Interviewed by: Marçel Hila
Second part
Memorie.al/I were born on February 14, 1912 in Chameri and came to Albania at the age of 8. Participant in the war, as deputy commander of the “Chameria” detachment. Arrested on July 28, 1960, accused of being a foreign intelligence agent for a long time. In May 1961, his name was mentioned in the trial of Teme Sejko and 38 other people, but he did not appear as a person in the trial. From this moment, nothing is known about his fate.
Word spread that he was alive, that he had gone mad, that he had been shot, that he had hit his head on the cell wall and died. The official bodies of the state neither confirmed nor denied his death, leaving the case pending, shrouded in mystery and creating the false idea among family members that Taho Sejkoja was alive. Only in the years of democracy did the family get to know a decision of the Supreme Court, of that time, for the shooting sentence of Taho Sejko, but there was no shooting process-minute.
The most recent announcement about his fate was made by a former employee of the Investigation, who claimed that: Taho Sejko was tortured for a long time and in the end his eyes were also gouged out. Among these contradictory and terrible data, the family still does not know the truth of Taho Sejko’s fate.
The son testifies, Hektor Sejko Neither neither alive nor dead – a life left in the ground! What happened to this man, to this man? What is the fault of this? My 80-year-old grandmother, of the three sons she had, was left without any of them. Two were arrested on the same date and eliminated. The other one was made to drown in the well…!
Continues from last issue
Mr. Hektor, you didn’t have any other official information?
Apart from these conversations that came in different forms, we didn’t have any kind of information. Just before the mother died, we find out something else. My son-in-law worked in Rrenc, with Mark Dodan’s nephew, who was from the State Security. Mark Dodani’s nephew says to my son-in-law: “Tonin, my uncle came last night and I mentioned you for taking so-and-so’s daughter. My uncle told me that so-and-so, Tahoja, came from Greece, I accompanied him myself, I took him to Tirana and he met all the greats”.
Who were these big men, Enveri and company?
It also falls to him, who else? Who else were you talking about?! Set of made-up reds! All that I am telling you are a lie, because it was proven later. Why this situation has been kept like this, I do not know. I have no way of knowing the reason for this work. It is not written anywhere, so I don’t know. And the witnesses are not, they no longer exist.
Are they dead…?!
Even those who have been have not spoken. Then, in December 1990, I sent a telegram to Ramiz Ali with a request for this problem. He told me to go to the Ministry of the Interior. An officer met me there and I told him: “I want to know the truth about my father, Taho Sejko.” “Why, brother, don’t you know the truth”? – returned the officer. “I look so idiotic that I know and come to ask. If I had known, I wouldn’t have come to ask”? I also briefly explained all this to him.
Three days after my mother died, a person came and told us: “Tahoja was at the funeral, hiding behind a tree.” He was hiding behind a tree.” He wanted to convince us that Tahoja lives!
It seems to be the modus operandi: Create the legend that is alive and thus cover up the crime.
Yes, yes, the legend that he supposedly lives. The story continues. The burial was at half past two, but when we got to the graves in Shtoj, it was winter, December, and it got completely dark. It got dark, it got dark… this one also came and lied to us as if for seven pairs of fun: “He was hiding behind a tree”!
It had been a quarter of a century since your father was arrested, hadn’t it?
Fixed, 24 years. They kept deceiving us…! We were living a dream. My mother died with her great and extraordinary hope and faith that this man lives. Where is it, let’s find it, but this one lives!
You had no official statement?
Absolutely not! Absolutely not! Apart from these words that came and went, not like that, what was the reason, I am not able to know even today. Based on the words of Feçor Shehu, ‘to kill him we kill him, we are not afraid; people die both outside and inside, they say he is dead; if he was mad, it’s neither for us, nor for you…’! All three of these versions were rejected by the Head of the Department of Internal Affairs, who later became the Minister of Internal Security of the Albanian State. A situation was created for us, what we can say. Finally, in January 1991, I received this criminal evidence, according to which we learned that Taho Sejkoja was shot.
