– Security Tortures in Gjirokastra and Tepelena: “We acted wrongly; the instruction was only for the North”! –
Memorie.al / A serious event that had shocked a number of villages in Gjirokastra and Tepelena, had become a reason to discuss widely in the ranks of the parties, about the violent methods that the State Security was using according to the instructions of the Ministry of the Interior, against the population in the arms collection campaign. The event was first reported by some villagers who, after being beaten and tortured to death, had gone to protest at the higher party authorities in Gjirokastër, threatening to go all the way to Tirana.
The report dated October 27, 1946, about the extraordinary event involving Abaz Laze
The event was investigated by party representatives and in a report dated October 27, 1946, a few days after the event; a report was made on that event to the Party Central Committee. The report read:
“After the meeting held by the heads of the Interior sections in Tirana, where among others the question of disarmament was raised, the head of the Prefecture’s Interior section, Comrade Abaz Laze, gathered a number of police officers and laid out the methods that they would use in connection with the disarmament of, especially in areas that are not sufficiently connected to us.
Based on the statements of the Head of the Internal Affairs Section in Tirana, it was stated that torture can also be used in cases where there will be a lot of resistance in a certain village for the handing over of weapons and that it can also be used in shooting in the country, always bearing in mind that worth it and that from such an act, we would have more benefit than loss.
This method has been laid out by the Head of the Internal Section to the officers he sent to carry out the disarmament in different areas. They took this as a template and went and acted. In particular, some of the officers have misunderstood this, the one who was sent to Lazarat e Fush-Bardhë, the one who was sent to Tepelena, Këlcyra and less so the one to Libohova”.
Further in that report, some details were also given about the tortures that had been done to the villagers of Fushë Bardhë.
“It is worse than what was in Fush-Bardhë. There, the sent officer gathered the people in the village school, took statements from them to prove that they had no weapons; the head of the village council, Neshat Çarçani, who was accused of having a revolver and a machine gun, was arrested later, but there was no fact whether he had these or not.
This one has been caught and missed a lot. After this, another 50 children were taken to the school and their shackles were removed, this was to scare them and allegedly to restrain them, among them some ate from some palm and 16 of them were held, who were restrained in a bad way, first, why did they hide in a sensational way and in front of the others, and second, why did they hide so much, so much so that their legs swelled…?!
… The villagers, who were very upset with the animals, have come to the city to complain to the authorities and asked to come to Tirana. The Chairman of the Executive Committee and the District Prosecutor met with them, those who were very sick were sent to the hospital for treatment and the rest, after talking to them, returned to the village…”!
After this report, the Secretary of the Party Committee of Gjirokastra, Mihal Bisha, sends another letter to the Central Committee in Tirana, where he proposes that measures be taken against the Security officers, so that they have how to do convincing work in these villages.
The second letter, which reveals the fact that instructions were given to the Ministry of the Interior for the given campaign, appears among the documents of the Party fund in the AQSH, which we are bringing in full as follows:
The report of the secretary of Gjirokastra District, Mihal Bisha, sent to the Central Committee of the Communist Party in Tirana
Gjinokastra, 18.12.1946
Central Committee of the KPSH
Tirana
Regarding our letter no. 973, dated 27/XI/’46, we inform you as follows:
At the last meeting that the District Committee had, it once again studied the question of disarmament and the methods that had been used in connection with this action.
As was also mentioned in the first report, the disarmament procedure was not fair, as unnecessary and excessive beatings and torture were carried out.
In a more illegal way, Fushë Bardhë of the N/prefecture of Kendra was acted. After studying one by one the ways of proceeding in each province, it was laid out the care and great work that must be done by the organization in these countries, to put right the mistake made in the case of disarmament.
After the matter was studied, it was decided to give the respective punishment to each friend, for the mistakes made.
1- Comrade Abaz Laze, member of the Regional Committee and responsible for the Internal section, a serious remark should be removed by noting in his biography, for the following reasons:
After the friend took a mold, the way he presented himself at the meeting at the Ministry of the Interior and did not know how to suit the conditions of our district, although he was advised by the friends of the District and explained to you that; we are not in the northern Malsive states.
Because the friend did not explain well the officers he sent to the provinces, knowing that these were low elements and that due to incorrect and arrogant behavior towards the people, they were kept at the disposal of the police and were left out of the new framework.
After all, he did not control the work of his friends and did not stay on top of his work, even in Tirana, and here, he explained the great importance of this action.
Even when the bad way of acting in Fushë Bardhë was pointed out to him, he did not immediately send competent officers or even go himself to correct the mistake quickly and on the spot.
2- Comrade Petrit Karkanaqe, for the illegal actions, for the beatings and tortures, for the provocations that he wanted to do as reported in the previous report, it is proposed that he be expelled from the party, that he be stripped of his position as an officer.
3- For Zenel Bello, as has been reported in separate reports for his weak attitudes, it is proposed to exclude him from the party for an unspecified time and at the same time to be ordered to leave his village, since his stay there it would make our work more difficult, for planning those measures.
For this, we were satisfied with this since his work so far has been good and why in this mistake, he has fallen from his low level and having an accomplice, an officer like Petriti.
For these last two, it was thought that after the friends who had been called by the Ministry of the Interior would return, as well as look at the case there as well, and propose their procedure.
For Dine Merçan, a party member in the organization of the N/central prefecture, a simple member in the cell of Kardhiqi, it was decided to remove a remark, because he also did not maintain a good attitude at the time of disarmament. Memorie.al
District Committee
Mihal Bisha
