Dashnor Kaloçi
Memorie.al/ publishes some archival documents extracted from the Central State Archive in Tirana (fund of the former Central Committee of the ALP), which are detached from a voluminous file with the initials “secret” which belongs to the years 1980-1982 and talks about the sensational event, the rupture of the tires of some of the vehicles of the foreign diplomatic corps, accredited in Tirana, where after the great concern of Enver Hoxha and his phone call to the Minister of Internal Affairs, Feçor Shehu, to whom, at the height of his anger, the “Commander” said: “If for 24 hours you do not find out who and why damaged the vehicles of foreign embassies in Tirana, find a hole and enter”! The alarm of the Minister of Interior, Feçor Shehu, who called an urgent meeting of all the main directors of the department he headed, and after making clear to the “Commander” the great concern, lest that event would create a diplomatic incident with several countries, State Security bodies and other structures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, within 24 hours, managed to discover the perpetrator of the “crime”, Prendushme Deda, an employee of the Municipal Enterprise of the capital, who was working in cleaning the streets, which was caught in flagrante delicto in front of the “Dajti” Hotel while packing the tires of some of the vehicles of the diplomatic corps in Tirana. Rare testimony of the former Director of the Central Forensic Laboratory of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Neshat Tozaj, given shortly before he passed away, regarding the heated debates and his clash with Minister Feçor Shehu, after he , as the head of the laboratory he led, refused to sign the expert report, to consider the cutting tool as a “cold weapon”, with which the cleaning worker had broken the tires of some of the vehicles with “CD” license plates! Feçor Shehu’s threat to his subordinate who immediately fired him, sending him as a screenwriter to the Kinostudio “Shqipëria e Re” and Tozaj’s long odyssey, to restore his honor and dignity, sending him letters complaints to Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu and then Enver Hoxha. This became the cause and brought the cold and the first clash, between the two highest leaders of communist Albania, of that time! Enver’s accusations against Mehmet Shehu, why he had kept secret the sensational event that shook official Tirana (for fear of a diplomatic incident with several countries), where after his death and the arrest of Kadri Hazbi and Feçor Shehu , that new event came “on stage” and as a result, all members of the “hostile group”, who were accused of damaging the vehicles of foreign embassies and returning to the workplace of Neshat Tozaj, were released from prison and internment. who a few years later, wrote the novel “Knives”, which at that time would make a big fuss!
The unknown story of the event that took place in 1980, with the vehicles of the diplomatic corps in Tirana, which found cracked tires, for which Neshat Tozaj wrote the novel “Knives”!
Sometime in the autumn of 1980, the bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Tirana received a denunciation from some foreign embassies in the Albanian capital that their vehicles, from time to time, were found, with tires intentionally torn, with vehicles cutter. This, of course, set in motion the relevant bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which engaged the structures of the People’s Police and the State Security, which at first did not believe it, thinking that the denunciation was not their invention, but a little Days later, that event caused an alarm, disturbing the main leader of the Party, Enver Hoxha, who, fearing a diplomatic incident with a number of foreign countries, immediately called Minister Feçor Shehu, saying: ” You are Feçor Shehu, because we have not met and we have never talked together ”?
While on the other side of the receiver was heard: “As the comrade commander orders, I am”, Enver continued: “If within 24 hours, you do not find out who and why the tires of vehicles, of foreign diplomats in Tirana are broken, find hole and insert ”.
He immediately summoned to his office an urgent meeting, all the chiefs and key directors of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and State Security, to whom, after presenting the event that had taken place, with the vehicles of several foreign diplomatic missions in Tirana and the complaint they had made to that ministry, in the end they were told: “If you did not find it for 24 hours, who and why broke the tires of some vehicles, of the diplomatic corps in Tirana, find a hole and enter”, repeating literally what Enver Hoxha had said on the phone a few minutes ago.
How and by whom was the “Commander” informed about that sensational event, about which he was seriously concerned, fearing a possible diplomatic incident, with some foreign countries, and even more so for the fact that that event was kept secret and against him, no official report-information had gone, as was usually the case for very ordinary things and without any value?! The information about the event in question, Enver had received from his wife, Nexhmije Hoxha, who after telling him, had told him that Klemi (son-in-law, Klemenet Kolaneci) had told him that thing, and he had learned it from his brother , Florjani (Kolaneci), who at that time was the head of the department and investigator at the General Investigation in Tirana, which he had as the object of his work and that of his brother, Klemi, had told him quite spontaneously (in just one sentence) , while they were drinking coffee together in Hotel “Dajti”.
