By Fadil Paçrami
The seventh part
Memorie.al / What is prison? It is the place where those who have been sentenced to deprivation of liberty are kept, we would say by reading any dictionary. But that is little. Prison and freedom – two opposites. Previously: what is freedom? In short: to be free means to do what you want, to think and act as you wish in the exercise and fulfillment of your freedoms and rights, as a person and as a citizen, but always without harming and violating others. . Again: to think and act. We are talking about democratic freedoms, from those of speech, press, assembly and organization in various parties and associations, ensuring the conditions where ideas, requirements and human wills can find expression and concretization, from those of the biological-related plant with the being itself, to those of the social plan, related to the ways of living.
Continues from last issue
– I don’t want the state to remain burdened with such violations and abuses of legality, I also want such bodies, such as the court, the prosecution and the investigation, etc., to be freed from the burden that the “gang” has to bear, which they belong’ I also want things of this nature not to happen again, at any time, as the good of the country wants it. The Criminal Procedure Code states:
“Socialist legislation is the principle of procedural legislation. Based on it, the court and the investigation, applying the same and equal rules for everyone, conduct investigations in an objective, complete, comprehensive manner, with the aim that no guilty, do not avoid responsibility and ensure that every citizen is protected from unjust prosecution and punishment.” (Article 4). On these bases, it will be fixed and put in place, what was done wrong at a time and under known circumstances.
– Expresses the belief that; The Presidium of the People’s Assembly, taking notices of everything I listed above and everything I tried to argue, will necessarily give up on this issue. If there was a time when it was acted in violation of the laws and if until now he-the Presidium, was not aware, for all that I raised, now that that time has passed, with the destruction of the “gang”, as said by Ramiz Alia , at the IX Congress of the Party, that:
“The party has deeply analyzed this hostile activity and the facts are known” (Report of the Central Committee of the ALP, at the 9th Congress). Now that you are aware of how it was acted in the given case, I say that it is different, and therefore: – An unfair court decision cannot remain in force, – it cannot even be said that “time has passed since then and those files are not opened. – You can’t even be silent. How you watch it:
– Protect a right and violated law.
– Defend yourself unjustly convicted.
– I also protect my creativity and its future, which is part of the country’s cultural fund.
What has happened is serious, and what is still going on is senseless. I remain waiting.
I am waiting for the answer now, only from the Presidium of the People’s Assembly and not through those to whom I am complaining – the Supreme Court or the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as I happened to be given in some case before, that is, according to the law and within the time of determined by law.
Burrell, 25.10.1988
WHAT IS THIS “SUPER COMMISSION”?
We are talking about the Sentencing – Internment Commission, which operated under the Council of Ministers, for which I wrote this letter to the Prime Minister, Adil Çarçani.
I am addressing you as the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, for an issue that they say is of an administrative nature and has no dependence on the laws (Constitution, Criminal Code, etc.) of the People’s Assembly or the Presidium of the People’s Assembly (?!).
I am talking about keeping my family, as expelled at first and now as interned, in the village of Fishtë in the district of Lezha.
– The first, without any “fault” of theirs, but only because I am convicted, which is meaningless and not legal.
– Second, it has been so long that they are suffering up and down, from Fushë-Arrësi to the city of Lezha and now in the village of Fishtë.
1.
In the Constitution of the People’s Republic of Albania, it is stated:
– “No one can be exiled or deported, except in special cases, provided by law”. (Article 56, paragraph 5). So, “in special cases, provided by law”, that is, when the law provides. And in the Criminal Code, which constitutes the basic law for criminal offenses, crimes and the awarding of other punishments, such as those for deportations and internments, it is stated:
“Against persons who have committed criminal offences, the following additional punishments may be imposed by the court:
- Removal of decorations.
- Prohibition of exercising a certain activity or skill.
- Removal of the right to choose.
- Deportation, (Article 1, paragraph 3).
And: “Deportation is the removal of the convicted person from his place of residence, with or without a ban, to stay in one or several designated places. Deportation is given for a criminal offense, for a period of time, from one to five years, in cases where the court considers that the stay of the culprit in certain places is socially dangerous”. (Article 26, paragraph 1 and 2.) Meanwhile, “Internment is the obligation of the convicted person to stay in a certain place for a period of one to five years.
