Dashnor Kaloçi
Memorie.al publishes some events with evidence and unknown facts from the much-talked-about story of the so-called “Cham conspiratorial group” that was staged by the State Security headed by the Minister of Internal Affairs, Lieutenant General, Kadri Hazbiu, in 1960 , who implemented the game of Soviet advisers, who insisted on a “conspiracy group” linked to espionage with the Greek Asphalt and the Yugoslav UDB, which according to them aimed to overthrow the communist regime in Albania, with the help of the VI Fleet American who was in the Mediterranean. Why did Enver Hoxha approve of the crackdown on that group led by Teme Sejko and what did the former Deputy Chief of the Supreme Court, Lieutenant Colonel Mustafa Qilimi, the High State Security Officer, Strati Papai, and the lawyer of that court testify about? , Koço Dilo, who, among other things, told about the main witness of that trial, the Greek citizen, Kosta Fili, who in exchange for admitting that he was “a Greek agent and liaison with the group of Teme Sejko”, was promised freedom, but suffered full 25 years in Burrell Prison and repatriated in 1986… ?!
follows from the previous number
Why did the Soviets create the legend with Teme Sejko’s “Cham conspiratorial group”?
According to some testimonies, the story of the “Cham Kopmlotist Cham Group” led by Rear Admiral Teme Sejko, Admiral, dates back to the spring of 1960, when relations between Albania and the Soviet Union were becoming increasingly strained. and were heading towards severing diplomatic relations as well. At this time, the Soviet KGB advisers who were close to the Minister of Interior, Kadri Hazbiu, created a legend, as if in Albania operated a hostile group that was connected with espionage thread with the Greek and American Intelligence, who aimed preparing a plot to overthrow the communist regime of Enver Hoxha. Which, according to them, would be realized through a coup from within and would be supported by the VI American Fleet operating in the Mediterranean. According to the legend created by Soviet advisers, this “hostile group” consisting of several people originating from the southern part of the country, on the border with Greece, was led by a senior officer of the Albanian Army who held the rank of colonel. The Soviets also said that the colonel, it was Teme Sejko, was receiving messages from the Greek intelligence about the whole activity of how the group headed by him would act. So, the fact that a senior officer of the Albanian Army was allegedly connected to the Greek Intelligence, the Soviets had first told Kadri Hazbi, from the end of 1959 or the beginning of 1960, when a rift in relations between Albania had begun. and the Soviet Union. All this game or legend that was invented by the Soviets, aimed to tell the senior Albanian leadership led by Enver Hoxha, that: Albania was endangered by an eventual attack of the Americans, by means of the VI Fleet that operated in the Mediterranean, which would invade through Greece. According to this, the subtext or message of the Soviets was more than clear: “Enver Hoxha had to put his finger on the head for the danger that threatened Albania and the only salvation was, keeping the Soviets at the base of Pasha-Limani”. So, the whole game and legend created by the Soviets, that’s allegedly operating in Albania a “hostile agent group” that was linked to the Greek and American intelligence, aimed to scare Enver Hoxha. This plan of the Soviets was accepted by Kadri Hazbiu, because with the “detection and strike of that hostile group”, at the same time the State Security force would come to the fore and he, Kadri Hazbiu, who was in charge of the Security, would receive a “Great” merit being considered as “the savior of the country from the devilish plans and intentions of the Americans who wanted to overthrow the popular power in communist Albania by force of arms”.
Why was Major General Hilmi Seiti eliminated?
After Kadri Hazbiu accepted the plan of the Soviet advisers, for the legend of the “conspiratorial group” he called in his office, the Director of the Directorate of Internal Affairs of Shkodra Region, Major General Hilmi Seiti, whom he asked to take over their plan, acknowledging that he was the “head of the plot.” After Hilmi Seiti refused, he was physically eliminated by poisoning, which is confirmed by some credible sources as of the time it occurred on April 26, 1960. His physical elimination took place after the game was rigged by Soviet advisers and Kadri Hazbiu, was in danger of failing, as it had been deconstructed as a plan, of which a high-ranking official like Seiti was aware, who had refused to become part of it. In the practice of the secret services of the communist countries (according to the Russian KGB school founded in 1918 by Felix Dzerzhinsky), this could not happen at all and the person who was aware of that plan and refused to implement it, was eliminated with various ways and was proclaimed as having fallen on top of the task. The same was done with Hilmi Seiti. After that, this was charged to the Rear Admiral of the Navy, Major General Teme Sejkos, who continued to strike the “Cham conspiratorial group”, this caused the Soviets to postpone for some time their stay in Albania.