The serious event that seriously shook the official Tirana of that time, was really revealed in 24 hours, the person who had pierced with a knife, the tires of some of the foreign embassies in Tirana, continued to perform that “rite”, continuing the work “With the same knife, to other vehicles that differed from the” CD “license plate!
The “aggressor”, who by his action, had caused an alarm, setting in motion all the structures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, was called Prendushe Deda and she was a worker (cleaner) of the Municipal Enterprise of the capital, who usually worked the shift of third, working in the center of Tirana and near the block of flats of the diplomatic corps.
She had done that action and continued to do so until the moment she was caught red-handed with a knife in her hand, somewhere in front of Hotel “Dajti” (where a vehicle with license plate “CD” was parked), by the structures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and mainly of the State Security, which were maximally engaged with all the technical-logistical arsenal that that ministry had.
During the investigation process, where besides a special group of investigators, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Feçor Shehu, personally participated, she (Prendushe Deda), stated that: she was not pushed by anyone and that action was done as a sign of revenge, because a few days ago, an embassy car, (showing also the color of the vehicle), had crashed into her on the street, while she was working and had left without stopping, while she even though she had collapsed on the ground.
At that moment, she had the idea of revenge, to take the tires of the cars with the “CD” license plate, wherever she found them in Tirana. After that, she had ordered a knife, to a man of hers, who had been able to provide it to a relative, who worked in the “Tractor” Plant, and after taking the knife, she had continued the “action” previously devised, breaking the tires of some vehicles of the diplomatic corps, until the relevant structures of the Ministry of Interior, had caught him in the act with a knife in his hand, next to a vehicle (“CD”) parked in front of the tavern of Hotel “Dajti”.
Both the special group of investigators and Minister Feçor Shehu were not convinced by the allegations of the arrested person, Prendusha Deda, and they then arrested several people, starting with Prendusha’s relative, who had ordered the knife, the person in the “Tractor” Factory. , as well as some of their other relatives, thus forming a “structured hostile criminal group”. But before the trial of this “hostile group” took place, evidence had to be presented before the trial panel, where with an expert act, it was proved that the cutting tool that Prendushja, were the criteria to be called “cold steel”.
The Central Forensic Laboratory at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, after the forensic examination, received a negative answer, ie that the cutting tool could be called a knife, but by no means a “cold weapon”. After that, Minister Feçor Shehu, urgently called the head of the Central Forensic Laboratory, Neshat Tozaj, (who was officially his subordinate), not in his office of the minister, but in the main cafe of Hotel “Dajti” and there he demanded accountability. , saying: why did not the Laboratory he led consider it, as a cold weapon, at a time when with it, you could easily kill a man? Neshat Tozaj’s answer was: “Comrade Minister, even with this ashtray that I have in my hand, you can easily kill a man, but this is not a cold weapon”!
After a debate that lasted several minutes, when Feçor Shehu saw that his subordinate, was not withdrawing from what he had signed with his hand, in the act-expertise of the cutting tool, it was not a cold weapon, he said: “Comrade Neshat, will you not help the Party and the bodies of the Ministry of Interior, which have been fighting for so many months, for the punishment of this hostile criminal group?!
After these words that were indirectly a way of pressure for the head of the Central Forensic Laboratory, Neshat Tozaj, he replied: “Comrade Minister, not only am I ready to help the Party, but also to fight by giving my life, in the fight against enemies, whoever they may be, but my professional conscience and responsibility to the task entrusted to me and entrusted to me by the Party does not allow me to regard that cutting tool, or knife as you have called it, as a “cold weapon”! Meanwhile, before finishing his speech, Neshati, Minister Feçor Shehu, stood up and threatened him with dismissal.
Feçori, signed his dismissal from duty. After that, the relevant structures communicated the new task to Tozaj, as a screenwriter at the Kinostudio “Shqipëria e Re”. Of course he accepted the new job, but decided to complain to the highest instances about the injustice done to him.
