By Ferdinand Dervish
Part four
Memorie.al / Tuesday, 24:00, April 9, 1985. This is the moment when time stopped for the two convicts of the train ticket forgery case, the musician Gasper Çurçia and the engineer Shkëlzen Doçi. It was midnight; it was very cold, an unusual frost that only 26 hours and 10 minutes later, at 02:10 on April 11, would take the life of the communist dictator of the country, Enver Hoxha. Although two of those shot that night, in the last word, among others, they would ask for the extension of his life.
An investigator, a prosecutor, the head of the forces, a doctor and a secretary, were the people charged with the difficult task of shooting at midnight the two condemned to death. They had been taken by a police platoon an hour earlier from the prison and brought in complete secrecy, there, near the pit of the common grave. A grave excavated during the day in a pumice formation, a secret grave, marked at the foot of Mount Dajt, just above the former ward of the Security Battalion (Department 324), which seems to have also served as a guard.
Convicts tied with wire sit at the bottom of the pit, as if to adapt them even more to what awaits them. They sigh. They are officiating. Because the soul within the being protests. He doesn’t agree with what he thinks will happen a few moments later. Sometimes it happens. The prosecutor approaches the convicts and under the light of a flashlight reads the refusal of the Presidium of the People’s Assembly for the pardon of life. Then he turns to the people with their feet dangling in the pits, for the last word. A little further, a secretary takes note of the entire procedure, using a lantern for illumination.
The next day, one of the members of this group would evaluate the accuracy of the minutes with the last words of the convicts. He would appreciate the time when, after they had typed it, they had put it in front of him for his signature. Here is the content he had read:
The secret document with the record of the shooting of three condemned to death
SECRET
Specimen no: 5
Tirana, on 9.4.1985
PROCESS – VERBAL
Held in the city of Tirana, on 9.4.1985 by me, the head of the police force I. Shtylla, in the presence of the assistant District Prosecutor D. Skëndo, the investigator of the case R. Icka, the doctor Dh. Stefani and secretary D. Mata for the implementation of decision no. 75 dated 20.2.1985 of the Tirana District Court, given for the death sentence of Gjon Ndok Jaku, whose request was rejected by the Presidium of the People’s Assembly, and decision no. 97 dated 6.3.1985 of the Tirana district court given for the death sentence of Shkëlzen Maxhun Doçit and Gasper Mark Çurçia, whose request was rejected by the Presidium of the People’s Assembly. The execution of this decision was carried out in accordance with the order of the Minister of Internal Affairs no. 530/1, dated 8.4.1985.
Before the execution of the convicts, the Assistant Prosecutor informed them that the decision of the Court, the Presidium of the People’s Assembly, was upheld, and then asked them to express the last word.
- Gjok Ndok Jaku: “I am a 26-year-old young man, I owe my life to the Party, long live the Party, long live Comrade Enver Hoxha, glory to Marxism-Leninism, no one is to blame for me, I have made a mistake myself”.
- Shkëlzen Maxhum Doçi: “Long live the Party and Comrade Enver Hoxha, my parents are still alive, my soul is dying for mother Lirie because I haven’t seen her, and I’m leaving for a woman”.
- Gasper Mark Çurçia: “Have mercy on my children, you are shooting me for twenty thousand lek”.
After the execution, the death was certified by the doctor and the burial took place.
After being read, the minutes are signed by those present.
(Names and signatures).
List of beneficiaries from the sale of fake tickets
- Beauty Gjeçi 215 thousand ALL
- Shkëlzen Doçi 116 thousand ALL
- Gasper Çurçia 40 thousand ALL
- Erebara 11 thousand ALL
- Shefqeti 4 thousand ALL
- Vasho 2 thousand ALL
- Sadkaj 1 thousand ALL
- Koxhaxhiku 1 thousand ALL
(The total amount, of 475 thousand ALL, was supplemented by the amount of 81 thousand ALL of unsold tickets)
The Court’s decisions on the punishment of the defendants
Gjeçi Beauty:
The court decided to declare the defendant Bukurie Gjeçi guilty of the crime of forgery of securities, in an organized group and in large proportions in the amount of 475 thousand ALL, and based on Article 76/II of the Criminal Code, sentences her to “DEATH” , execution by firing squad, as well as the removal of election rights for 3 years based on Article 25 of the Criminal Code.
To declare the defendant Gjeçi guilty of the crime of embezzlement of socialist property in large proportions in the amount of 220,000 ALL and, based on Article 62 of the Criminal Code, sentences her to 25 years of imprisonment.
Finally, combining the sentences based on article 35 of the Criminal Code, he sentences the defendant Bukurie Gjeçi to “DEATH” by firing squad and the removal of the right to vote for 3 years.
Shkëlzen Doçi:
The court decided to declare the defendant Shkëlzen Doçi guilty of the crime of forgery of securities in an organized group and in large proportions in the amount of 192 thousand ALL and based on Article 76/II of the Criminal Code, in combination with Article 25, of punishes with “DEATH”, execution by firing squad and deprivation of the right to vote for 3 years.
Declare the defendant, Shkëlzen Doçi, guilty of the crime of agitation and propaganda against the state and, based on Article 55/1 of the Criminal Code, sentence him to 8 years of imprisonment.
To declare the defendant guilty. Shkëlzen Doçi, for the crime of embezzlement of socialist property in the amount of 166 ALL and based on Article 63 of the Criminal Code, is sentenced to 4 months of imprisonment.