Why did Enver approve the crackdown on the “Cham conspiracy”?
After the plan for the recruitment of Hilmi Seiti failed, the Soviet advisers with the Minister of Interior Kadri Hazbiu, decided to charge him, Major General Teme Sejko, who was the person of Cham origin, who at that time held the highest position in Albania. But unlike how he was treated with General Hilmi Seiti, Teme Sejko would be asked, that is, the “leader of the conspiracy”, after he was arrested, in order not to repeat the mistake made with General Seiti. Before this plan was implemented, Minister Hazbiu himself went to Enver Hoxha who was resting in his villa on Mount Dajti and reported to him orally as true the whole created legend, telling him that he had discovered a group of conspirators. headed by the Teme brothers of Taho Sejko and several other persons originally from Chameria. (Which is also seen from the top secret report dated March 24, 1961, File 278, discovered in the Archive of the Ministry of Interior) After Enver Hoxha listened attentively to Minister Hazbiu for all that he reported, he gave it to him approval for the beating and arrest of members of that group, starting with the main “leaders” such as: Teme Sejko, Major General and Rear Admiral of the Navy, Taho Sejko, (Teme’s brother, former official in the Control of the Plan of State and the editorial office of the newspaper, “Zeri i Popullit” who was fired after the Tirana Conference of 1956 and who worked as Director in the Shkodra Vehicle Park, Tahir Demi, chairman of the Executive Committee of Elbasan, Lieutenant Colonel Avdul Resuli, Chairman of the Branch Tirana Recruitment Military, etc. So, the fact that Kadri Hazbiu went and served Enver, the existence of the “Cham conspiratorial group”, has been acknowledged by Enver himself and it is known to the general public from a documentary shown several times ë on some television channels, in which it is about the Plenum of October 1982, when Enver Hoxha was hitting Kadri Hazbiu. This fact is also known from a memoir of Enver (On the Bodies of Internal Affairs) published the same year.
Arrests of “Cham conspirators”
After Enver Hoxha approved Kadri Hazbiu’s plan to crack down on the “hostile Cham group”, mass arrests began immediately. Minister Hazbiu, in cooperation with the Investigation and the General Prosecutor’s Office, which at that time depended on the Ministry of Interior, had taken all measures for the arrest of all members of that “conspiracy” by sending to all Internal Branches of different districts, all lists of persons to be arrested. Preparations were made to such an extent that the vehicles that would transport the detainees and the necessary cells where they would be isolated were also assigned. In addition to the “main leaders of the conspiracy” such as Teme and Taho Sejko, Tahir Demi, Avdul Resuli, Jonuz Purizio, Adem Osmani, Hajri Mane, Sami Murati, Ali Xhelo Arapi, Hasan Mero, Gani Tartari, Ali Goxhaj, the number of arrested and detainees initially went to about 367 persons, which also corresponds to the documents contained in the Archive of the Ministry of Interior. Thus, in addition to the Tirana Group where Teme Sejko, Avdul Resuli, etc. were located, the arrests were extended to Shkodra with Taho Sejko and Spiro Rexhon (“Tahos courier”) and continued further with the “Konispol Group” led by Ali Xhelo, “Mursi Group” led by Kostandin Petro Vaso, “Shales Group” led by Rexhep Selimi, “Women-Wheelchair Group” led by Vangjel Xhomaka and Ziso Biraçi, Hoxha-Sopik-Haderaga-Pandelejmon Group “Led by Kiço Sotiri and Ilia Gjyzeli,” Group of five young people “in Verva, led by Xhemal Balin (27 years old),” Dropull-Gjirokastra Minority Group “led by Pandeli Varezi and Dr. Aleksandër Kalivopulli, “Leskovik-Devoll Group” led by Jani Zoga and Musa Çeliku, etc., etc. There were also numerous arrests of people accused of being members of the “Cham conspiracy” in Përmet, Leskovik, Pogradec, Elbasan, Tirana, Durrës and Shkodra. The head of the General Investigation, Major General Nevzat Haznedari, who led the arrests, given the large number of detainees, had taken precautionary measures according to the previously prepared plan. Thus, not having small cars for the arrests, previously “Zis” type vehicles were prepared, separated like beehives, and all the investigators in Tirana and those in the districts were emptied, where the number of “boxes” in the separate cars will correspond to the number of cells to which detainees would be sent according to the plan and pre-prepared lists compiled by the State Security Directorate. In all the districts where there were arrests, they were led by the first secretaries of the Party Committees and the Chairmen of the Internal Branches, who were the heads of the operation led from Tirana through Kadri Hazbiu, Beqir Balluku, Rita Markos, Halim Xhelos, Nevzat Haznedari and Rexhep Koli.
