Memorie.al / It were December 14, 1987, when a very serious event shook the entire city of Korça. In one of its neighborhoods, in an apartment building somewhere near the “Skënderbeu” Stadium, during a pursuit by police forces, a “problematic” citizen lost his life after falling from the fifth floor of the apartment where he lived with his family. Regarding his tragic death, various versions were given about how it happened, even though dozens of citizens who had gathered near that building – as was common in those years wherever there were “extraordinary” events and the presence of police forces – saw and heard the macabre “scene” and the gunfire.
But who was the “problematic” citizen who tragically lost his life by “falling” from the fifth floor of the building, and why were so many police forces present there at that moment? Why was that event kept secret by the Internal Affairs Department of the city of Korça, which did not report it to the General Department at the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Tirana, where, as a rule, even a minor injury of a citizen who might have fallen off a motorcycle was reported in detail, let alone a death, even a most tragic one?!
The archival documents in question that we are publishing in this article, it must be emphasized, are unique in their authenticity, which is reflected in the operational correspondence between the Korça Internal Affairs Department and the Minister of Internal Affairs of that time, Hekuran Isai, through which not only the chronicle of a foretold death is revealed, but also the pathology of the system in the last years of the communist regime.
What was initially reported as a suicide by jumping from the height of the fifth floor, after further verifications, turned out to be the consequence of a brutal and inept intervention by the police forces, even by the deputy chief of police of the Korça District Internal Affairs Department himself, Demir Rifat Drita! The archival document clearly shows how the main leaders of the Police in that city (such as Petrit Dashi), in an attempt to keep their crime hidden, instructed that not all details be recorded in the events log, trying to conceal the fact that the victim had been shot with a firearm!
But as we will also see from the notes of Minister Hekuran Isai, they unmask a police force that “fights with firearms against a madman” and the inability of the cadres to confront “hand-to-hand” with wrongdoers, preferring to use a pistol against a defenseless man in a nervous crisis. The document concludes with the notification of the arrest of the deputy police chief, Demir Rifat Drita, marking one of the rare cases where police violence was punished (even if under the pressure of institutional “shame”).
Based on the above, these documents are a chilling and extremely important testimony, as they show the functioning of the state mechanism of that time, where, also as a result of the impossibility of covering up such a serious event, official reports, attempts to conceal the truth, and the harsh hierarchical reaction collide.
Regarding this and other aspects of that very serious event that shook the entire city of Korça in that cold mid-December of 1987 (about which, even today, after nearly four decades, surprisingly not a single line has been written), we are informed by the aforementioned secret archival documents (with their respective facsimiles) taken from the Archives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (now declassified), which shed light on everything that happened there that day, as well as on all the machinations used by the Korça Internal Affairs Department, not only to keep that event hidden but also to present it as suicide!
THE SECRET DOCUMENT OF THE MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS, WHERE THE KORÇA INTERNAL AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT INFORMS MINISTER HEKURAN ISAI ABOUT THE INCIDENT WHERE THE POLICE KILLED CITIZEN MANOL TROJA
THE SOCIALIST PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA SECRET
MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS Tirana, December 14, 1987
GENERAL DEPARTMENT INFORMATION
Regarding your request, comrade minister, about the event in Korça, concerning the suicide by jumping from the fifth floor of Manol Vangjel Troja, the following was clarified:
The event was reported by the Korça Internal Affairs Department, the Chief of Police, Bashkim Kushe, who presented it as complete with all the characteristics and circumstances.
Specifically, he presented the fact of the police intervention and that of the deputy chief, who, in the attempt to capture Manol Troja, the victim tried to strike him with an iron lever – and to avoid the blow, he also shot him with a pistol.
The victim, frightened and agitated, managed to escape the police and after going up to the fifth floor, naked, he jumped and met his death.
The event was referred to the operational service officer, comrade Rakip Nelaj, who received it in full, but the person in charge of the operational service group, comrade Petrit Dashi, told comrade Guri Papa not to record all the details provided by the Korça Internal Affairs Department in the events log, as it was not necessary.
