From DASHNOR KALOÇI
Memorie.al / Fully 56 years ago, on 26 and 27 March 1970, the large hall of the Palace of Culture in the town of Tepelena was transformed into the stage of one of the most unusual court trials of the time. In the dock sat two brothers, Izet and Daut Gumeni, together with their cousin, Dervish Haxhi Gumeni, from the village of Gusmar. Even though the regime had organised this trial with open doors, forcing the participation of the masses from the town and the entire Kurvelesh region for the purpose of “exposing” the defendants, the result was quite the opposite.
At the age of 27, the former village teacher and young poet, Daut Gumeni, emerged as an epic figure of resistance. He not only defended himself with dignity, but went on the counter‑attack, openly declaring before the judicial body and the packed hall: “I am an enemy of your party and of the people’s government.”
This trial, in which the village teacher and young poet Gumeni (who after the 1990s would serve as a diplomat and deputy chairman of the Authority for Information on State Security Files) debated directly with the manipulated crowd, remains a unique testament to human courage, because that confrontation shook even the highest leadership of the communist regime then in power, and as a result he would serve about 24 years in the political prisons of Enver Hoxha.
Regarding these and other matters from that court trial of 26 and 27 March 1970, we will become acquainted through secret archival documents (now de‑classified) obtained from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Central State Archive (Fund 14, apparatus of the former Central Committee of the PPSH), including the report by the secretary of the Party Committee of Tepelena district, Sherif Toraj, addressed to Hysni Kapo, etc., which are published for the first time with the corresponding facsimiles by Memorie.al.
SECRET ARCHIVAL DOCUMENT OF THE MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS DATED 31 MARCH 1970, REPORTING ON THE TRIAL HELD IN THE TOWN OF TEPELENA AGAINST DERVISH, IZET AND DAUT GUMENI
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA Secret
MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS Copy No. 1
“GENERAL DEPARTMENT” Tirana, 31.3.1970
OPERATIVE COMMUNIQUÉ NO. 75
INVESTIGATION DEPARTMENT
On 26‑27 March 1970, in the hall of the House of Culture in the town of Tepelena, with the participation of the people, the trial was held against the defendants Izet Gumeni, Daut Gumeni and Dervish Gumeni.
From the depositions of the defendants and witnesses, the guilt of the defendants was fully proven. In conclusion, the court sentenced the defendant Izet Gumeni to 25 years of imprisonment, for the crime of collaboration with criminals, in connection with the crime of the terrorist act of murder in 1945 of comrade Selman Lame, and for agitation and propaganda against the government.
The defendant Daut Gumeni, for the crime of agitation and propaganda against the government and for failure to report a crime, to 15 years imprisonment, and combining sentences, to 25 years imprisonment.
The defendant Dervish Gumeni, for the crime of agitation and propaganda and for failure to report a crime, to 8 years imprisonment, and combining sentences, to 20 years imprisonment.
It is worth noting that the defendant Daut Gumeni, during the course of the trial, maintained a very hostile attitude, trying to argue his hostile views even in the hall.
Both by the prosecutor, the judicial body and the discussions of the people, the hostile activity of the defendants was exposed. The people insisted on the death penalty for Izet Gumeni and execution at the place where the crime was committed.
Given the dangerousness presented by the convicted Daut Gumeni, it is thought that he should be sent to serve his sentence in Unit 321, Burrel.
HEAD OF THE GENERAL DEPARTMENT
Petrit Hakani
THE SECRET DOCUMENT OF 1970, WITH THE REPORT‑INFORMATION OF THE PARTY COMMITTEE OF TEPELENA, SENT TO THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE PPSH, REQUESTING THE DEATH PENALTY FOR DAUT GUMENI AND HIS EXECUTION IN HIS VILLAGE OF BIRTH, IN GUSMAR
PARTY OF LABOUR OF ALBANIA SECRET
PARTY COMMITTEE OF THE DISTRICT COPY NO. 1
No. 104. Prot/ Tepelena, 15.4.1970
TO THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE PPSH
TIRANA
From 26‑27 March 1970, in Tepelena, the judicial process was held against the defendants Izet Mehmet Gumeni, Daut Mehmet Gumeni (brothers) and Dervish Haxhi Gumeni from the village of Gusmar of this district, the first for collaboration with the escaped criminals Izet Vrazhdo, Lahe Nuro and Ahmet Kuka in the murder of the Party secretary of the former district of Gusmar, Selman Lame, in December 1945.
The other two for agitation and propaganda against the people’s government, failure to report a crime committed by Izet Gumeni, of which they were aware, and attempted escape to monarcho‑fascist Greece.
The aforementioned were sentenced by the people’s court of our district: Izet and Daut Gumeni to 25 years each, and Dervish Gumeni to 20 years imprisonment.
Taking into account the stance of the criminal Daut Gumeni which he maintained during the judicial process, about which we will inform you below, we believe that he was not given the punishment deserved as a criminal and sworn enemy of the people’s government, which he openly affirmed during the judicial process through the expressions we list below:
When asked by the judicial body why he had taken this wrong path, he declared: “I am an enemy of your party and of the people’s government.” Also during the questions and the exposure made by the judicial body and the public, he stated:
– “You say that in Albania the river of good things has begun to flow, but not a single drop has yet begun to drip.”
– “I am not a spy to expose and denounce my brother, Izet, for collaboration with the saboteurs.”
– “I may be a worm, according to you, but I do not dare say that you are also reptiles.”
– “You mock the blood of Selman Lame.”
– “The mass organisations are not levers of the party, but its marshals.”
– “Regarding the views of foreign writers whom you call reactionaries, you do not tell all the children about them so that they can judge and form their own worldview.”
– “I have felt myself deprived; I have lacked freedom of speech and action.”
– “I made these poems against [you] because this is my worldview, the reality of my life; this is how I see life.”
– “If I were to go to the Western world, I would have the opportunity to receive a complete and accurate education,” etc.
His hostile stance was also evident in the polemic he began with the speakers who harshly condemned this reactionary stance of his from the courtroom, trying to attack them with insults and refined irony.
The people of this district, indignant at his hostile activity and his reactionary intent toward the judicial body and the public in the hall, persistently demanded that this sworn enemy be given the death penalty, to be executed in his village, at the place of his criminal activity. Even in this case, when he was given the final word for self‑defence, with hypocrisy and irony he said: “Carry out the demand of the masses.”
Taking into account the criminal activity, the hostile stance he maintained at the trial and the opinion of the working masses of this district: we believe that the punishment measure should be revised, applying the death penalty./ Memorie.al
SECRETARY OF THE PARTY COMMITTEE OF THE DISTRICT
Sherif Toraj
