Dashnor Kaloçi
The fifth part
Memorie.al publishes a file that was obtained some time ago by the institution of the Authority for the Information of Files of the former State Security, where the investigative, judicial and processing file of the citizen Kasëm Hoxha, originally from the village of Markat in Saranda and residing in the USA since 1985, when he was able to escape from Albania to Greece, after having suffered ten years in the Spaçi camp, convicted of “agitation and propaganda against popular power”. At the time of his arrest, on June 21, 1973, by the State Security bodies, of the Internal Affairs Branch of the Saranda district, some “compromising materials”, such as poems and tracts, were found in his house , where he called “for the overthrow of popular power”, etc. The file in charge of the citizen Kaso Hoxha, (now de-classified) begins with the processing, where the State Security bodies and the Department of Internal Affairs of the district of Saranda make every effort to find the author of the letter. with deep hostile content”, which was thrown in the center of Markat village (with residents of the Cham community), where after a long time, with the help of the Central Criminal Laboratory, near the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Tirana, it became possible, in order to clarify and identify that the writing on that letter was Kaso Hoxha’s, this also led to his arrest. The file in question continues with the investigative and judicial process against him, where he, after suffering ten years in Spaçi prison, in November 1982 returns to his native village, Markat, where from the first days, he was followed and monitored. by the bodies of the State Security, who had engaged not only some associates of the Security, but also his close family members, this forced Kaso, to escape arrest, to escape from Albania, crossing the state border, to the state neighbors, Greece. After some time staying in the Llavros Camp, he gained the status of a political asylum seeker, to go to the United States of America, where even there, he continued to be followed and monitored by the State Security bodies (Albanian Political Intelligence, which was camouflaged with his residency, near the Diplomatic Mission in the United Nations Organization) and some of its secret agents, until 1991, when the communist regime in Albania collapsed. The story of Kaso Hoxha, became known after the publication of his book “Beautiful land, ugly people”, which he entrusted to Memorie.al in manuscript, now comes through the documents of the State Security, (where they are, reports of collaborators of the State Security, with their pseudonyms, letters, notes, information, relations, report-information, interceptions with operational techniques, etc., of the officers of the State Security, investigators, holders of the Department of Internal Affairs, of the district of Saranda, etc., to the residency of Political Intelligence in the USA, and its agents there), which begin in 1973 and end in 1991, when his file was archived once and for all.
Continues from last issue
The document with the minutes of the interrogation of the defendant, Kasem Çerçiz Hoxha, by the investigator Halit Kardhashi, officer of the Department of Internal Affairs of the district of Saranda
Verbal process
In Saranda, on 24/VII/1973
I, the investigator of the Internal Affairs Branch, Halit Kardhashi, interrogated the defendant Kasem Çerçiz Hoxha.
Question: Continue to give more concrete details regarding the real reasons for compiling the letter with hostile content and throwing it in Markat village?
Answer: The reasons that forced me to write a letter with a hostile content against the people’s power were not the ones I explained in the previous processes, that I allegedly did this to test different people and if I had, I would they accepted and would not make it an issue, to provoke them and denounce them to Security, thus becoming an accomplice of these bodies, but I wrote this letter, starting from a hostile intention, because as I explained in the previous process, I, Kasemi, as a consequence of a great propaganda made by Radio Moscow, began to create doubts about the correctness of the line of the Albanian Labor Party, that in Albania Socialism is not really built as it is propagated, that the Soviets are right when they speak against Albania and the Leadership of the Albanian Labor Party.
Apart from Radio Moscow, I was a regular listener of its broadcasts in the Albanian language, I had begun to harbor dissatisfaction with the government also due to the fact that, especially after returning from the army, I was not treated well by the party and government bodies in the village, which it probably came from the fact that I had escaped to Greece, my cousins, Selfo and Rexhep Hoxha, I had asked several times to go to some course to learn, but they had not given me the opportunity.
I had come to the conclusion that: people like me in Markat, who had bad biographies, had to go work where they told us, just to get a piece of bread. All this forced me to express my enmity through this letter, my goal was to make people dissatisfied with the people’s power, to give hope and courage to the people that, regardless of all that is happening, but in in our village, there are still people who work against the government.
Question: Why did you want to keep the people hopeful, what was your goal in this direction, defendant?
Answer: As I explained above, Radio Moscow presented the situation in our country as quite difficult and that the Soviet Union and other countries of the world had achieved great success in all directions, that the people in those countries lived a good and luxurious life. , so I also expected the change in the situation in Albania, i.e. overthrowing popular power in our country.
I have expected the occupation of Albania by the Soviet Union, because on several occasions, I had heard different news from Radio Moscow. But apart from that, a few years ago I had seen in the newspaper “Voice of the People”, about the introduction of the Soviet army into Czechoslovakia, about the approach of these armies to the borders with Yugoslavia, etc.
From these, despite the fact that our press treated them as aggressive forces and that they wanted to occupy different countries, I drew my conclusions that one day Albania would be occupied by Soviet forces. This opinion strengthened even more when our government declared its exit from the Warsaw Treaty.
These hopes that I had for the change of the situation at a given time, I wanted the people to also have them that are why I took the initiative and wrote the letter that we mentioned above.
The process, after reading to me and seeing that my statements were written correctly, I signed it.