Internment is granted by the court, for the commission of a crime, when it considers that; the movement of the convicted person to different places represents social danger” (Article 27, paragraph 1 and 2). So, it is about: “For a criminal offense”, for “committing a crime”, for “convicted persons”, that the measure “is granted by the court” and for a period of time: “from one to five years”.
Then how does it happen that, without committing any “criminal offense”, or any “Crime”, without being convicted and without any decision from the court, as stated in the laws, the people of the family (wife, son and daughter with two children) are kept interned?! Why, under what law? (So are other families, as far as I hear).
It is said that these “internments” were made by the decision of a “commission” that existed and worked, somewhere near the Council of Ministers, or near the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Maybe there is a government decision, or decree-law, for such a “commission”, I don’t know, but referring to those I listed above, from the Constitution, the Criminal Code and other published laws, allow me to say that this “commission”, with such actions, had powers over the Constitution, the Criminal Code, etc., over all laws.
I understand, the obscurantist minds, thirsty for power, with the goals they had from the executioners of Mehmet Shehu and Kadri Hazbi with their gang, could invent the most monstrous things, trampling laws, rights and people’s lives, because they were for violence without laws (there is no state without violence, but with laws), they also wanted to have their hands free, everywhere and for everything, putting themselves above the laws and the relevant legislative bodies, or in charge, for the implementation and protection of laws, from the People’s Assembly, its Presidium, to the courts, prosecutors’ offices, etc., for their already known purposes. Why such ugly “relics” still are kept?! Did they harm the party and the country a little?!
Who needs them and who can benefit from them? The answer is self-evident: They must be rejected, they only harm. In continuation of what I tried to clarify, I will now dwell a little on the decree of the Presidium of the People’s Assembly (No. 7015, dated 6.1, 1986) for the pardon on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic, which prompted me for this as well letter to tell the truth, that the hopes that something could be done for those families of ours were great.
The decree states: “All persons sentenced to a ban on the exercise of a certain activity or skill, with the removal of the right to vote, is forgiven. With expulsion or exile, those who have suffered the main penalty, have been forgiven or will be forgiven based on this decree” (Article 1, point 8).
So “persons convicted” of “deportation or exile” are forgiven, i.e. people who have committed “criminal offenses”, “crimes”, “sentenced” by “courts”, – but they are not forgiven, they do not benefit from this decree of the body anymore high state, the Presidium of the People’s Assembly, deportees and internees, without “criminal offenses”, without any “Crime”, unconvinced by any court, as is the case of my family, because for her (and others like her ), has established a “supreme commission”, which seems to be higher and, more powerful, than even the Presidium of the People’s Assembly itself, which holds their fate in our hands and I don’t know any law! What about this?!
(And, ironically, on that very day – January 10, 1986, when the decree of the Presidium of the People’s Assembly was published in the press, as the girl with two children was about to expire after two five-year-olds, they announced the decision of to this “supreme commission”, which gave another five-year extension. And the most incomprehensible yet: while the Criminal Code, for those who have committed “criminal offenses”, “crimes” and are “sentenced” by the “courts”, provides; one to five years (Articles 26 and 27), this “supreme commission”, gives punishments above the courts and outside any law, for people without “criminal offences”, without “crimes”, “not convicted” by the “courts”, so completely innocent “internment” with five-year-olds and not for one or two, but three or more!.
Perhaps something has been thought about, later, regarding these types of deportations, removing them altogether (which would be more than right), but, apart from the concrete issue – related to my family, which I am directly interested in and concerned, I mean in general: the state must be discharged as soon as possible from such burdens, which continue to weigh on it, as remnants from the past.
Another thing: being interned, although an engineer, today she does menial jobs in agriculture. It does not concern her profession. Who decided this?! Yes, that “Supreme Commission”, of course. Whereas in the Criminal Code, it is expressly stated:
“Prohibition of exercising a certain activity or skill is granted for a period of time, from one to five years, when the court finds that the convicted person has misused them and considers that he should not exercise them in the future” (Article 24)
So; when the court finds that the “convict” has “abused” them. And in the present case, it is not about “the court”, nor “convict”, nor about “abuse” of the profession, because in fact, that they didn’t let her work for two weeks alone, as an engineer! For the good of the state, the country and the people, these things and serious violations of legality should be looked into and put in place. It hurts me, without telling you, otherwise I would be silent, but I can’t.