To declare the defendant, Shkëlzen Doçi, guilty of the crime of violating the provisions on gold and currency in cooperation and based on Article 77 and letters “a” and “b” of Article 31 of the Criminal Code, punish him with 1 year of imprisonment.
Declare the defendant, Shkëlzen Doçi, guilty of the crime of abuse of office and, based on Article 106 of the Criminal Code, sentence him to one year of imprisonment.
Finally, combining the sentences based on Article 35 of the Penal Code, he sentences the defendant Shkëlzen Doçi to “DEATH” by firing squad and the deprivation of the right to vote for 3 years.
Gasper Church:
The court decided to declare the defendant, Gasper Çurçia, guilty of the crime of forgery of securities in an organized group and in large proportions, in the amount of 253 thousand ALL and based on article 76/II and 25 of the Criminal Code, punishes him with “DEATH”, with firing and removal of the right to vote for 3 years.
Court’s special proposal: Decorate those who discovered the fake tickets
In those days, the state divided people like a knife. For among them, there were also bad ones, who should be buried, so that everyone else would remember, but also good ones, who should be publicly praised, so that they would increase their efforts, to contribute to the same line of dictation of everything that had to be done, for the life extension of the system.
So quite surprisingly, after giving the decisions to shoot the three accused in the case of forging train tickets, Bukurie Gjeçit (fortunately pardoned by the Presidium of the People’s Assembly), Shkëlzen Doçit and Gasper Çurçi, the Court of Tirana has compiled another another decision called “special”.
A second, three-page decision, at the end of which, had recommendations for the decoration of train receipts and of a dispatcher who discovered the forged tickets.
The decision that has the same date, March 6, 1985, as that of the conviction of the ten accused, in the case of forgery of train tickets, was given by the same members of the trial body.
In the document of this particular decision, it is more or less stated that: after the criminal case against the 10 defendants accused of forging train tickets was examined in an open court session, after studying the materials, the court has noticed that; in this case there are other problems to solve.
That there are other people who have to pay for not respecting the rules at work, but also that there are other people who, on the other hand, should be decorated for good work. After making an exposition of the two groups and their two ways to profit by means of fake train tickets, the court begins to evaluate the work of the billers who discovered everything.
Through the ranks of the decision
“The criminal activity of the defendant Bukurie and the other defendants was stopped thanks to the vigilance shown by the biller L. Dukeli, the head of the train S. Çekreku and Xh. Beshnuni, dispatcher of the Shkodra Railway Station, who during the inspection found and discovered the counterfeit tickets put into circulation and made this a problem to the relevant authorities and after a few days, the defendants were arrested and all their activity was discovered criminal”, the court’s eulogies begin in the direction of the people who discovered the forgery and further in the same decision, it is recommended that they be decorated and not only.
“We are of the opinion that the vigilant attitude of these three employees, in the discovery of this group of forgers, not only becomes known to all the employees of the railway sector, but the Directorate of the Durrës Railway is recommended to: make the relevant proposals, for the decoration of the three employees above, by the Presidium of the People’s Assembly”.
But the court, through this particular decision, did not only make proposals for decorations. She has also noticed misuse of duties by the work controllers of the train ticket sellers, or their inventors. On the other hand, the court also discovered how the ticket seller, Bukurie Gjeçi, was able to cover her activity, cooperating with a colleague, from whom she received unsold tickets, to replace the lack of money in the box office. , at the moments of inventories.
“From the judicial investigation, it also resulted that; the control of the finances from the Tirana Station branch to the ticket sellers was very superficial and did not reveal the large differences that the defendant Bukurie Gjeçi had, as a result of the appropriation of socialist wealth, in large proportions. The controls were not done in accordance with the rules; they were also done a few days, not in all the shops, but in some of them, in order.
Keeping the ticket safes of each saleswoman in a single safe, not being present during the inventory in the safe to see the state of unsold tickets, the possibility of compromise, as happened in the specific case between the defendant Bukurie Gjeçi and the saleswoman Ruzhdie Rada, has caused them to take tickets from each other during the inventories, to replace the shortages they had in the cash register.
It is disturbing the fact that, for the years 1982 and 1983, no inventory was made of the defendant Bukurie, the fact that this defendant always worked the second shift and that the pouring of money into the enterprise, during 1984, did not attract attention were smaller compared to other sellers”.
Before coming to the decision, the court closes it with the recommendation that: “The Railway Directorate must analyze, draw out the responsibilities of the finance personnel of the Tirana Station, look at this issue at the republic level and define concrete tasks, in the implementation of laws on the administration, storage and circulation of material and monetary values”.
Decision
The special decision of the court consists of two points and two explanations. First, he recommends to the “Directorate of the Railway in Durrës, for a proposal for decoration, fatorino L. Dukeli, the head of the train S. Çekerku and the dispatcher Xh. Beshnuni, of Shkodër Train Station”.
Secondly, the court recommends: “to analyze the responsibility of the financial sector of the Train Station, related to the financial controls in the ticket sales units and to take measures, to determine concrete tasks to exercise a control as effectively as possible and within the framework legal”.
Quite surprisingly, the court demanded that an answer to these measures be given to her within the month. Likewise, in this document, it was stated that; against the decision, an appeal could be made to the Criminal College of the Supreme Court in Tirana. Memorie.al
