By Dashnor Kaloçi
Part Thirty-Nine
Memorie.al / Exactly 43 years ago, at dawn on December 18, 1981, the Albanian Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu, who had held that position since 1953, was found dead in his bedroom (according to the official version, from a bullet from a pistol) in the villa where he lived with his family, at the entrance of the “Block” of the high leadership of the Albanian Party of Labor, just a few meters from the building of the Central Committee of the Party and also from Enver Hoxha’s villa 31. Even though more than four decades have passed since that day, which is considered one of the most serious and notorious events of that regime, even today, there is no clear and accurate version regarding what happened to the former Albanian Prime Minister, Mehmet Shehu, in the midnight hours leading up to December 18, 1981! However, even after the 1990s, dozens of testimonies and archival documents have been made public regarding that event, the “murder or suicide of Mehmet Shehu,” which continues to be a subject of much debate and discussion, further shrouding the truth around it in mystery!
Based on this fact, within the framework of publishing dozens of testimonies and archival documents from the secret fund of the former State Security and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as the Central Committee of the Party, which we have published in the three decades following the collapse of Enver Hoxha’s communist regime and his successor, Ramiz Alia, the newspaper has secured the voluminous file of “the enemy and poly-agent Mehmet Shehu,” which was extracted from the secret fund of the former State Security at the Ministry of Internal Affairs (now declassified and part of the fund of the Authority for Information on the Documents of the former State Security), where, with a few small exceptions, the vast majority of them have never seen the light of publication and are being published for the first time in full, with the corresponding facsimiles.
In the mentioned file, in addition to the testimonies of witnesses or defendants during the investigation, there are complete and expert reports from the operational-investigative group that was established immediately on the morning of December 18, 1981, led by Koço Josifi (head of the Investigation of the Directorate of Internal Affairs in Tirana), forensic doctors Dr. Fatos Hartito and Docent Bashkim Çuberi, the prime minister’s doctors, Milto Kostaqi and Llesh Rroku, the criminalist expert from the Central Criminal Laboratory of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Estref Myftari, assisted by high-ranking officials from that ministry, Deputy Minister Xhule Çiraku, head of the Investigation Directorate at the Ministry of Internal Affairs Elham Gjika, and Deputy Director of the Directorate of Internal Affairs in Tirana, Lahedin Bardhi.
This file also contains testimonies from the family members of former Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu, service personnel, his accompanying group, and all other individuals who were summoned and testified regarding that event, as well as the correspondence containing letters from Mehmet Shehu and Fiqrete (written in their own hands) to their sons, Bashkimi and Skënderi, until the early days of December 1981.
However, even though we are dealing with archival documents, it should be emphasized that; knowing how the communist regime operated prior to the 1990s, we cannot claim absolute truth regarding what is written there, as not only from the witnesses and the accused who gave their testimonies, but also from some of the investigators of this case (mainly after the 1990s), it has been made known that these testimonies were obtained under pressure, coercion, intimidation, and physical and psychological torture, with some investigators even writing them themselves, and the witnesses or defendants merely affixed their signatures.
Moreover, for some of the defendants in this investigative process, specifically in the case of Fiqrete Shehu, the questions were drafted by Enver Hoxha himself (in his own handwriting) and were sent to the investigators through the Minister of Internal Affairs, Hekuran Isai (which we have previously made public with the corresponding facsimiles in past writings), all to enable the “discovery of the hostile group of the poly-agent Mehmet Shehu,” with the aim of justifying his suicide (according to the official version)!
In this context of the dictator Enver Hoxha’s paranoia, the following individuals were arrested and placed in the dock as accused; Kadri Hazbiu (former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania and Minister of Internal Affairs and Defense), Feçor Shehu (former Director of State Security and Minister of Internal Affairs), Nesi Nase (former Minister of Foreign Affairs), Llambi Ziçishti (former Minister of Health), Llambi Peçini (former head of the Department of Protection and Physical Security of the high leadership of the Party), Elham Gjika (former head of the Investigation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs), Gani Kodra (former head of the Department of Protection and Physical Security of the high leadership of the Party and the family of Mehmet Shehu), Kristofor Martiro (former investigator of the “hostile group of Beqir Balluku”), Ali Çeno (former head of the group accompanying Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu), Xhavit Ismailaga (former barber at Hotel “Dajti”), Idriz Seiti (former Colonel of State Security, head of the Departments of Internal Affairs in Kukës and Lezhë, and head in the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the protection, security, and execution of anti-party individuals), Lirim Pëllumbi (former head of the Department of Internal Affairs of the Durrës district), Qamil Mane Islami (former colonel in the Directorate of Camps and Prisons at the Ministry of Internal Affairs), Duro Shehu (brother of Mehmet Shehu, former commissioner in the Directorate of Military Aviation of the Ministry of Defense), Fiqrete Shehu, the wife of Mehmet Shehu, along with their two sons, Bashkimi and Skënder, etc.