My friend, Violeta, sent you almost two years ago, as she informed me then, a letter in which she presented her health condition (she had six operations, two of which were for tumors, now she also suffers from heart disease, apart from other consequences of age) and the difficult and severe conditions of internment, there in Fishtë, asking you to remove the internment…!
The answer you gave, as far as you informed me those days, was that; the case will be considered, in due course. But after a few months, in January 1985, when he was serving the term of exile and it was the case – “the right time”, as they understood your answer, to look at lifting the measure of exile and returning to where he was before, the decision came, of the so-called; “supreme commission”, which added another 5 years of exile, leaving him there in Fishtë!
After all this, it would be pointless to turn to you again, to tell you how and what happens, that’s why I thought to turn to you this time. On this occasion, I wanted to tell you that, from what the children write to me, her health condition are on the decline and the lack of benefit from the last pardon, made by the Presidium of the People’s Assembly, burdened her, because it seems that there has been a lot of talk. And hopes were high everywhere.
Burrell, February 5, 1986
TO TELL THE TRUTHS AS THEY ARE
The following two letters sent to Ramiz Ali, as they are long and with some details, and to avoid any repetition, are given abbreviated. How we entered the 90’s.
From the first letter: I am addressing you again, this time not so much for myself – for this ongoing tragedy of mine. Why? You know that, I know it too, somehow I told you. Many others also know, who have eyes to see, minds to judge, why don’t they speak, openly, understandably.
Why not so much, for yourself? I see that it makes no sense to remain with the “right”, looking for it based on the norms and laws of the state, as I have done, because it is useless: so many years have passed and the “right” is not I didn’t give anything. I didn’t give because, things done outside the norms and without laws, are not resolved by norms and laws: I’m looking for it in vain – “the right”, where it was violated knowingly and premeditated. Therefore, the case will be seen in another, broader plan, in the political one, because only on that basis, solutions can be obtained, so I am also moving to this plan.
I decided to write as a citizen, to the person with the highest functions of the country – in the party and in the state, without hesitation to express myself, as I think, outside the schemes, hosannas and servile ways of official circles. It is not bad for any leader to listen to other voices from time to time, from those who don’t know how to keep iso, who see things from other perspectives, why not the opposite. What you will call me, all I will say is your business.
You may not even read them, ignore them, laugh or even get angry. However, I speak to you openly and always from the position of a man who loves his country. To see and tell the truths, as they are – This is a demand of the time today, which we must adhere to, both for previous events and for today’s developments, otherwise we will continue to stumble, to move forward. And this is not done with pull and don’t tear, or with patches, of course: not even with a mess. Specifically:
– 1973 (IV Plenum of the Central Committee of PPSh) was not an event of any kind, much less “Cultural” – related to literature and arts, or “fashions” in youth and “liberalization” in these spheres, as it was emphasized and there was so much noise.
I do not undertake to make assessments as a whole, or separately, for certain issues, but time has now revealed: that the consequences were and remain serious, also because the truth was never told, distorted or omitted dark, what’s going on even today. This is serious and has consequences, not only for the past, because the history would do itself and it will be in place, everything, but the biggest damage is for today, it is still being extended for the future.
The question is asked; why does this happen?! The answer is: not only because the taboos around them have frozen everything, they don’t let you move forward, but they also lack the will to look critically at the past. Until when? But the truth is not drowned, every effort to throw it into oblivion is futile, the day will come and it will speak. Who needs this?
This is not the first time I am writing to you about this matter. But what to do? Why is it not acted upon, what prevents it? Let’s say it in Albanian: Enver Hoxha talked about them and how can it be done differently now? Those were turbulent years. Time, new facts, developments have led to other assessments and require correction, not only for historical events, but also for legislation and phenomena in the process.
Nothing extraordinary then.
– The law has been badly violated. (Suffice it to remember that four interior ministers have been convicted of crimes and illegal actions) This is the truth. The facts are many; no one can say today that they are not known. Maybe they were not known, but today they are known. Maybe they were not known, but today they are known, people have denounced them.
These last few years, even more. I will also bring my case – the arrest, the investigation, the trial and the punishment, as well as the denunciation that I made to you, seeking legal protection from the Supreme Court, and the complaint for inaction and non-response on its part, addressed to the Presidium of the People’s Assembly, for which you know best. Memorie.al
The next issue follows