Meanwhile, one of his close friends (then head of the sector in the State Security organs) advised Neshat to write a letter to Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu, taking over the person who will handed that letter to the Prime Minister, who was the Secretary General of the then Prime Minister, Kiço Kasapi. But even though Neshati wrote the letter and the “guarantor” informed them that the letter had reached the Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu, to Tozaj, there was no answer?! Although both of his friends insisted that the Prime Minister could not reply to the author of the letter, as she had not gone to him officially, as provided by law, going through all the administrative links that the Prime Minister had, Tozaj again he was not calm, and other thoughts and ideas came to his mind, to complain above.
This, the idea to write another letter of complaint, but this time to the main leader of the Party, Enver Hoxha, was prompted by the fact that Minister Feçor Shehu, with a daily order, had appointed the head of his Cabinet, Farudin Poçari and the well-known lecturer of the Faculty of Law at the University of Tirana, Prof. Dr. Skënder Begeja (lecturer of criminology), to make the expert report of the cutting device, which was caught in flagrante delicto of the defendant, Prendushe Deda, who had immediately signed, as requested by the Minister of Internal Affairs, ie classifying that knife as a “cold weapon”! But even though this had already become a fact and only in that document, Prendushe Deda, was arrested for “illegal possession of a cold steel weapon”, he was convicted on several other charges, along with some of his her relatives and other persons who “were implicated in that hostile activity”, the former head of the Central Forensic Laboratory of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who was already working as a screenwriter at the Kinostudio “Shqipëria e Re”, insisted that that action carried out by Minister Feçor Shehu, was not based on law and was in conflict with applicable laws.
Based on this serious legal violation, from which some citizens led by Prendushe Deda were already convicted in prisons and interned, Neshat Tozaj wrote a letter to the main leader of the Party, Enver Hoxha, emphasizing that ” … For that event and the injustice that was done to him, he had signaled to the Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu some time ago, but as far as he was concerned, his letter had not fallen into his hands”?!
After that, Enver called an urgent meeting in the office of his house, Minister Feçor Shehu, for the “knives issue”, when he had told him: “If you do not find out in 24 hours who and why has damaged the vehicles of foreign embassies in Tirana, find a hole and enter… ”! It is said that after that short meeting that lasted only a few minutes, Feçori had given his explanations on the “engagement of Skënder Shehu”, Enver had told him to leave and in his secret diary, he had written: “Who brought us this man we made a minister… ?! A living mediocrity”!
All these, that is, “hiding the event of the knives” by Mehmet Shehu, as well as “his fault” with the engagement of his son Skënder, came together and they were the genesis, which angered Enver Hoxha, which caused and the big rift that broke out between him and Mehmet!
Before they were eliminated, meetings were held against them at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Party organizations where they were militant, as well as the Plenum of the Central Committee of the ALP, which was held in October 1982, from where it would emerge in The “knives issue” was also staged, according to which a “hostile group” was convicted, where accusations were made that the case was staged by Feçor Shehu, on the orders of Kadri Hazbiu, in order to create a diplomatic incident with some foreign countries, which had their embassies in Tirana ”. Based on this, a working group was set up to investigate the whole “knives issue” where as a result, after a few months, a report was drafted for the senior leadership of the ALP, concluding that: “the issue knives, was hatched by Feçor Shehu and his people”!
After that, the decision was taken by the relevant party and state instances and Prendushe Deda and the whole “hostile group” were released from prison and the other members of that “group” who were interned, returned to Tirana, settling them in the affairs there, where they had been before and the dwellings they had had, before the sentence and exile. Also, Neshat Tozaj returned to duty, being reappointed as head of the Central Forensic Laboratory, handing over the task of screenwriter, which he had held for several years at the Kinostudio “Shqipëria e Re”.
The whole event in question, encouraged Neshat Tozajn, to write the book “Knives” which was published in 1989 by the Publishing House “Naim Frashëri”, after its directors had previously received approval from the then Minister of Internal Affairs and at the same time secretary of the Central Committee of the ALP, Hekuran Isai, who noted in the official document: “To be published without any problems”.
The above event was built based on the testimonies of Mr. Neshat Tozaj, for the author of this article (shortly before he passed away in 2008), and it becomes public for the first time, because at that time, Mr. Tozaj asked us that his testimony would be published only when the archival documents were found, which spoke about this event. Adhering to his request, this testimony given to us by Mr. Tozaj, is published for the first time by Memorie.al, publishing along with it the archival file of the “knife issue”, which will continue in future issues. Memorie.al
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