Dashnor Kaloçi
Part fifteen
Memorie.al publishes the unknown story of Aleksandër Kondos, the Albanian weightlifting legend who lost his life at the age of 27 in tragic and still completely unexplained circumstances, during a car accident in Queens New York, USA, where he was placed as a political immigrant after fleeing Albania in May 1985, staying in Yugoslavia at the time, after the national team returned from the European Weightlifting Championships held in Poland in those days. The complete voluminous file of the former State Security in charge of Aleksandër Kondos, declassified by the Authority for Information of the files of the former State Security, where there are hundreds of pages belonging to the period from 1981 when the operational pursuit and surveillance of regularly against him by the secret services of the communist regime, until 1987, when that file was finally archived, after his tragic death.
In Tirana in the early ’80s, not only for many sports fans but also beyond the young people of the Albanian capital, a young man stood out and stood out, then at the age of 20, as for his portrait and physique , as well as for the appearance, with the clothes of foreign fashion, who in his arms carried the sports bag that he never took off from his shoulder and on the other side, a big radio-tape recorder, which he brought from abroad when going out with the national weightlifting team in international activity. He was Aleksandër Kondo, a member of the “Dinamo” weightlifting team of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (where at that time he served as a senior soldier in the Republic Guard, also his father), and also of the national team, which at that time, thanks to the differentiated assessment and treatment of the communist regime in power in some serious sports, had achieved high results in the international arena.
The name of Aleksandër Kondo as an athlete began to become more and more famous, especially after his high results achieved in 1984, in the Sports Palace “Partizani” of the capital, when he fixed the figures 200 kg. (in the style of pushing) electrifying thousands of sports fans, (that day more spectators were outside the sports palace than inside it), who under numerous applause, did not leave the square in front of the palace, without seeing that guy up close, who had amazed them with his results and performance. Since that day, Sander Kondo almost became a myth in Tirana and Albania of that time, as his results came ever higher, not only in national championships, but also in the international arena where he consistently had high results. .
But much more than this period of time when Sander Kondo, was at the peak of his career, his name became even more famous and began to be discussed throughout the country, at the end of May 1985, when during an international event in the framework of the European Weightlifting Championship that took place in Warsaw, Poland, (where he lifted 210 kg.), Kondo did not return to Albania, but together with his teammate, Xhelal Sukniqi from Shkodra, from Montenegro went to Belgrade, waiting to gain political asylum in the US.
The event of the escape of two Albanian athletes caused a great commotion not only because of the name and great fame that Aleksandër Kondo had at that time, but also because that event became the object of “quarrel” between Albania and Yugoslavia, as Tirana was official at the time. Publicly accused (in the newspaper “Zeri i Popullit”), the Yugoslav authorities, saying that the two Albanian athletes had been abducted by the Yugoslav secret services (UDB) and demanded their return home.
But that claim of official Tirana had nothing real, as Kondo and Sukniqi denied it in the meeting that took place in Belgrade, between the representatives of the Albanian embassy and its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, of the Yugoslav side, where Sander Kondo, after cursing the communist regime of Enver Hoxha again and again, tried to hit the Albanian diplomat with an ashtray, insisting that he should return to Albania, where his family and the whole society were waiting for him.
After that, Sander Kondo and Xhelal Sukniqi gained political asylum in the USA, where Sukniqi is still, while Kondo, lost his life in a car accident, on May 1, 1987, (always according to the official version of the communist regime of that time ), and his remains were returned to Albania in 2003.
All these have already been known for years, as much has been written about Aleksandër Kondo as the legend of Albanian weightlifting and his father, Vangjel Kondo, has given several interviews in both print and visual media, and even made some television documentaries, for all his life and history, until the day he parted from this life. But again, the “Alexander Kondo case” has not yet been fully clarified, especially the part related to his tragic death which continues to remain shrouded in mystery, as well as the surveillance of him by the Security of The Albanian State and its segments since 1981, which was made public for the first time by the Authority for Information of the Former State Security Files, headed by Mrs. Gentjana Mara Sula, who in 2018, handed over the file to the Kondo family, or more precisely to his father, Vangjel Kondo.