Defendant Investigator
Kaso Hoxha Halit Kardhashi
The document with the minutes of the interrogation of the defendant, Kasem Çerçiz Hoxha, by the investigator Halit Kardhashi, officer of the Department of Internal Affairs of the district of Saranda
Verbal process
In Saranda, on 26/VII/1973
I, the investigator of the Internal Affairs Branch, Halit Kardhashi, interrogated the defendant, Kasem Çerçiz Hoxha.
Question: Do you continue to give explanations regarding your hostile activity?
Answer: I, Kasemi, as I have explained in previous processes, being in hostile positions with the people’s power, these thoughts were created by listening to Radio Moscow and various radio stations of revisionist capitalist countries, I decided to compile this letter with content hostile and throw it on the main street of the village.
Through this letter I, Kasemi, wanted to encourage the opposing element in my village, that a day would come when the system in Albania would change, that a foreign power would come here, to arouse discontent among the masses, that in this power, there is no justice, while at the same time, my other goal was to make as many people as possible dissatisfied with the general masses of the people. I have no other matter to say.
The process, after reading to me and seeing that my statements were written correctly, I signed it.
Defendant Investigator
Kaso Hoxha Halit Kardhashi
The document with the minutes of the interrogation of the defendant, Kasem Çerçiz Hoxha, by the investigator Halit Kardhashi, officer of the Department of Internal Affairs of the district of Saranda
Minutes
Saranda, on 1.8.1973
I, Halit Kardhashi, investigator at D.P.B. of Saranda, I interrogated the defendant Kaso Çerçiz Hoxha.
Question: Tell us, defendant, when did you start to put yourself in hostile positions with the people’s power?!
Answer: The truth is that I started to oppose the party and the government in 1969, under the circumstances that I will describe below. It must have been the month of April or May of 1969 that my father-in-law Tare Bejko, made a lightning bolt in the direction of Nafiz Agako from our village, who had thrown a mine in his house in the middle of the village open a pit for water stere.
In the answer to the lightning sheet, among other things, Nafiz Agako writes that Tarja made a mistake by marrying his daughter to me, since I was an undesirable person who had people who fled to Greece in my tribe. These words of Nafiz Agakos infuriated me and I believed that I was targeted as an enemy by the people’s power.
After this event, from July to August of 1969, I worked together with my cousin, Selfo Hoxha, making straw easels in the field of Markati. Using this opportunity, Selfo showed me various resentments towards power. I remember him telling me that he had been sentenced to prison in vain and that now everyone looked at him as a declassified man and that they could not stay here any longer.
At the same time, he spoke well about the economic situation that existed in capitalist countries such as Greece or the USA, and that people there live by making large sums of money, etc. I asked Selfo how he knew that living abroad was so good?!
He told me that: this is also seen in those people from our village that have fled to these countries, that they had no choice but to be good, since they sent enough money to their people here. Selfo told me that: they give us the most difficult jobs to the affected people, and that we cannot fulfill the norms.
Likewise with Selfo, I talked about many other things, but now I can’t remember. Being influenced by Selfo’s words, I thought and believed that we were not seen well by the party and the government. And as it seemed, we were going to die working the fields, just for a piece of bread.
Finally, I want to add that Selfo, who escaped in August 1969 together with Bilal Xhaferri and Bajram Shuaip, had a negative influence on me. And from that time I began to consider myself an enemy of the people’s power and threw away the letter with deep hostile content.
The process, after he wrote to me and my statements were read correctly, I signed.
Defendant Investigator
(Kasem Hoxha) (Halit Kardhashi)
The document with the minutes of the interrogation of the defendant, Kasem Çerçiz Hoxha, by the investigator Halit Kardhashi, officer of the Department of Internal Affairs of the district of Saranda
Verbal process
In Saranda, on 6/VIII/1973
I, the investigator of the Internal Affairs Branch, Halit Kardhashi, interrogated the defendant, Kasem Çerçiz Hoxha.
Question: Do you continue to give detailed explanations about your hostile activity?
Answer: In addition to the foreign propaganda through the radio that I heard on the broadcasts of Radio Moscow and other radio stations, another source that negatively influenced my person was the Yugoslav television broadcasts.
During the time I was doing my mandatory military service, I had several occasions to watch various Yugoslav TV shows, as the command of our brigade had a television and it was located in one of the headquarters classrooms.
The Yugoslav television in its broadcasts gave various advertisements, presenting the life in Yugoslavia as very good, that the people there lived in luxury, the successes they achieved in various sectors, as well as for the various capitalist-revisionist states.
Seeing what was presented on Yugoslav television, I began to create illusions in myself about the supposedly good life in Yugoslavia, about the many freedoms that existed there, so I began to admire this country, and then I compared it with the life we used to live to us here, consequently putting myself in a hostile position.
During the time in the army, for the TV shows we watched and listened to, especially about Yugoslavia, we considered each other, especially with the fashion problem.
Over time, after I came to the village and bought the radio, the ones I watched on the Yugoslav TV shows, I started listening to the shows on Radio Moscow, Prishtina, etc., so I started thinking about the supposedly good life that takes place in these places, of the liberties existing there, and other matters of which I have spoken in proceedings of former dates.
The process, after reading to me and seeing that my statements were written correctly, I signed it. Memorie.al
Defendant Investigator
Kaso Hoxha Halit Kardhashi
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