Dashnor Kaloçi
Memorie.al publishes the unknown story of Shaban Reçi, originally from Tirana, who, during the War period, having joined the guerrilla units of Tirana with Lym Keta, Adnan Qatipi, Ali Kubati, etc., became part of the partisan gang. of Peza, with Commander Baba Myslymin, who was shorter than the rifle, sent Shaban to guard the sheep and cows of the gang that had been taken from the tyrannical trader, Lik Demner. Subsequently joining the Third Attack Brigade, with which she participated in all the fighting she fought until Bosnia and Yugoslavia, and for the contribution, she made during the War, she was sent to study in the Soviet Union, along with some other friends, such as Myslym Keta, Bajram Radeshi, Sarandi Lulo, Sami Haderi, etc. Shaban’s return from his studies and military career until 1974, where he disagreed with the condemnation of top Defense Ministry leaders led by Beqir Balluku who were accused of being “conspirators” and after several debates with Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu, in the district of Berat where he served as a brigade commander, was dismissed and sent to Shkodra district for education, where he was arrested and sentenced to 12 years in prison.
“Beqir Balluku is not an enemy of the people and he has not been a coward. He was commander of the guerrilla units of Tirana and participated in several assassinations. There could never be a coward in charge of these tasks. I was told by Soviet adviser Merkulov, myself in the First Brigade, that Beqir had warned Russian military attaches in the 1960s that something would happen to Enver, Mehmet, Hysni and Ramiz in Moscow, of the 4,000 specialists Soviet troops who were in Albania would hang them on Skanderbeg Square in the middle of Tirana. These were the fateful words of Shaban Reçi, commander of one of the major military units in the Berat district, that by the end of 1973 would change the course of life and send cold prison cells to more for ten years, accusing him of being a “pugilist and enemy of the puppet”.
Who was Shaban Reçi who was his past and why was that senior military man sacrificing himself, defending the Minister, Beqir Balluku, who was in the fury of Enver Hoxha’s strikes, declaring him “an enemy, a coup and a conspirator? ?!
With guerrilla units
Born in 1926, Shabani was the fifth child of Abdulla Reç, a poor orphan from an autochthonous Tyrannical family. From a difficult economic situation, in 1938, he discontinued Fultz Technical School in Tirana after two years of study in the field of Typography and was forced to work as a henchman at the Old Bazaar, working as an in the famed family, Turdiu. “For the first time in 1941, I met Prokop Myzeqari, Ali Visha, and Sul Baki, who were Communists and activated me by giving me tracts to distribute to the Old Bazaar. At that time the Peza and Dajti gangs had just been formed, and we were collecting aid and giving it to Kop Myzeqari, who was sending it to the partisans. At that time we did not know Enver Hoxha and had never heard of him as the main man leading the War and the Party since in Tirana we had heard of Hysen as Gogo Nushi was then called, and then known as Beqir Balluku. It was Ali Visha who introduced me to Shaban Sula, commander of the guerrilla units of Tirana, where I became a member since April 1943. There, I met and met for the first time Lym Keta, Qamil Poda, and Ali Kubati ”, recalled Shaban Reçi, the period when he first became active with the communist movement in Tirana.
Partizan, with Myslym Peza
In July 1943, Shaban is summoned by the chiefs of Tirana’s guerrilla units, Shaban Sula and Mustafa Lapi, to join the ranks of the partisan gangs. In this connection, Shabani recounted: “I went to Peza’s gang, where I was assigned to the headquarters company. When Myslym Peza saw me he said: The rifle is taller than you got a son, so go with Sinan Dushk and save the sheep we got from Lik Demner, a butcher in Tirana who was given 40 head of sheep 6 cows. Two weeks later I was sent to the village of Arbana, where the Third Partisan Brigade was formed, on October 9, 1943.
The Student from Yugoslavia in Moscow
As part of the Third Partisan Brigade, Shaban Reçi took part in all the fighting, up to the borders in Senica of Yugoslavia. “After fighting in Yugoslavia in March 1945, our Brigade returned to Mitrovica and I was assigned, commissar of the partisan hospital, in the Division that was stationed there. In June of this year, after returning to Tirana, I was informed that I was going to study at one of the Soviet military schools. At the end of June, together with a large group of former partisans, such as Myslym Keta, Sarandi Lulo, Bajram Radeshi, Sami Haderi, etc., we left for Struga and then to Belgrade, from where we traveled by train to the Union. Soviet and we initially arrived in Odesa, where we continued our studies until October 1949. Upon returning to Albania, I was assigned to the Ministry of Defense, to the Directorate of Military Preparation. While in 1956, I was appointed lecturer and Head of the Tactics Department at the United Officers’ Enver Hoxha School, a task I held until 1963, ”recalled Shaban Reçi, after the war when he was sent to study. in the Soviet Union and the tasks, he performed after returning to Albania.