In that file that Mr. Vangjel Kondo has trusted him exclusively for the publication of Memorie.al, it is shed light and it becomes known, the evaluation, treatment and all the surveillance and persecution, which was done at that time by the communist regime of Enver Hoxha, one of the most voice of Albania, such as Aleksandër Kondo, who was well known in the international arena. Based on this fact, Memorie.al will publish the complete file in question (with the relevant facsimiles), in some issues of the dossier section.
Continued from the previous issue
The relations of the Operational Worker for the movements, meetings and conversations of Kondo and Sukniqi with the Albanian emigration to the USA, their participation in the Congress of Legality, as well as the attempt to kill Kondo with a car accident on the highway where he was seriously injured!
Secret
Single copy
Tirana on 22.5.1987
Received P.op. B.S.
Source given “6131”
Dated 17.11.1986
I N F O R M A T Ë
Speaking about our Congress, the fugitive Aleksandër Kondo said: “I do not expect anything from this Congress for myself. Because as in any communist country, so in Albania, party congresses are formal. Everything is decided and done in another country. “” In Albania ‘- Alexander continued -‘ live three million people, of whom one million are ordinary people, one million are cadres and security agents and another million are in prisons and camps that work for the latter “.
Operational Workshop
D. M. Secret
Examples No. 2
Tirana on 22.5.1987
Received P.op. B.S.
Source given “6131”
Dated 12.12.1986
I N F O R M A T Ë
In the third week of November, the Independent Bloc congress held its proceedings. In fact, the source said, it did not look at all like a party congress or political organization, but a meeting of its party. It was not attended by more than 30 people and that even the representatives of immigration parties, were not all. The whole congress or meeting as we can better call it, the source pointed out, did not last more than 3 hours. Despite ………………………………… who were partially in it, they echoed in their radio shows.
The blockers finally told our source, they made this congress just to show, in front of others that their organization is in order and functioning continuously, which is not true at all. At the congress of the Blocists, he had been for some time and the source who had met the fugitive Alexander Kondo. The latter had stayed for 2 hours, while with Xhelal Sukniqi, he had met at the entrance of the bar where the meeting took place, because he had not entered at all.
Operational Workshop
D.M. Secret
Examples No. 2
Tirana on 18.4.1987
Comrade M. Gj., by phone no. 449 dated 4.4.1987 notifies the data of the source “6110”.
- According to Aleksandër Kondos, on March 20, an unknown person caused a serious accident, from which he miraculously escaped death. He broke several ribs and severely injured his neck, but in the hospital, he stayed only 3 days. He expressed the suspicion that someone tried to kill him on the highway, stopping the car in front of him, suddenly at speed. Since he fell unconscious, he learned nothing about the assassin and to this day knows nothing about him. He said that he is being cared for by a local woman, whom he loves. He does not have to work and wanders around the city all day. He speaks against our regime, even against …………………………………… who has spied on his organs but has not exposed any harmful action against us.
- According to the ………………………………… Yugoslavs, in the last two weeks they have sent many of their people here, to propagate and clarify the Kosovar public and the Albanian political emigration, about the calm situation in Kosovo and the impossibility of events. New in place. Such is ………………………………., A professor in Prishtina, who came here with a cultural team and who has been walking for the last two weeks in every city, where there are Albanian emigrants. He spoke well of the situation in Yugoslavia and accused Albania of inciting unrest in Kosovo. He propagandizes that Kosovars have already understood the politics of Tirana and do not want to bleed. He said that the federal government is working with both superpowers to get the country out of the debt crisis.
- According to ……………………………., In the Belgrade camp, there are 20 Albanian fugitives today and their number is increasing day by day. Among them, there are two couples and all are expected to stabilize here. They will be questioned in detail and interviewed, to use them as propaganda for human rights violations in Albania. He said that some are sent by the Albanian Security and the locals to be careful.
Opposing …………………………, he stressed that these fugitives, who are vagrants and vagrants and who speak well of the situation in Yugoslavia, are not sent by the Albanian Security, but by the UDB to control the Albanian emigration, that fights against them.
Operational Workshop
D. M. Secret
Examples No. 4
Tirana on April 27, 1987
Received P.op. M.Gj.
Source provided “6110”
Dated 29.12.1986
I N F O R M A T Ë
Operational Workshop
D. M. Secret
Examples No. 4
Tirana on April 27, 1987
Received P.op. M.Gj.
