Dashnor Kaloçi
Memorie.al publishes some archival documents extracted from the fund of the former Central Committee of the ALP that for years have held the logo “Top secret” where it is about a correspondence of the first secretary of the Party Committee of Mirdita district , Jovan Bardhi with the Central Committee of the ALP, regarding the revolt that took place in Spaç prison on May 22, 1973, where a large part of the prisoners who were serving their sentences in that camp with extremely difficult working and living conditions, rose up in revolt after police mistreated their two accomplices, brothers Pal and Gjok Zefi, from the village of Rrushkull in Durrës district. As the first secretary of that district described in the reports, he sent to the secretary of the Central Committee of the ALP, Hysni Kapo, analyzing in detail the whole chronology of the event, from the actions of the convicts, the intervention of the police forces, e to the conclusions of the camp command and the Mirdita Party Committee, for that extraordinary event and the measures taken after the suppression of that revolt.
Built in the mid-1960s, the Spaç camp, located in one of the most difficult and isolated areas of the Mirdita district, would serve for 25 years as one of the most terrifying “Reeducation” institutions. the treatment of political prisoners, ranging from working and living conditions to their punishments. According to the many testimonies of convicts who have suffered for years in that camp, but also to the many archival documents that have been published in recent years, it is clear on the real causes of the outbreak of the revolt of prisoners in the Spaç camp. on May 21-23, 1973. The revolt of the political prisoners of the Spaç camp, where the flag was raised for the first time without the red star, would shock and alarm, not only the camp administration and the Ministry of Interior. , which would urgently launch by helicopter the Deputy Minister, Feçor Shehu in Mirdita, but also the senior communist leadership led by Enver Hoxha. But this uprising of the political prisoners of this camp, would be suppressed within 72 hours with the greatest ferocity by the police officers of the camp protection, as well as by some large military units of the Ministry of People’s Defense and the Ministry of Internal Affairs that were sent there to suppress that revolt. As a result, four convicts, Dervish Bejko, Hajri Pashai, Pal Zefi, and Skënder Daja, who would be charged by the improvised military trial in the prison premises, as “the main initiators of the start of this revolt”, would be sentenced with death, and would be shot. While these things are already known, the least known are the archival documents, such as the reports in question, where the first secretary of the Party Committee of the Mirdita district, Jovan Bardhi, sends them to the secretary of the Central Committee of the ALP. of, Hysni Kapos, (covering the organs of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat), where he informs in detail and detail everything that had happened in that camp with the revolt of the political prisoners. For more information, we know the archival documents that Memorie.al is publishing in full starting from the previous issue.
Continued from the previous issue
The secret report of the Ministry of Interior: “Spaç’s command is incompetent, the situation got out of control”.
ALBANIAN LABOR PARTY SECRET
COMMITTEE OF THE CIRCUIT PARTY Rrëshen, on 8. VI. 1973
Mirdita
Nr. 355 Prot.
CONCLUSIONS
TO BYROS THAT THE COMMITTEE OF THE PARTY OF THE CIRCUIT MIRDITE “ON THE EVENTS OF DATE 21-23 MAY 1973 IN THE SPAÇ CAMP
The Bureau of the Party Committee of the district on 4.VI.1973 after the analysis made by the Party Organizations of Department 303 and the Security Party, called in the report the Party Bureau and the leading cadres of the Internal Affairs Branch and the department. From the analysis in both Party Organizations and from the review made by the bureau, it appears that among the main causes that led to that serious situation are:
Intensification of hostile activity in the ranks of convicted elements for activities against popular power.
This element intensified his hostile work, especially during this year, feeding illusions from the propaganda of the imperialist and revisionist states, the Vatican, etc. Thus, they have thrown and written slogans that: “Our country has remained isolated”, “that their circle has narrowed”, “that the people are supposedly dissatisfied”, etc. They have tried to prevent the participation of prisoners at work, to organize, to evade escapes, etc. Despite the measures taken to identify, document and crack down on this activity, it continued to intensify until May 21, 1973, when it used as a reason the arrest of a prisoner, it exploded.
Failure to assess the degree required of the activity of this element, to reduce the revolutionary vigilance, not to elaborate enough on the operational measures, in the manifestations of the concepts that these convicts are, leaves room for concessions until the establishment of this element.
Thus, the operative measures have not always been deep and comprehensive for the detection, documentation and crackdown of the sharp hostile activity of this element, the data have not been adequately assessed and as a result, there has been a delay, they have not been followed with urgency to deepen the unmasking. of hitting this activity in the ranks of convicts.
Demonstrations of liberalism, indifference at work for the implementation of norms, orders and guidelines with convicts.
Relations between the effective and the convicts have not been to the required degree, the demand for the account has not been the same for everyone, it has given way to liberalism and extremism. Some cases have been resolved through self-judgment by the person himself. Releases have been issued by the ward command, there have been liberal attitudes towards convicts against whom no firm stand has been taken and strict punitive measures have not been taken when they are disobedient when they have offended or and when they have hit police officers. There have been cases where both police officers and officers have taken extreme measures against prisoners, put them in prisons without notifying the command, have beaten prisoners, and so on. Violation of the rules of the camp has also had materials that are not needed inside. Prisoners were found with prohibited items such as knives, irons, tools, picks and shovels, etc., which during the revolt some of the convicts tried to use against the effective and the police.
Systematic, fast and timely information was lacking.
In the working method of the command of Department 303 as well as of the organization of the Party Bureau, both inside and outside in service relations in this department, as well as from the department in the Branch, the information did not function properly. So although 7-8 convicts do not go to work every day for no reason, or on May 30, about 30 percent of the convicts did not work, they did not report at all. Even in the direction of the Party Committee, the information has been very weak. In the case of the incident when the camp started disturbing the prisoners, not only was the Party Committee informed late, but also with the conclusion that there was no danger. These have come from underestimating and not deepening the hostile activity in the camp, nurturing the concept that they have nothing to do, we are surrounded by them.
