Memorie.al / Bardhosh Gjonzeneli, that brave and courageous man, passed away on November 29, 2020 and went to eternal rest on November 30. Tired of his life full of momentum, full of battles, storms and waves, which could not defeat him. One of the legends of the communist prisons, a personality like him, who left behind indelible traces, will live among the citizens of the Albanian society, with the traces he left behind, the traces of a freedom fighter. Like his father, Professor Bego Gjonzeneli, or “Bego Bukuria”, as his comrades-in-arms, Hysni Lepenica and Skënder Muçua called him.
Laureate in Italy, Begua with his fiery oratory, became a propagandist of the Anti-Fascist War in the villages of Vlora. He was imprisoned by the communists in 1945. He was convicted and released, arrested for the second time in 1949 and shot, at the age of 37.
Bardhoshi, his son, would surpass his father, he was imprisoned three times, but escaped the bullet that had taken his father’s life. The tragic story of a well-known patriotic and democratic family from Tragjas i Vlora, which faced for three consecutive generations, with sacrifices and dignity, the bloody communist violence. He was sentenced three times, with a total of 50 years in prison
Bardhosh Gjonzeneli was born in 1940, in Tragjas, Vlorë. He was sentenced three times, with a total of 50 years in prison, he served only 27 years, because the dictatorship collapsed. On May 13, 1960, by decision no. 39, the Tirana Military Court, convicted him; For “treason against the motherland, in the form of escape”, with 15 years in prison. Loss of rights for 5 years and confiscation of property.
On December 14, 1976, by decision no. 323, the Vlora Court, sentenced him for; “agitation and propaganda”, with 10 years in prison, loss of rights for 5 years and confiscation of property. On May 9, 1979, by decision no. 3, the Supreme Court, sentenced him for; “participation in a nationalist counter-revolutionary group, to commit crimes against the state and agitation and propaganda”, with 25 years in prison and the loss of rights, for 5 years. (AISKK, P. 1, V. 2014, D. 10 , pp. 74-75)
Bardhoshi was a resistance fighter and a fighter of the communist dictatorship, he was a brave man who did not tire or defeat the shackles, torture, hunger, nor the diseases of the black communist prisons, so he became the model of the fighter and embroiderer for the opponents of the communist dictatorship.
“I have forgiven the party and my friend Nexhmie, what you forgave me…”!
Qani Beqo Sadiku (born in 1950), sentenced to 17 years in prison and sentenced to another 25 years, co-sufferer with Bardhosh Gjonzenel in the cells of Burrel, said that: “After 1982, some ridiculous sentence reductions were made. The command came to our rooms and for propaganda, announced the reduction of sentences. I asked Bardhosh Gjonzenelin:
– ‘What shall I say to them when they come and announce the reduction of the sentence’?
– Tell them I have forgiven the party, I don’t love them, Bardhoshi told me.
And I actually said: ‘I have forgiven the Party and my friend Nexhmije, what you forgave me. You take them, because I don’t need them’. Of course, immediately, I was sent to the cell…”!
While serving his second sentence in the notorious Spaçi prison, Bardhoshi was arrested in February 1979. The party, through the State Security, had invented, creating “terrorist” organizations formed in prison. How can an organization be formed in prison, under terror, only the communists know this…?!
The intention of these arrests and re-convictions for the second and third time was expressed to Bardhosh Gjinzeneli, his investigator. “The investigator told me that none of us will escape alive.” (Fatos T. Lubonja “Rebirth”, The Tirana Effort 1996, p. 262),
Under torture, without bread and water, without treatment and medicine…!
Fatos Lubonja writes that; “After 4 months of inhumane physical and moral torture by the investigator, the trial began in May 1979 and after 7 days, the verdict was given. By death, by shooting, Xelal Koprencka, Fadil Kokomani, Vangjel Lezho, while all the others, more than 20 people, were sentenced to more than 20 years of imprisonment, practically it is understood that they were sentenced to life imprisonment”!