Source provided “6110”
Dated 29.12.1986
I N F O R M A T Ë
The young fugitives, …………………., Aleksandër Kondo, ……………… .etc., Comment among the fugitives that they themselves and many others, have fled Albania, not out of conviction and political hostility, but more to economic hardship, and the censorship and numerous restrictions on the youth in Albania, to make them happy. They say that today the economic situation is much worse than two years ago and in Albania many young people express opinions to flee abroad. The mass of Albanian emigration here, driven by Gorbachev’s recent liberalizations, propagates that Albania should follow this path and improve the living of the people there.
Operational Workshop
D.M.
The announcement of the Albanian Telegraphic Agency, which refers to foreign radios, such as “Voice of America”, etc., on the news of the death of Alexander Kondos in the US and their comments regarding that event
ALBANIAN TELEGRAPH AGENCY
Bulletin of foreign radios in Albanian language
No. 100
May 3, 1987
Tirana on May 2, 1987
Voice of America Radio
ALBANIAN WEIGHTLIFTER, ALEXANDER KONDO, DIED TODAY IN A CAR ACCIDENT
Today at the age of 27, the Albanian weightlifter, the late Aleksandër Kondo, died in a car accident in New York City. The late Alexander Kondo, along with a friend, returning from races in Poland in 1985, disappeared on a street in Titograd. Belgrade later announced that they had sought political asylum and later immigrated to the United States. The late Kondo will be buried in the cemetery of the Albanian Orthodox Church, St. Kolli in New York.
Mission in New York, tel. No. 815, dated 4.5.1987
Among other things, he stressed that for this problem, they have addressed a call to the President of the Presidium of the People’s Assembly and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the RPSSH, the Presidency and the Foreign Secretariat of Yugoslavia, the UN. Meanwhile, he noted that “until now, the Albanian government was not known for terrorist acts abroad ……………………”
He tried to slander that in this regard, there is a secret Albanian-Yugoslav cooperation. Afterwards, the show was filled with slander and denigration against our country and our politics, with quotes from UPI in Athens. Immigration documents “Internationals” (shows, available on tape). These provocations could be an activity planned and coordinated by the Yugoslavs, in cooperation with American Intelligence, to put pressure on our Mission and to curb our work with the Albanian economic emigration to the USA.
But these are also a consequence of the spirit of …………………… .., who for this, wants to take “hostage” our Mission. The second possibility is thought to be more serious, if it is thought that it can be used deliberately by the Yugoslav agency, which would not have the head of an agent to plot a vile provocation, against our country, the Mission and its personnel. . On the part of the Mission, care and vigilance will be maximized and they will follow the issue with due seriousness.
Took out P.op.
J.P.
The reports of the Albanian agency in the USA, about the circumstances of the death of Aleksandër Kondos in New York, the funeral ceremony, the person who organized it, as well as the accusations against the Mission, Intelligence and the Albanian Government, for his murder
Dated 9.5.1987
Comrade M. Gj. by phone No.720, dated 5.5.1987 from New York announces:
On Friday’s show, after making an excellent obituary for A. Kondon and placing him on the altar of the ‘Martyrs of the Nation’, Z.C., openly accused the Albanian Security for his murder. He said that his revenge will be taken, unmasked our leadership and in future shows, will expose the relevant materials for this crime committed by the Albanian government.
In fact, he did not give anything like that later, but broadcast a personal report, apparently scared, when he again accused our headline and other comrades, as if they were preparing the plan for his death
sentence. He threatened that if anything happened to him or his connections, he would take revenge by any means.
After the accusations he made against us, for the murder of A. Kondo, many Albanians and Kosovars in favor of us, expressed deep indignation towards him and apparently, someone must have threatened him openly or indirectly, for his vile activity against us.
This has frightened him a lot and in order to come forward with any action that he thinks will be taken against him, he threatens exposed that he has taken protective measures. He sent an ultimatum to our leader, the Yugoslav leader, to that country, and if something happens to him, our Mission will be held accountable.
It is possible that the UDB will follow this situation and create a provocation, even by acting against it, to accuse our bodies of terrorist activities against Albanian nationalists.
Friends will pay special attention at work and in contacts with Kosovar emigration. The last two shows have been recorded and will be sent in the earliest case.
The wire was seen by Comrade Minister but without note.
Comrade R.L. marks: Branch VI
Took out p.op. J.P.