From this “hostile group,” the first four (Kadri Hazbiu, Feçor Shehu, Llambi Ziçishti, and Llambi Peçini) were sentenced to death and executed, while the others were given heavy prison sentences, from which they were only released in 1991, with the exception of Fiqrete Shehu, who died in prison in 1987 under mysterious and unresolved circumstances, as well as the older son of the Shehu family, Vladimir, who also died under mysterious circumstances that remain unresolved in the city of Gramsh (the official version; suicide), where he had been interned with his family in January 1982. More information regarding all these events, etc., is provided by the documents in question, which we are publishing along with the corresponding facsimiles and photos.
Continues from the previous issue
LETTER FROM PRIME MINISTER MEHMET SHEHU, IN HIS OWN HANDWRITING, SENT ON DECEMBER 3, 1981, TO HIS SON, SKËNDER SHEHU, IN STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN, WHERE HE WAS PURSUING POSTGRADUATE STUDIES
My dear and beloved Neli,
In this letter I am sending you, I will write about a problem, for which I want to tell you from the very beginning, as a father and as a communist, to approach with the composure that characterizes you. I will address a problem that I want you to understand and judge as it should be, as a communist, as a revolutionary, as the interests of the Party require. And I have full confidence that you will understand it and assess the problem in this way.
I will get straight to the heart of the matter, my dear Neli.
Since what happened occurred and you left for there, our minds have constantly, day and night, been focused solely on you; we think about your spiritual suffering for the mistake you made, a mistake that was later deepened, mainly by me, as I gave you the authorization, which I should not have given, but to help you, so that you would also distance yourself from that wrong proposal you made regarding the engagement to that girl from a hostile family background, an engagement that, just a few days later, you broke off (you parted with the girl), as with the help of the Party, personally from comrade Enver, both I, Fiqrete, you, and we all understood that your engagement to that girl was a major political and class mistake.
As I told you when I returned from the road to Sweden (from Athens), when we assessed the matter of the engagement, which was completely wrong from the perspective of our Party’s principles on class struggle, I bear the main responsibility for the engagement; I should have told you, “No Neli”; Fiqrete also shares that responsibility; but your eyes, mind, and heart went to that girl, and you also have your mistake and responsibility on your part; you should not have aimed in any way at the daughter of Qazim Turdiu, nor thought of getting engaged to her, but should have looked for another girl, with a revolutionary social political background (and there are thousands and thousands in our socialist country), as we have discussed together several times, as we have always advised you, and as you know as a communist.
I believe you felt the mistake that we…(some words are unreadable, our note), and you should not have come at all with that proposal you made. And I know this causes you spiritual pain, but we know that you are also determined to leave this mistake to the Party, with a principled and correct stance, as you took when you parted ways with the girl, but also through work and struggle for the consistent implementation of the Party’s line until the end.
I should have said “No,” immediately and emphatically, even based only on the information you gave me from the very beginning regarding the family background of Qazim Turdiu. Fiqrete should not have hesitated, wavered, or faltered, but she should have also firmly and categorically said, “No,” and she should have opposed me when I expressed the incorrect opinion that such an engagement could happen, considering only the narrow circle of the girl (which even that narrow circle is not entirely suitable), and by pulling back from my excessive sentimentality towards you.
For this grave mistake that I made, a mistake that was detrimental to the interests of the principles of the Party’s class struggle and, at the same time, to the interests of our revolutionary family, which has no such stain throughout its history as such, and also detrimental to your interests, as you are my son— for this serious political mistake, I bear the responsibility. I should not have made this mistake, and this weighs heavily on my conscience, regardless of the fact that Fiqrete shares the blame and responsibility, and so do you for this.
This mistake and responsibility, Neli, weigh heavily on my conscience, as well as on Fiqrete’s, and for this, we have also made self-criticism before the Party, and with such a mistake, we will never make it again. I am convinced that you also feel your responsibility and that you will never fall into such mistakes again. I say these things not to excuse myself, as I also feel this and I have told the Party, as I mentioned earlier, that with a “No” from me, when you first raised the issue, you, as you also told me, just as I did at that time (when they asked me) for authorization regarding…(some words are unreadable, our note) for the daughter of Qazim Turdiu, who has two fugitive brothers, etc., I would have definitely withdrawn, and the situation would not have taken the wrong turn it did, but I say this both as a communist and as a father who knows your heart, that you also feel your responsibility and understand with your heart and conscience, that I did not intend to harm you, but out of my excessive weakness for you, out of my love for you. So did Fiqrete.
