenders of Cham interests. In 1946 and later we hit for hostile activities a number of elements from the Cham leaders as agents of the Greek intelligence related to Haki Rushiti, such as Rexho Plaku, Hajro Plaku and Petrit Taken who in the meeting with Tahon and Temen through family ties, had connections hostile. These grievances were propagated as unjust by them and used as a means to expand the ranks of those dissatisfied with the People’s Power. From the development of investigations, it results that in the years 1946-47 were recruited by the Greek intelligence Taho Sejko and Avdyl Resuli. Taho Sejko has been especially active during this period. In 1947 Tahua recruited Temen as a Greek intelligence agent. Temja at the same time keeps in touch with Avdyl Resuli. Temja recruited Tahir Demi and Nevruz Bejler in 1950. In 1954 Avdul Resuli recruited Sami Murat. During this time and later other people were recruited such as Ali Xhelua, Hajri Mane, Shaban Rafati, Hasan Mero, Dervish Sulo etc. The network and intelligence connections were realized through the Military Intelligence network (Izet Osmani and Hajri Mane). Hasan Mero, Nevruz Bejleri, who under the pretext of our military intelligence crossed into Greek territory and got in touch with the Greek intelligence. Thus, every time Izet Osmani passed by, he got in touch with Haki Rushiti and the Greek intelligence officers, they gave them these reports prepared by Teme Sejko and Tahir Demi, etc. Temja, Tahua, Avdul Resuli, Tahir Demi organized in 1955 the combination for the illegal throwing of Izet Osmani (Izet Osmani crossed into Greece ostensibly sent by our intelligence, his murder is simulated there, ie it is said that he was killed in an attempt to Greek force). The group organized meetings… The political platform of the group was “Protection of the Chams, ensuring an autonomy for the province of Chameria including Konispoli, which was to become part of Greece. This platform masks the work of recruiting the element. The aim has been to overthrow popular power through insurgency. Costa Filja says that Haki Rushiti through Greek intelligence was taken under American leadership. Kostë Filja and Haki Rushiti were sent to Albania through American intelligence. The instructions for these two were received from an American colonel.
Connections with Panajot Plakun
Tirana Conference. Tahir Demi testifies that a meeting was held at Taho Sejko’s house where Tahua, Avduli, Sami Murati and Vehip Demi were present. Tahua claims he does not remember being assembled as Tahiri says. For the work of the Tirana Conference, there was a meeting with Sami Murati, Tahir Demi and Muharrem Demi who talked about the spirit of the Tirana conference. Before the Tirana Conference, Tahua met with Bedri Spahiu in Elbasan and they discussed the materials of the XX Congress. Bedriu says that Tahiri asked me for Mikoyan’s speech, which I took from Masar Shehu and gave to Pëllumb Dishnica, who undertook to take it. Interesting is the deposition of Tahir Demi, after they got in touch with Panajot Plaku, the activity of our group began to be coordinated with the activists of the group of Bedri Spahiu, Tuk and Panajot. Taho Sejkua kept in touch with Tuk, while Temja kept in touch with Panajot. That was after the June plenum. Temja testifies that Panayot sent to Greece (in August 1956 a detailed report on the situation of our country). Tahir Demi stated that in February 1957 a meeting was organized at his home in Elbasan attended by Panajot Plaku, Bedri Spahiu, Avdul Resuli, Tahir Demi and the saboteur Izet Osmani. At this meeting it was decided that Panajot Plaku should flee. Temja says that Bedri Spahiu and Tuk Jakova were also planning to escape.
Teme Sejko’s depositions about the meeting with Panajot Plaku in 1957 in the district of Saranda:
“On June 20, 1959, Panajot Plaku came to Saranda, under the pretext of the works being done in Butrint and from there under the pretext that he would comfort Kadri Rakipi’s family, we went to Konispol where we met Ali Rexhon. The next day I went from Butrint to Vrina and returned to the castle of Vivac, where I met Panajot Plaku and Izet Osmani from whom I learned that there were two other guards. This meeting was organized by Ali Rexho, after the meeting I went to Saranda and Panajoti to Greece. Regarding this meeting in the meeting that took place in Durrës, as it results from the depositions of Tahir Demi and Avdul Resuli in the house of Dervish Sulo in September 1959, he informed his friends in that meeting. The process can be called ready for the trial in due time by releasing the following persons: Teme Sejkon, Tahir Demin, Avdul Resulin, Sami Murat, Hajri Manen, Ali Xhelon, Jonuz Purizon, Adem Osmani, Nikola Bashon and Nasho Gerxhon. Taho Sejkua still does not speak, not only weakens to some extent the judicial process to be made public, but prevents the disclosure of facts that he knows as an element. Therefore, within the required time, we will make efforts to decompose it. To date, out of 38 arrested, only 22 speak, among whom all the main ones, with the exception of Taho Sejko, the others speak in part, 10 do not speak at all. Therefore, it takes a long time for others to disintegrate./Memorie.al
Minister of Internal Affairs
General Leitnat
(Kadri Hazbiu)
follows in the next issue