It’s been shot!
Here, read it, because I have a little difficulty seeing it.
With decision number 3, dated February 24, 1962.
Yes. In 1962.
Decision of the Supreme Court, for treason against the motherland, for providing information to foreign intelligence, for agitation and propaganda, according to articles 64, 67, 76 of the Code of Procedure, with death by firing squad. The confiscation of…!
The wealth of his share! They took all of us! They have left nothing without taking us!
What about this? Electoral right…?!
For 5 years. After being shot, he does not have the right to vote for 5 years!
Yes, he is dead! …He is stripped of his military rank. Executed on 13.3.1962. Have you been dead since ’62?! Tirana, on January 29, 1991. So, how far democracy has come, the first information about democracy, which they had never been given before.
We haven’t left a place without looking for it, man. In ’62 they shot him, in ’62 they say. The truth is very hard to find today. There is no record of the shooting; I don’t know what happened to him…!
Has anyone been willing to shed light on the situation regarding the arrest, shooting and disappearance?
In June 1992, I came to Tirana, as a non-commissioned officer of the Republic Guard. The task I set for myself was to uncover the truth about my father’s problem. Pjetër Arbnori, in 1994, helped me go to the president of the Court of Cassation, to get Taho Sejko’s file.
Who was the president of the Court of Cassation?
Zef Brozi. He gave me permission in 1996 to use the materials of the General Directorate of the Central State Archives, regarding Mehmet Sejko, Taho Sejko, Teme Sejko, Rexhep Plakun and Alush Taka. This is the support given to me by Pjeter Arbnori, through the mediation of Kolec Topalli.
Here we have it: “Archive of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Directorate of State Security, First Branch, File 278, Top Secret, series C2, Tirana, 24/3/1961”.
It is all that Kadri Hazbiu gives, as far as the problem is concerned. Here we are a month or two before Teme Sejkoja went to trial.
Teme Sejko’s trial took place in May 1961, right?
In May 1961. So, what does Kadri Hazbiu say here? Among others: “Taho Sejkoja still does not speak.” It not only weakens to a certain extent the judicial process to become public, but prevents the disclosure of facts that he knows as an element. Within the required time frame, we will make efforts to unravel it. To date, among the 38 arrested, only 22 have spoken, among whom, the entire main ones, with the exception of Taho Sejko, the others speak only partially, ten do not speak at all, therefore, for the rest to be unraveled, it will take more time tall”.
So until March 1962, Taho Sejko did not speak at all. Kadri Hazbiu says it. That is, during 1961, he did not speak anything.
In the documents that I received (I may have over 1,200 pages of documents), that I received from all the archives: from the State Archive, from that of the Ministry of the Interior, from the Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, of course, they are not all for the father, but they are also for the aunt and the aunt’s son, I have shared a part, the most spicy things. In these documents, one thing that impressed me that he wrote it himself is his handwriting and he underlined it with a pencil. It was written two days before the trial started, two or three days.
Date 12.5.1961.
Yes, the fifth, 1961, 3 days before Teme’s trial began!
So, on May 15, 1961, Teme Sejko’s trial began. What does it say there? Did he write it with a pencil, or others?
No, she’s his!
“Through the animal slander of the people of this country of ours…” So this expression is his?
With this, he has given an answer to the state. It’s on file. There are, I don’t know how many minutes there are for postponement of the investigation, because after Teme Sejko’s trial ended, Ferhat Matohiti took over the investigation of Taho Sejko.
In conclusion, they made a file, where this person, who had not accepted anything, accepted us all.
Where is this file?
I have the complete investigative and judicial file. In the court file are all those deposited by Teme Sejko, Tahir Demi and company? They are all inside her and it turns out that Taho Sejko accepts them. Come on, find out now, did you accept them, how did you accept them, when did you accept them, how much did you accept…?!