We started out well and did wrong; we thought and said that we had made the right decision, but the decision (mainly from my side, then also from Fiqrete, and even from you, because you are also a communist, a Party member, not of today, but with a good record in the Party), thus the decision was completely wrong from a political, ideological, and class perspective; in our revolutionary family, a girl from a hostile family background should not have entered (and should never enter) as the daughter-in-law of our son!
The mistake was made. But with the help of the Party, our infallible Teacher, personally from Comrade Enver, to whom we are forever grateful, the mistake was immediately corrected, and the unsuitable engagement from the perspective of the Party’s class struggle was dissolved.
In this storm of contradictions and within the framework of this mistake, dear Neli, you reacted rightly, as a communist who had made a mistake but understood the error when it was explained to you; you reacted with great composure, listened to the Party’s words, prioritized the Party’s interest above all, listened to my words and those of Fiqrete (as communists and your beloved parents), and the words of the whole family, acting as you should have acted; you broke off the recently formed engagement, which had to be dissolved necessarily, without hesitation and immediately.
And this pleased us (me and Fiqrete), that we had made a mistake at the time the mistake was made (the engagement), and the whole family, relatives, Party comrades, even Comrade Enver himself, and all well-wishers rejoiced. Only the class enemies were upset. But I tell you, I enter…(some words are unreadable, our note), just as I have told the Party, that I bore the main responsibility for that wrong authorization I gave you for the incorrect engagement, stemming from my excessive sentimentality towards you, and that instead of pulling you away and guiding you from your mistake, I harmed you as well by jeopardizing primarily the interests of the class struggle and the Party, but also the interests of the entire family.
Oh, my dear Neli, how this weigh on me! This heavy spiritual anguish that has overtaken me will never become a cause for demoralization or capitulation; however, it will follow me like a shadow throughout the first phase of the life that remains for me to live after this advanced age, until I see you married to a good girl, as I have advised you several times, and then in the next phase that may remain for me to live, this murder of conscience will continue to follow me like a shadow, until I close my eyes, rectifying the mistake I made to the Party with loyal conduct, consistent class struggle, and useful work. So too with Fiqrete. But this is also felt the same way by all other family members.
The mistake we made, dear Neli, must be reported to the Party; we must lay it before the Party in the correct sense of the mistake we made (you along with us, with me and Fiqrete), with a correct political-ideological, principled stance, always in the interest of the Party and the People, socialism, with a consistent struggle against the internal and external enemy, as required by the general correct line of the Party, the teachings of Comrade Enver, with tireless work, strengthening vigilance and discipline, because the Party, the State, and the people have great troubles and historical responsibilities, as defined by the 8th Congress of the Party, and we must always be at the forefront of the struggle, as communists, to overcome these troubles of the Party, the state, and the people, and to implement the great tasks of the Congress under conditions of imperialist-revisionist encirclement.
American imperialism and Soviet and Chinese social imperialism, along with their allies, have a bone to pick with Socialist Albania; therefore, even when we make mistakes, we must rectify them, tighten our ranks as communists and as a people, strengthen the unity of thought and action, and always move forward on the Party’s path. These are not “propaganda,” but historical realities.
By assessing the issue in this context and reflecting and re-reflecting deeply, day and night, I have come to the conclusion that, under the created conditions, especially in their complexity, we must return to that thought that you yourself expressed with your own initiative when you returned from Athens and we were assessing the breakup of the engagement, meaning we should return to the idea you expressed then, to interrupt your postgraduate studies in Sweden.
You said back then that you might not return to Sweden to continue your postgraduate studies until the end, but that you would go just to collect your things and then return to Tirana to work as an engineer in some factory or take a short course until the end of this year (1981) and then come back. However, we told you to go and complete your entire four-year postgraduate studies according to the original program. And that’s what you did.
From what you have told us, you have successfully completed the exams for the first two years of the four-year postgraduate course. Now only a few exams and scientific topics remain, to be continued according to the program for the two remaining years. Considering all this, I believe that you should finish as soon as possible, even the exams you have in hand (and I don’t believe this will take longer than the first half of January 1982, and if it’s earlier, so much the better) and then return to Tirana…! Memorie.al
Continues in the next issue.