Date 9.5.1987 Secret
Copies No.3
Tirana on 15.5.1987
Comrade M. Gj. from New York by phone “Urgent” No.735 dated 8.5.1987 notifies the data of the source “6131” received by phone:
Reviews ……………………………’s comments, against our Mission and the headline, have provoked negative reactions and we are not in reactionary emigration. W., described him as insane and stressed that this is his last start. According to him, the expertise confirmed that Aleksandër Kondo was killed in an accident and has rejected the baseless accusations of on, against our country.
He stressed that the reasons that pushed ………………………… in this step, is the fear that the Yugoslavs will kill him, to then accuse Albania of its elimination. This, he as a smart man has understood and is trying to save his life. With this propaganda he made, driven by the need to defend himself, he lost all good feelings not only in the ranks of Kosovar emigration, but also of politics.
According to ………………………, when Aleksandër Kondo was injured, there were …………………………… .and …………………………, who out of ignorance, moved him carelessly wounded and transported him to a septal, quite far from the scene, causing concussion and hemorrhage, which subsequently caused his death in the hospital. They were both a little shocked that no responsibility remained, but they both did what they could.
At the meeting of the presidency of OKLL on 3.5.1987, attended by ………………………… .And …………………… .., the situation in Kosovo and Yugoslavia was discussed again. And it was concluded that nothing has changed and the Yugoslav danger of a provocation and attack on Albania exists. It was decided as soon as possible to send an ultimatum to the American administration, not to allow any dangerous step of the Yugoslavs and meanwhile, a delegation led by ………………………, to go to the capital in this period.
On May 2,………., Organized an extended fundraising meeting in favor of the Faculty of Albanian Language. Of the 140 people called, 14 attended, which led to the failure of the meeting, as no one contributed.
According to A.N., one should not even hope for its opening, which was confirmed by himself at the end of the meeting.
The comrade Minister saw the wire without notes.
Operational Workshop
D. M.
Information of the Operational Worker regarding the announcement and obituary published by the newspaper “Atdheu” in New York, for the death of Kondo
Secret
Single copy
Tirana on 9.11.1987
E K S T R A K T
“In New York in a car accident, Aleksandër Kondo lost his life. An internationally famous athlete and son of a general of the communist hierarchy. For him, the freedom that the Albanian people lacked was more expensive than the luxury he spent in Tirana. “As the son of a communist family and an athlete of international value. As such, he left his homeland during a sports tour, seeking refuge in Yugoslavia, first from where he later came to the US, where he died.”
Published by the newspaper “Atdheu” of the reactionary organization Legality, issue July-August 1987
Operational Workshop
A. Th.
The decision of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, for the archiving of the file of the prosecution of Aleksandër Kondo, after his death
SECRET
Single copy
Tirana 1987
APPROVED
DIRECTOR OF THE DIRECTORATE OF III
S. R.
DECISION
FOR ARCHIVING THE FORMAL FILE OF THE Fugitive ALEXANDER KONDO.
I operative worker A. Th. effective of Branch VI of Directorate III, after studying the materials in charge of Aleksandër Kondos in active processing 2 / A,
FIND:
He is the son of Vangjeli and Antigoni, born in Fier, in 1960, of poor social origin, with 8 years of education, unmarried, disorganized, unpunished, former athlete (weightlifter) in the Sports Club “Dinamo” with police work, residing in Tirana, fugitive in Yugoslavia on 28.5.1985, with Albanian nationality and citizenship.
He fled to Yugoslavia on May 28, 1985, together with his friend Xhelal Sukniqi, on his way home, after participating in the European Weightlifting Championships in Poland. Both immigrated to the US and there, have carried out marked hostile activities against our country.
Especially Aleksandër Kondo and as such, was pursued in active processing 2 / A until he died accidentally (car accident), in New York, where he lived with Xhelal Sukniqi. According to the bulletin of the radio “Voice of America” A. Kondo, he died on 2.5.1987, which is also confirmed by the agency sources.
For the above
FOR SALE:
That the form file of Aleksandër Kondo, be archived according to the rules of Operational Evidence, with historical value and work experience, at the relevant sector of the File of Directorate III, performing the relevant actions./ Memorie.al
CHAIRMAN OF THE BRANCH VI
M. N.
OPERATIONAL WORKSHOP
A. Th.