Under torture, without bread and water, without medication and medicine, one of them who did not flinch when the bullet and the rope cut him, Bardhosh Gjonzenli was not defeated. He came from the darkness of the cells, giving courage to his cellmates, as fellow prisoner Fatos Lubonja describes:
“Then cell no. 1. I recognized the person who came from there even from the back. It was Bardhosh Gjonzeneli, who had come to Spaç a year ago, sentenced for the second time to the camp, with 10 years. Bardhoshi’s mouth worked only in one direction: Shante cursed the government; “the most degenerate in the world”, as he called Enver Hoxha’s government.
He did this as if he were eating bread, accompanied by humor and a kindness that made you think that, with all the endless smut, this was a good man who, if those criminals fell into his hands, could he forgave with the same ease that he cursed. His open nature made him talk to anyone with a human face in the camp without suspecting that he was a spy.
It took longer than the first two, to the tap!
Bardhoshi was delayed more than the first two at the tap. I waited to see his face, as it seemed to me that I could understand something of what was happening to him. When he came in front of me, I saw that he had taken on a strict and bitter look, quite different from the humane and warm look he had in the camp…!
After receiving the sentence in Tirana, we were returning to Spaç. When they arrived in front of Spaçi’s iron gate, the auto-prison stopped, without turning off the engine. While the door was opening, Bardhoshi let out the concern that had gripped us all:
– “For the mother’s head (he said to the mother” that his father had been shot)” they brought us here” to make the hole for us. The investigator told me that none of us would escape alive. (Fatos T. Lubonja, “Ridënimi”, Pirpjekja Tirana, 1996, p. 79, 262)
Bardhosh Gjonzeneli did not fulfill the wish of the criminal communists!
Bardhosh did not fulfill the wish of the criminal communists. After 1990, he got out of prison alive. It had been in the dictatorship, the example of the opposition, now in freedom, would become a model of the social activist and fighter, for the progress of democratic processes.
He will be the initiator of the creation of associations of the former Persecuted and Political Prisoners, of the creation of the “National Front” Party, etc., setting the example of a social and political propagandist in these organizations.
He would publish in the daily press, political articles and pamphlets, where he evidenced the crime, violence and terror of the communist dictatorship of the regime of Enver Hoxha and his successor, Ramiz Alia, being himself a witness of that inhuman violence.
He would stand out as a concerned intellectual, for the fate of society, he would give interviews in the daily press, on Radio and Television and he would also encourage and encourage his fellow prisoners, and especially the youth, to be at the forefront of the processes. democratic.
Thus, as yesterday in prison and today in freedom, he would be the model of a good man, a citizen, a democrat with a European vision, an example of a patriot who never asked what the country did for him and his family. But his motto, until the end of his life, would be that; what should I do for my country and my people?
Society needed his voice…!
Society needed his voice and Bardhoshi served society until the end, without asking anything from it, not even a moral service.
A personality like Bardhosh Gjonzeneli left an indelible mark on his family, children and especially on our society. Therefore, he will be among us even after death, with the example of his life, in dictatorship and in freedom. With the many articles in the press, with interviews and conversations, with his advice.
Bardhosh Gjonzeneli was a free spirit, a man who did not know how to make compromises with the dictatorship, he was against the currents, aiming for freedom. Because freedom he said; there is no price, therefore he would be honored by all. He had friends from every side and he would enjoy respect and love from them.
Bardhosh Gjonzeneli will remain the “guardian” and fighter of free speech and freedom. Both in dictatorship and in democracy, he kept in himself the unquenchable love of freedom. His example as a freedom fighter encouraged his fellow prisoners and prisons yesterday. It encourages today’s youth to continue the fight for the protection of free speech.
Bardhosh Gjonzeneli was the “Honor of Vlora”, even though this title was not officially given to him while he was alive…! He will be remembered by the people of Vlonia and by our entire society, for the example he left us with his life as a fighter, for freedom and democracy.
Bardhosh Gjonzeneli died in silence!
Bardhosh Gjonzeneli died in silence. His tired heart went to rest in eternity. His loss is not only of Vlora, but of our entire society. Respect for the traces left by my noble friend, who even from his deathbed, 15 days before he closed his eyes, said to me: “How are you Enver, I’m worried about you…”?! Thus fell the curtain of the tragic theater, which was played by a man not forgotten, in the gloom of Albanian life. Memorie.al
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