From Agim Hamiti
ENGINEER KUJTIM BEQIRI, THE MAN WHO WAS HANGED ON A ROPE TWICE AS A SABOTATOR OF THE MALIKI MARSH
Memorie.al / Unbelievable… but true. The man who suffered this unparalleled punishment in the history of world criminology was the prominent Albanian engineer, Kujtim Beqiri, whose photo is still on display at the famous University of Vienna, alongside photos of the most prominent talents who have come out of the doors his. After graduating with maximum results, Kujtim was offered employment as a lecturer at that university, but his dream was to help in the recovery of the backward homeland, which he loved very much. He was the son of a patriotic family from Velça and Vlora. His father, Ali Beqiri, was a collaborator of Ismail Qemali in the efforts for national independence and a member of the steering committee of the military operations of the Vlora War in 1920. Naturally, the son resembled the father.
Under the influence of his father, Kujtimi worshiped Kosovo. In the early forties, with the mediation of his fellow citizen Kudret Kokoshi (who was helping to organize the judiciary in Pristina at that time), Kujtimi worked for a long time in Kosovo, where he invested his extensive knowledge in the field of modern geodesy.
He also took care to build two bridges there, as a symbol of the prospective union of Kosovo with the mother Albania. However, the bloodthirsty dictatorship used the drying up of Maliq’s swamp as a trap to eliminate some well-known nationalist intellectuals.
It was 1946, the time when school textbooks in Albania were filled with disgusting servile dithyrambs (like the ones below, dedicated to Enver’s Jaran – Marshal Tito:
“Tito the Warrior,
Tito the Liberator,
Tito Fitimtar,
The Legendary Tito
Of your people”!
Kujtim Beqiri and his unfortunate comrades (nicknamed by the State Security “Saboteurs of Maliqi”) were arrested on November 6, 1946, brought to the impromptu political trial on November 8, 1946 (the 5th anniversary of the establishment of the PKSH- of Tito’s emissaries), the verdict of the trial with the drastic punishments was announced on November 19, 1946, and the martyrs were executed three days later (November 22, 1946), in the sector of works for draining the Maliqi swamp.
Kujtim Beqiri and Abdyl Sharra were hanged, while Vasil and Zyraka Mano (couple), Mirush Përmeti and the Italian Eugenio Scaturro were shot.
Imagine what barbarity: for the Enverist “Justice”, represented by ignorant criminals, only 16 days (November 6, 1946 – November 22, 1946) would be enough to arrest, investigate, judge and execute the six “Saboteurs of Maliq”!
The Italian fatzi did not understand anything about what was happening until he saw himself in front of the execution squad, because they had not hired an interpreter for him. The civilized world treats engineers of the caliber of Kujtim Beqir with special care. Even when their country goes to war, sending them to the front is prohibited by law.
While the profane cynic of Gjirokastra, (Enver Hoxha), who for two years could not take a single exam at the University of Montpellier (France), happily killed the most prominent Albanian intellectuals out of spite, according to Marshal Tito’s instructions.
During the days of the judicial farce of the “Saboteurs of Maliq”, there were many journalists from the Yugoslav radio and press in the hall, who were rubbing their stomachs from the satisfaction that “their political maneuver of Tirana” exterminated the brains of the Albanian nation! The inhumane operation that would continue for a long time and would bring the fatal consequences that have been experienced for a long time with weak intelligence, without dignity and national feelings.
The Slavic-communist crime of “Malik’s Saboteurs”, like the improvised incident of throwing a bomb at the Soviet embassy in Tirana, left a mark with its ugliness even on the faint consciousness of special eyewitnesses – actors of those tragedies. One of the latter, when it was his turn to be punished by the dictatorship, disclosed shocking details of those crimes to a trusted prisoner. For the rare engineer Kujtim Beqiri, addicted at a young age, it was found out that:
– In order to “prove” the imaginary sabotage of the pickets made by Kujtim Beqiri, for the drying of the Maliqi marsh, Moscow was asked to send an experienced topographical engineer, who had to do his best to find “the deliberate flaws in the work of saboteurs” and to compile a written statement about them. This statement would be used as a strong card at trial. However, the experienced engineer that Moscow sent was also an experienced, intellectual and moral person. After careful field verification of the picket, he stated in writing:
“If I were entrusted with the re-picketing of drainage channels for drying this swamp, I would not be able to move a single picket from the country. It is the flawless work of a very skilled engineer.”
Of course, this exculpatory statement could not be used in the judicial farce, but it is difficult that they even left it in the file…! In this context, this very significant fact should be emphasized: Maliqi Swamp was drained according to the picketing done by Kujtim Beqiri, without any other picketing.
– On November 21, 1946, the State Security transferred the six “Saboteurs of Maliqi”, sentenced to death, from the dungeons of Tirana to those of the Internal Affairs Branch of Korça, to be close to the works sector in the Maliqi swamp where their execution would take place the next day.
The cars had stopped in Elbasan, so that the bloodsuckers of the Sigurimi could have a coffee. At that time, convicts were allowed to keep the money they had in their pockets on the day of their arrest. Knowing this fact, one of the officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, of the death caravan, had asked them if they wanted to buy them something. Engineer Kujtimi had given him money to buy two packs of cigarettes and a match.
When he returned, the officer gave him the two packages and the match, but not the remaining money. Engineer Syskëndija, who perfectly controlled himself even in those circumstances of extreme terror, had reacted immediately: “Why don’t you give me the rest of the lek? To remind me that they don’t have what I need, since I’m on my way to death? They are my money and should be spent together with me”.
– Kujtim Beqir’s last words before hanging on the rope were:
“We are innocent, History will prove that. Long live the Albanian Nation”!
The security executioner removed his chair and the body of the amazing engineer was thrown into the air with the rope around his throat. The fatal seconds passed longer than usual in such cases, and the security guards were horrified by an extraordinary phenomenon: the addict continued to breathe with difficulty, instead of giving up a few seconds ago!
Wasn’t God making the last attempt to save the life of one of His favorite creatures?!
Since the time of Common Law and Roman law, a person sentenced to death was spared life if the gun did not fire against him or when, for unforeseen reasons, the executioners failed to take him to the place of execution at the appointed time right.
However, even their Creator could not find a word with the Albanian communists: 20 years after the execution of the “Saboteurs of Maliq”, they would declare open war against God himself, destroying mosques, churches and endowments!
Shocked by the terrible scene before their eyes, the souls of the Security restored Kujtim Beqir for the second time on the fatal chair. Then they found that the loop of the rope had caught the collar of the virtuoso engineer’s coat and could not be narrowed to the right extent.
They corrected the mistake and successfully committed the party crime. Surely the Security actors of that tragedy were decorated not only by the APS, but also by its pink and blue ribbons.
During the 25 years of “democracy”, no president of Albania and no government thought of awarding a decoration to that peerless engineer of the Albanian land, in front of whose intellect and patriotism, all the rulers and their representatives resemble poor lilliputians who live only physically.
In fact, this is the greatest honor that they have inadvertently done to the shrewd patriot Kujtim Beqiri: they have not mixed his bright name with the names of bloodthirsty and traitors decorated several times, with the Dictator-Agent twice “Hero of People” and three times “Hero of Socialist Work”!
The words of Kadri Beqir (the son of engineer Kujtim) are very touching, regarding the great efforts he has made to find his father’s remains – a basic human right denied to most of those executed by the Enverist dictatorship by yesterday’s communists and neo-communists today:
“We searched a lot for my father’s remains in Maliq but, unfortunately, there were no remains there. During the excavations we found only one human hand, which we put in the small coffin, enough to have a grave for him”! Memorie.al