Testimony: Taho Sejko attempted suicide in the cell
Starting with the “Conspiracy Leaders” like Teme and Taho Sejko, Tahir Demi, Avdul Resuli and everyone else, the accusations were the same: “Hostile group linked to the Greek reconnaissance of Asfalia, and the American CIA, as well as foreign discoveries of some western states, which aimed at the violent overthrow of the popular power in Albania and the installation of the overthrown classes here ”. Kadri Hazbiu with the Soviet advisers of the KGB and his subordinates who had staged the process of the “Cham Conspiracy”, during the investigation used all the methods for the detainees to accept the accusations and to testify in court what will happen to them. u servirej. At the end of the investigation by the “Heads of Conspiracy” did not speak only Taho Sejko, against whom all the tortures were used and some investigators were replaced, until the last, Ferhat Matohiti to whom Taho stated: “I do not accept the accusation, I have never been a spy, I have not given any intelligence information to any network. “State security organs as in 1946 and now will rely on lies against me.” Not enduring the torture and pressure, it is said from some evidence, that Taho tried to commit suicide by hitting the wall with his head and from this blow he suffered injuries. Seeing the complete nervous breakdown of Tahos, who no longer commanded himself, he was not brought to trial at all, setting aside his case. The above is also confirmed by the investigative file against Taho Sejko and some testimonies that we received together with his son, Hektor Sejko, after a long investigative work that we did to people who had knowledge or work connection with that event, such as and other close friends of Tahos and his family, who to this day still do not have an exact answer as to what happened to Tahoi Sejko and where his bones may be located ?!
Testimony: Teme Sejko was kept in the coffin for five days
Although under physical and psychological torture, Teme Sejko for a long time did not accept the game that was played “for the sake of the high interests of the Party and the homeland” to be the “head of the conspiracy”. Regarding this, Strati Papai, former senior exponent of the State Security, at that time sentenced to political prison, testified: “The topic was kept locked in a coffin for five days in a row, on the fifth day he came to the investigator (Prison 313) Mehmet Shehu, who was the man who loved Temen the most since he was a partisan in the First Assault Brigade and persuaded him to admit to being the “head of the conspiracy” for the sake of the high interests of homeland as a Party duty. Teme Sejko accepted that only after Mehmet Shehu came to him as a guarantor that after the trial, he and his family would live in any country of the world he would ask for, with full guarantees from the Albanian government. A few days before the famous trial, the vice president of the Supreme Court, Mustafa Qilimi, was fired without any motivation, and when he complained about this to Rita Marko, who at that time covered the organs of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, he said: “You are a friend of Tahir “Taho Sejko’s bull and if we want or if we want, we can arrest”. And the Minister of Justice Bilbil Klosi says in confidence to Mustafa Qilimi: “Taho is showing a man with character and courage”.
“Conspirators” before the people’s trial!
On May 16, 1961, a trial was opened in the cinema of the Brigades in Tirana against the “conspirators” where the trial panel consisted of a special judicial council of the Supreme Court appointed by a special decree of the Presidium of the People’s Assembly, chaired by Shuaip Panariti, chairman of the Supreme Court and member: Major General Muharrem Kokomani, Colonel Sotir Spiro, Colonel Bejto Isufi and Lieutenant Colonel Hilmi Telegrafi. The accusation against the defendants was defended by the General Prosecutor, Aranit Çela.
The development of that trial was a great propaganda that a few days ago from Radio-Tirana and all the press organs, such as “Zeri i Popullit”, “Bashkimi” etc., and that thing also continued during the development of all The court hearings that were recorded were also given to the public outside the courtroom, by means of artisans, while those present in the courtroom were pre-selected people with invitations, dominated by high-ranking military men and State Security.