They must have tortured him. He was not brought out in Teme Sejko’s trial, but his name was mentioned. On the other hand, there are a lot of minutes that have delayed the investigation for a long time to analyze it, as they wrote in that document, so definitely all this time of “analysis” must have been a time of torture.
Important to me is the three-member panel. One of them is Andon Sheti. As soon as I saw the name, I went and met him. I told him that I had nothing to do with him. You were forced, you were paid, you did the task that was assigned to you, but I want to know the truth
He told me: “Here, in this letter, there is absolutely nothing true.” I did not participate in that trial…! It would be my great pleasure to give you information about your father’s trial. There is absolutely nothing real there. This is not my company. I did not sign here and I did not participate in this trial”.
This is scary mafia…?!
In other words, they also manipulated the court file. There was no trial at all! They made some papers, who knows who put the signatures, because there are three signatures.
This trial was not real, but the person was arrested, kept in the investigator’s cell, tortured…! What is the reason that for 31 years this man has been kept hidden? This trial, without the record of the shooting, is a sham. I don’t know what happened to my father, my research has hit a wall. The wall is all the garbage of the State Security and the Albanian government, who have stained their hands with the blood of innocent people and refuse to tell the truth.
In 1994, a former officer of the State Security, of Cham origin, came and asked me to the Presidency of the Assembly. He told me: “I came to see you, Taho Sejko’s son, to tell you the truth. Do you know what was the last torture they did to your father”?
I sat and saw it like this; I was stunned for the moment.
“The last torture they did to your father is that they gouged out his eyes.”
Don’t, oh God! Understand?
What happened to this man, to this man? What’s wrong with this one, bro? What is the reason we were not told for 31 years? What is the reason that they kept us in the city of Shkodra and did not take us to exile? I can’t forget it! My grandmother, 80 or so years old, of the three sons she had, was left without any. Two were arrested on the same date and eliminated. The other was made to drown in the well. Grandmother Suloja died in 1963 and she died in 1964. I cannot forget that scene as long as I live. A carriage, a horse, a coachman, a coffin and three people behind. I, her only grandson, had other nephews, but there was only me, Ramiz Dracini, the neighbor and Kujtim Demi, our relative who lived in Shkodra, whom my father had helped to come and stabilize in Shkodra. These were the three people who were burying the mother of three sons, who was left without a son! Without any!
If by chance you had met those who killed and disappeared your relative, what would you try? How would you react?
Yes, mor’, if I say it in Albanian, Albanian, I have declared it universally. When I opened the files to find the last investigator, Ferhat Matohiti, I was an officer of the Republic Guard, with a pistol in my belt.
Ferhat Matohiti, every day he came to the Presidency of the Assembly and passed in front of the Presidency of the Assembly, and it never did not occur to me nor does it occur to me that I could do anything to him.
I belive in God! I belive in god! The real people who did this work ate each other. I am not about to do an action outside of what I am built for. Trusting in God, I leave justice to Him.
Only one Xhemal Selimi has paid from this big mistake. Xhemali was declared in Shkodra. He killed someone and broke his nuts on the head. But the people of Dukagina do not forgive the humiliation!
In every society there are rules of conduct towards the corpse, prohibition of violence, desecration, and respect for the deceased. Now, I want to know, do you keep personal items from your father?
What he had in the house, they seized and took away. The two suits that were left, I returned and made them for myself, because I had no other opportunity to wear them. An overwhelming part of the things we are forced to sell for a living.
I have one last beautiful thing from my father. My friend, Gjovalin Filipi, found his father’s work book in Shkodër. There, father wrote with his own hand the work he did continuously, from 1945 to 1960.
I also have some letters, photographs.
Since you got this “bad biography” stamp, how have people seen you? What about the authorities? Did they differentiate you?
In 1968, when I was released from the army, I spent a year without a job and with great difficulty I got a job sheet for the Regional Plant in Shkodër, which was located behind the Wire Plant.