Conflict with Mehmet Shehu
In 1966, Shaban Reçi, with the rank of colonel, was appointed commander of the Seventh Brigade in Uznova, Berat, a position he held until 1972. The same year, Shaban comes back to Tirana and is appointed lecturer at the Military Academy. At the end of the 1974-75 season, the diplomas of the students of the Academy were to be awarded and the ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu, who held the post of Minister of Defense, replacing Beqir Balluk. After the ceremony, Mehmet had a free talk with senior military men, asking them what they thought about the situation the Army was going through. There Shabani addressed Mehmeti, saying: “Prime Minister Comrade, the fire centers we have built are out of combat in terms of air defense and the fight against air defenses. Likewise, trusses are not effective. I also disagree with what Folk Martial Art says, that in the event of a Third World War, our Army must rely on the people. This cannot happen because the people have no bread for themselves and not support us. ” In the opinion of Shaban, Mehmet did not object but only listened. After these words that annoyed all the senior military men, Mehmet Shehu played from the ground and said: “Where do you know that the people have no bread” ?! Shabani replied: “I know Prime Minister Comrade, because whenever we train with the reservists, they come without food, so we have been forced into force since the first day and therefore Arif Hasko has put us in charge thousands of loaves ”. After that Mehmet addressed Veli Lakakaj, the Chief of General Staff of the Army who accompanied him, saying: “Veli take note of these.”
Protects Beqir Balluku
One of those officers who disagreed with Beqir Balluku’s sentence and spoke occasionally defending the group of senior military men accused of the conspiracy was Shaban Reci. In this connection, he recalled: “When I was in Berat, on duty with the Brigade Commander, during a conversation with some colleagues, I told you that; Not only has Beqiri not been a coward and an enemy as the party is said to be now, but he has been brave enough to lead guerrilla units and take part in many assassinations. Likewise, Beqiri defended the Party and Enver Hoxha when the Russian military attaché asked him to head the Party, Beqiri told the Attaché that if anything happened to our four leaders in Moscow, (Enver, Hysniut, Mehmet, and Ramiz), he would punish the four thousand Soviet specialists in Tirana at Skanderbeg Square. If the Party says he was an enemy and a coward, I agree that he was. ” After these words, Shaban’s colleagues report him and then he is summoned to the Party Committee, where he is expelled from a party member and also dismissed by brigade commanders, sending him to the Shkodra district for education as a battalion commander.
13 years of political prison
After nearly 15 months in the battalion commander’s office, on November 26, 1974, Shaban was arrested and sent to the Shkodra Internal Branch, where he was held by the investigator for seven months. The charge against him was, “defending the enemies of the people and of the party, the ‘Pucist Group’, led by Beirut Balluk.” The investigator also mentioned the conversation he had with Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu, opposing him and openly expressing his views in favor of the “black theses” of the Puchists regarding the “Slide Theory” they had presented in Defense Council. During the investigation, Shaban did not dispute the allegations made against him but adhered to his point of view, which he had previously expressed. At the trial in Shkodra on 12-13 March 1975, former Colonel Shaban Reçi again defended his views in the presence of a group of senior officers attending the trial of his trial, who had been summoned there, to pressure you to call to mind who had those thoughts would end there as their colleague. In this connection, Shabani recalled: “Based on my position, both the prosecutor and the panel demanded and sentenced me to a maximum sentence of ten years in a political prison. In addition, I was given three years for possession of a firearm, because when they searched the apartment, I told them I had a small trophy gun from the time of the War, thinking that they would get it better, that they could find it. children”. Thereafter, former Communist and Partisan Colonel Shaban Reçi of Peza, a graduate of the Soviet Union who had commanded a large military unit and a lecturer at the Military Academy, ends up in Burrel, Ballesh and Zejmen Prison as an “enemy of the people. a supporter of Beqir Balluku, his former war commander, who fell victim to Enver Hoxha’s paranoia. ”/ Memorie.al