The accusation of the prosecutor, Aranit Çela
In his speech, among others, Prosecutor Aranit Çela accused the defendants, as: “Greek Asphalt agents recruited by her since the 1930s and onwards when they were recruited by the American Intelligence, who entered connection with Haki Rushiti, old agent of Greek chauvinist circles, deserter of the National Liberation War, major of the fascist militia and close collaborator of the German Nazis and seasoned agent of American imperialism and with Panayot the Elder, traitor to the people and old Yugoslav revisionists and disguised in the party for years. The defendants, using the high positions they held, gathered information of a state secret character and through the two defendants Hasan Mero and Novruz Beljeri, soldiers of the Counterintelligence Directorate at the Ministry of National Defense, took them to Haki Rushiti and Panajot Plaku. who are agents of the Greek Asphalt, the American intelligence of the Yugoslav UDB, and cooperate closely with the Director of Greek Intelligence, Costa Diandopoulos, and the American Colonel Stefan”.
Greek citizen, Costa Fili, witness at trial
Witness Vangjel Kosta Zaho, as a defendant, stated in court that he is a member of the Central Committee of the North Epirus organization and participated in a meeting held in Greece in 1957 by “Qeva” and delegated by the Greek government. generals Bocaris and Nuova took part and some Costa Dhima comes from the USA. In this meeting is discussed the organization of an armed intervention in Albania. One of the other witnesses to stand trial, was a Greek citizen and Costa Fili, and who stated in the courtroom: “I am being active in the American and Greek Intelligence, and I have entered Albania several times with missions secret, and several times at the head of saboteur gangs as a Greek Intelligence officer to get in touch with the various agents doing the actions here in connection with the armed uprising. ”
All the accusations that made you a defendant in court, if you accept all of them, as well as were requested by the physical and psychological violence during the investigation process that inhuman tortures were specified against them. When you ask questions about “their agency activity”, they also talk about other automatically that were not asked, while the Prosecutor was obliged and intervened: “I defendant, about what you will do later”.
Regarding the “admission of all charges” by the defendants, in a political commentary of Radio Belgrade in their day, it was said, among other things: “It is an unprecedented case in the history of the world of Jurisprudence, where the defendants and their lawyers. “does not hold himself, but the accusation.” Mustafa Qilimi, the former vice-president of the Supreme Court, falls in line with me and the public trial wants to be suppressed, saying: “The president of the court, Shuaip Panariti, was a lone man and he was napping (sleeping) during the hearings. At one point, after he had taken a nap, to show that he was carefully following the depositions of the defendants, I addressed a question to Teme Sejko, if he answers: Comrade prosecutor, make him come out there later”.
Regarding the witness Kosta Filii, who was removed as “agent of the American Intelligence of Greek Asphalt and their liaison with Teme Sejkon”, Koço Dilo, one of the famous lawyers of this trial, who among “Witness Costa Fili was a man with a disability (in terms of mental health), and he had worked as an apprentice to a Greek appendix, somewhere on the outskirts of Athens. He had brought it so close to his appendix that to get rid of it, he invented a game as if he had hidden a tin of gold somewhere in the Neck of the Treasure and, showing him the place on a small map, asked Costa to go and took, as they would share it together. Costa agreed and after crossing the Greek border, he was captured by the Albanian border guards and during the investigation process, they prepared him to admit that he was a “Greek agent and liaison with Teme Sejko’s group”, promising to release him and return him. back in Greece together with the “gold tin” that the State Security “had found” in the Neck of the Treasure “. But even though Costa Fili carried out a task assigned to him by the State Security, admitting that he was a “Greek agent”, he was not only not released as promised, but was sentenced to 25 years in prison. which he suffered all at Burrell Prison, from where he was released sometime in 1986, and after being held for several days at the City Tourism Hotel while his passport was being prepared, he was repatriated to Greece, where he lived until a few years ago somewhere on the outskirts of Ioannina. In addition to the testimonies of some former political prisoners who knew the “agent” Kosta Fili closely, about the unfortunate one who was exploited by the State Security, he wrote at length in his book entitled, “The confessions of the prison prison operative” Burreli”, also Pirro Nuredini, former operative worker of that prison, who was the last person he met before repatriation in the restaurant-Hotel of Burreli where he was accommodated./Memorie.al
continues tomorrow