They told me to go in September, because the chief of staff was on leave. I went in September and there was a collective meeting about my work, because I was so-and-so’s nephew and so-and-so’s son, so would they accept me or not. Fortunately, the one leading the meeting said: “What you say, I agree.” So I started working three shifts.
Did you have support from friends or were you under surveillance?
We had friends and I will never forget them as long as I live. We were left without a salary, but the driver of Taho Sejko, Angjelin Toska, used to send his daughter-in-law, Lucia, to dinner and give me two thousand lek, three thousand lek…! He gave us bread, take! At the time they took them all from us and we didn’t even have bread to eat. He has done an extraordinary act. I can’t forget Çeli Toska and Luce.
When my father was arrested, my mother told me: “Be careful, son, we are alone here! You do good and bad for yourself, you don’t do it to anyone.”
Did you miss your father during your life?
Ah, a lot! I adore my father – a man who has not known what servility is, he has not known it absolutely! A man who said to communism: “Here you are wrong, there you are wrong”. Hard to find such a person today, but a person who is himself convicted.
Even with three children, he has not compromised, that he could have shut up about your trickery.
Speaking, it is self-inflicted. My mother told me: “I told your father 100 times: ‘Don’t talk! Don’t talk, man! Don’t talk, because these people see what they are doing!’ ‘I will say what I have inside me, I am not afraid…’!
Have you felt his presence?
Father, throughout my life, even today that we are talking together, is close to me. His presence for me is irreplaceable. Even when I say my name, I say Hektor Taho Sejko. He sacrificed his life just for us. If Taho Sejkoja would come out and testify in court…!
Do you think they would have put you in jail?
No, mor’, no, I wasn’t alive today! Be convinced about this work. It’s his credit, it’s his ability. The moment a person admits to a crime he did not commit, he has punished not only himself, but also his family. His attitude condemned him, but not the family! He was condemned because he was destined to be killed. He couldn’t get out of there alive; he absolutely couldn’t get out alive. With the attitude he took, with his resistance, logic leads me to the conclusion that he has protected us.
In what moments have you felt the absence of your father the most?
I felt it when I had no bread to eat at home and my mother took my two sisters to bed and told them: “Hector is going to borrow money to buy bread, and I’m telling you some fairy tale when he comes.” I felt it when in the second grade of high school, I didn’t have a shirt to wear and I went to school in rowers, and the school principal took me out in front of the whole school. I felt the absence of my father when I was forced at that time, at that age, to go to work on the farm, when I was forced to go to work in the Brick Factory. I felt when I was a soldier that I was brought out in front of the platoon commander, that being 49 kilos, I was not good at cutting with an ax 5 m2. forest. It was impossible to wait.
They took me out in front of the platoon commander and mentioned my father and aunt every time: “Son of the enemy, grandson of the enemy will not work…”!
How did you expect the fall of communism?
I waited for it as the greatest joy of my life, the greatest. After the birth of the children, this event was the greatest joy I experienced in my life. There are many people who have benefited materially from democracy. I have benefited spiritually. The creation of the Democratic Party took away my fear. I was no longer afraid, that is, I came to Hector, I came on my own. The victory of the Democratic Party brought me freedom in March 1992. With the victory of democracy, I put in place the integrity of my family, which I value much more than all the properties they have taken. Democracy gave me the dignity of my family.
Do you know anything about your father’s burial place and have you set out to find the burial place?
I know absolutely nothing, although I have tried very hard.
How hopeful are you that the state authorities will be able to find your father’s remains?
No hope. I call it lost.
When do you think this story will end?
When my life is over. Wherever I go, whatever I do, whatever I speak, I have the most difficult task – to keep my father’s name alive. It is very heavy weight. He paid for it with his life; I have the obligation to keep his name alive!
Thank you very much Mr. Hektor for the interview.
I also thank you very much. Memorie.al