The description of the event in the operational communication dated December 14, 1987, was recorded in full, in accordance with the note received on December 12, 1987.
HEAD OF THE GENERAL DEPARTMENT
BAUDIN KAZANI
NOTE BY MINISTER HEKURAN ISAI ON THE DOCUMENT DESCRIBING THE SERIOUS EVENT THAT OCCURRED IN THE CITY OF KORÇA, ON 12.12.1987, WHERE THE POLICE KILLED A CITIZEN
Why doesn’t Korça say that the deputy/chief hit him in the chest with a bullet, then he jumped from the floor?
Hekuran Isai
THE SECRET DOCUMENT OF THE MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS, WHERE THE KORÇA INTERNAL AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT INFORMS MINISTER HEKURAN ISAI ABOUT THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE SERIOUS EVENT, WHERE THE DEPUTY/CHIEF OF POLICE, DEMIR RIFAT DRITA, KILLED CITIZEN MANOL TROJA
SECRET
Single copy
Tirana, December 14, 1987
C L A R I F I C A T I O N
In relation to your note, to verify whether the deputy/chief of police shot with a firearm at the victim Manol Troja and whether he was hit in the body, we clarify:
The deputy/chief of police Bashkim Kushe told the comrades of the operational service, at the time the confrontation was taking place, that to subdue the victim by members of the family, the doctor, and the police, and since this had not been possible because he threatened them with a lever to strike them, the deputy/chief of police fired a weapon to frighten him, and after he escaped them, he went into the room, closed the door, and jumped from the balcony.
From this notification made by the chief of police, it does not appear that he said that he was hit in the chest by a bullet.
To clarify why the Korça Internal Affairs Department does not tell the truth, we spoke with the chairman of the Internal Affairs Department, comrade Arif Hasko, and the deputy chairman of the District Investigation Office, comrade Marenglen Rrapi, who is also the investigator of the case, and it appears that this case has not yet been analyzed, due to the fact that the chairman of the Department did not know the circumstance that full information was not given to the operational service group, and now that it has become clear, the analysis has not yet been carried out, so as not to negatively affect the investigation of the case, since criminal proceedings have been initiated against the deputy/chief of police.
The comrades from Korça say that the deputy/chief of police shot the victim with a firearm at the time he was clinging outside the balcony ledge.
PETRIT DASHI BAUDIN KAZANI
NOTE BY MINISTER HEKURAN ISAI ON THE DOCUMENT DESCRIBING THE SERIOUS EVENT THAT OCCURRED IN THE CITY OF KORÇA, WHERE HE ORDERS THE ARREST OF THE DEPUTY/CHIEF OF POLICE
I have given the order to analyze; the deputy/chief is to be arrested.
Great shame, an entire police force fights with firearms against a madman.
Even if he had been hit ten times with an iron lever, he still should not have shot him.
He who is afraid of a minor injury is a coward; he is not fit for our organs.
We must draw and conclude:
We do not have cadres prepared to engage hand-to-hand.
There is a violation of the order on the use of weapons.
What happened appears to be a great failure.
Because the citizen had trust in the police, but they killed the son he had, he fell into misfortune, perhaps temporary as well.
HEKURAN ISAI
THE SECRET DOCUMENT OF THE MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS, NOTIFYING THE ARREST OF THE DEPUTY/CHIEF OF POLICE OF KORÇA, DEMIR DRITA, WHO KILLED CITIZEN MANOL TROJA
THE SOCIALIST PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA SECRET
MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS Tirana, December 15, 1987
GENERAL DEPARTMENT
SECRET
Single copy
Tirana, December 15, 1987
KORÇA
On December 14, 1987, the former deputy – chief of police of Korça, Demir Rifat Drita, age 34, born in Erseka and resident in Korça, a party member, was arrested because he committed the crime of negligent homicide of Manol Vangjel Troja, which is referred to in the operational communication of December 14, 1987. / Memorie.al
HEAD OF THE GENERAL DEPARTMENT
BAUDIN KAZANI