Lack of work on education, the ability of the staff and service staff of the re-education department.
Some cadres lack military-professional training, this has negatively affected the performance of duties, increasing vigilance, and the implementation of legality. So the head of the training, some platoon commanders, and especially the police do not have the necessary preparation, the latter have been hired without going through any course. Most of the cadres, with the exception of the ward commissioner, have expressed opinions, have made requests to leave this ward, like a bad place, and to be transferred to other places. All these and others we think were strong causes that led to the non-disclosure of the prisoners’ revolt and its non-prevention in time. The revolt appeared with all the characteristics of the savagery of the enemy element, as we have informed them of our information dated 24. V. 1973.
That is why we are not marking their actions, the slogans that were used, and others. With the measures taken under the direction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the revolt was successfully suppressed and for its instigators and others measures were taken and given to the justice of the people. During the work for its suppression, all cadres, police officers, soldiers of the ward, of the Branch, as well as those wards that came to help, showed determination, the spirit of sacrifice, tirelessness, and high vigilance. The Bureau concluded that it was entirely possible to avoid the event if the requirements of the regulation and norms governing the work of Security and Police employees in the branch of Internal Affairs and the command of the 303rd Department of Re-Training in Spaç were properly implemented. . For the event and the proven weaknesses, the Bureau took out the responsibility of the Party Organizations, the leading cadres, the Branch, and the Department 303, as well as its own collegial responsibility. She strongly criticized the Party Organization of Department 303, which is headed by Shahin Skuraj, who is also the Commissioner of this department.
This organization has not exercised its powers to lead the work in the ward, has allowed the leading cadres of the command to reduce the revolutionary vigilance, to allow violations of military regulations and the protection of convicts, to overestimate their measures and to underestimate the activity. of enemies and for these and others has not put these cadres before the responsibility of the Party. She did not dwell on the concepts of some officers who see their position as temporary in this ward: little has been stopped at the work for the ideo-political education of officers and police officers, especially to prevent the concept that “ we have enemies on the wire and they have nothing to do with us ”?! The Bureau of the Party Committee approved the remark with a note on the registration card for the Commander of the unit Haxhi Gora and Commissioner Shahin Skura.
He severely criticized the work of the Party Organization of the Security Party in the Internal Affairs Branch, which did not hold the mayor, his deputy to the side of the Security, accountable for the implementation of the regulation signed by the Minister that the Internal Affairs Bodies in the district made them responsible for securing convicts, for operational work and re-education. The control of the Communist leaders of the Branch over the command of the ward that provides the prisoners has been weak and has allowed them not to fully implement the regulation. The communists who run the operation with the convicts did not properly assess the data on the state of the hostile activity of the convicts, and this brought (that although the revolt was pre-arranged) the degree of recognition was not such as to avoid the situation and measures were taken to prevent it.
So the detective work is quite weak. This organization has not stopped at the concept that the leaders of the Branch had: “We have had the camp since 1968 and nothing has happened to us.” They have not seen weaknesses in themselves more than in others. The Bureau of the Party Committee approved the measure; Remarkable remarks on the registration card for the chairman of the Internal Affairs Branch, Comrade Pandi Kita, as well as for his deputy, Comrade Mark Deda. The bureau criticized Comrade Pandi Kita and ordered him to dwell on the main problems of the Security, as little is done on his own and let more to his deputy, that even the biggest flaws in these events, came out to reveal the hostile activity in camp. The Bureau criticized the Party Bureau in the Branch for not exercising deep control and for not helping the Party’s Security and Police Organizations. The Bureau of the Party Committee also took responsibility for itself and its secretaries. During 1972-1973 she analyzed three times the problems of the work of the department in the Branch and the secretaries of the Party Committee all participated in the meetings of the Party Organizations and the stateside in the Branch and in the department. However, the Party Committee has not exercised organized, differentiated control over specific problems in these organizations.
Thus, the recognition of the bureau and the secretariat has not been deep and consequently the demand of the account and the concrete assistance have faltered, this burdens the Bureau and the secretaries of this Committee with responsibility. The Bureau approved a work program to help the Party Organizations in the Branch and in the department, to correct the shortcomings, especially for ideological education, to strengthen the internal life of the Party, to establish the control of the Party over command, etc. In the Bureau and in the Basic Organizations of the Party, some criticisms were made, the District Prosecutor was criticized that in some cases the attack on the hostile actions of the enemies is mild, for example, a convict who passed the siege and was caught in the district of Puka was sentenced to only one and a half years when the law provides for up to three years. The General Prosecutor’s Office was criticized, which has rejected three proposals for a strike a year ago, and now that this situation has occurred, they are looking for where you have them. It was also stated that when a convict sends a letter of complaint, they deal more with its drafting, while they do not give importance to the other side, the activity of the convicts towards the service personnel.
The Directorate of State Security was criticized for not delving into the problems raised by the Interior Ministry in its reports, especially for the measures to be taken to crack down on the element of sharp hostile activity. The Ministry’s Personnel Branch was criticized for not taking due care of completing ward 303 with skilled personnel. Sends there where they make mistakes in other departments and promises were made about the time they will stay. The Police Directorate was criticized for placing prisoners in the camp without carrying out the necessary work, and its control and assistance in enforcing prison and camp regulations have been weak. She responds directly to this ward. A proposal was made for the Ministry of Internal Affairs to see the possibility of adding staff for the operational sector, as this work in the camp is difficult.
THE FIRST SECRETARY OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE CIRCUIT PARTY
(JOVAN BARDHI)
Memorie.al
