From Dashnor Kaloçi
Part Twelve
Memorie.al / Exactly 43 years ago, on the morning of December 18, 1981, the Albanian Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu, who had held that position since 1953, was found dead in his bedroom (according to the official version, from a bullet from a pistol) in the villa where he lived with his family, at the entrance of the “Block” of the high leadership of the Albanian Party of Labor, just a few meters from the building of the Central Committee of the Albanian Party of Labor and also from Enver Hoxha’s villa. Although more than four decades have passed since that day, considered one of the most serious and notorious events of that regime, there is still no clear and accurate version regarding what happened to the former Albanian Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu on the night leading to December 18, 1981! However, even after the 1990s, dozens of testimonies and archival documents have been made public regarding that event, “the murder or suicide of Mehmet Shehu,” which continues to be the subject of numerous debates and discussions, even wrapping it further in mystery around the truth.
Based on this fact, in the context of publishing dozens of testimonies and files with archival documents from the secret fund of the former State Security and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, or the Central Committee of the Albanian Party of Labor, which we have published over the decades since the collapse of Enver Hoxha’s communist regime and his successor, Ramiz Alia, Memorie.al has secured the voluminous file “of the enemy Mehmet Shehu,” which has been extracted from the secret fund of the former State Security at the Ministry of Internal Affairs (now part of the fund of the Authority for Information on the Documents of the former State Security), where, with a few minor exceptions, most of them have never seen the light of publication and are made public for the first time in full.
In the mentioned file, there are the relevant facsimiles, the expert report of the investigative-operational group that was set up immediately on the morning of December 18, 1981, led by Koço Josifi (head of the Investigative Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Tirana), the forensic doctors Dr. Fatos Hartito and Docent Bashkim Çuberi, the prime minister’s doctors, Milto Kostaqi and Llesh Rroku, as well as the criminalist expert from the Central Criminalistic Laboratory of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Estref Myftari, assisted by high officials of that ministry, Xhule Çiraku, Elham Gjika, and Lahedin Bardhi.
Also, in the voluminous file that we are making public, there are testimonies from the family members of former Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu, from the service personnel, and his escort group, as well as from all other individuals who were summoned and testified about that event. Moreover, the documents in question, which we are publishing along with the facsimiles and relevant photos, provide more information regarding this matter.
However, even though we are dealing only with archival documents, it should be emphasized that; knowing how that system operated before the ’90s, we cannot claim absolute truth regarding what is written there, as not only from the individuals who provided their testimonies, but also from the investigators of this case, it has been made known that the testimonies were obtained under pressure, intimidation, and physical and psychological violence, with some investigators going so far as to write them themselves while the witnesses or defendants merely signed them.
Continued from the previous issue
ARCHIVAL DOCUMENT, WITH THE PROTOCOL OF THE INTERROGATION OF FORMER PERSONAL DOCTOR OF MEHMET SHEHU, LLESHT TOM RROKU, BY THE INVESTIGATORS OF THE MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS, SOKOL KOLEKA AND BASHKIM CAKA
PROTOCOL
(Of the witness interrogation)
Today, on April 8, 1983, in Tirana.
We, the investigators of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Sokol Koleka and Bashkim Caka, interrogate the witness, Llesh Tom Rroku, born in 1949, with a higher medical education, residing in the “Heronjtë e Vigut” neighborhood, Apartment 34 in Lezhë, a doctor in the village of Balldre in Lezhë, candidate for party membership, not sentenced!
The investigator warned me about criminal liability under Article 202 of the Penal Code for false testimony.
Witness
Llesh Rroku
Regarding the matter, I can say the following:
I served with the family of the traitor Mehmet Shehu for four years as a cardiologist. On December 17, 1981, I went with Mehmet Shehu after he had gone to a meeting, and I stayed in his secretary’s office. During the breaks of this meeting, Mehmet Shehu would come to me for me to measure his pulse and blood pressure.
During the visits I made to him at that time, I noticed that Mehmet Shehu had a high pulse while his blood pressure was high from what was normal for him, which was around 11 to 11.5. I gave him some sedatives, and he returned to the meeting, which, as far as I remember, ended around 14:30. While I was in that place in the morning, I called the other doctor, Milto Kostaqi, who was in our office near the service group and told him in French that Mehmet Shehu had a high pulse and blood pressure, so I advised him not to leave his post……!
After the meeting ended, I accompanied Mehmet Shehu to his house, where Fiqreta Shehu was waiting at the entrance door, and together they went to the office on the first floor. Here I measured Mehmet Shehu’s blood pressure again, which continued to be high. I told him to rest, as he needed it. He told me that he would not rest, and I left and went to my workplace, which is outside Mehmet Shehu’s residence……..!
Around 15:45, while Mehmet Shehu was in his bedroom, he requested me again to visit him. I went there and saw that Mehmet Shehu was in the room, along with Fiqreta, who was dressed in a dress, while Mehmet was dressed in a suit, which indicated to me that he had not rested during lunch. I measured Mehmet Shehu’s pulse and blood pressure, which were high, but not as high as in the morning when he was in the meeting. At this time, coffee and fruit were brought to Mehmet Shehu. I left his room and waited, as I learned that in the afternoon he would go to a meeting.
So around noon, I accompanied Mehmet Shehu to a meeting at the Central Committee and visited him again during the meeting break, where his blood pressure was high, and I gave him medication to lower it. I informed the other doctor, Milto Kostaqi, again, telling him to wait for me at my workplace until we returned from the meeting……………….!
After the meeting ended, around 20:30, I accompanied Mehmet Shehu to his house, and when he entered through the house door, Fiqreta was there waiting for him, while I left for my workplace, where I also told Milto Kostaqi that he should not go home that night, as Mehmet Shehu had a high pulse and blood pressure, and Milto agreed.
When I was in the officers’ room, Mehmet Shehu called me again to visit him, and when I went, I found him in his office on the first floor, along with Fiqreta. I measured Mehmet Shehu’s pulse and blood pressure, which were again high, and I recommended medication to lower his tension. Mehmet Shehu told me that he wanted to drink coffee; I told him that he shouldn’t drink coffee, as it raises blood pressure, but he said he would drink it and asked for coffee to be brought to that room.
Mehmet Shehu asked me who was on duty that night, and I told him it was the on-duty officer. He asked if it was Ali Çeno, and I told him he was there, as I thought Ali Çeno should not have gone home. When I went to the service room, where officer Pëllumb Rusto and an on-call driver were, I did not find Ali Çeno there, and either I called him myself or I told Pëllumb Rusto to inform Ali. So Ali came later with a car…………….!
Ali Çeno, Dashamir Rama, Pëllumb Rusto, Milto Kostaqi, and the on-call driver stayed in the officers’ service building until around 24:00, then we slept in different rooms, still there. On the morning of December 18, 1981, around 7:55, when we were in the service group room, we heard Vladimir Shehu, via intercom, asking for Ali Çeno to come up to Mehmet Shehu’s bedroom.
Ali left quickly while the rest of us stayed there. After about 4-5 minutes, we heard that Vladimir announced through the intercom for the doctors to come up urgently. At that moment, Milto Kostaqi, assistant doctor Nestor Lezho, and I, with all the necessary equipment, quickly climbed to Mehmet Shehu’s bedroom.
We found the door open. In the corridor outside this door was Vladimir. Milto and I entered the room after Vladimir told us, “Look, look at your father,” while the assistant doctor stayed outside in the corridor. As soon as we entered, Milto and I turned towards the bed and saw that Mehmet Shehu was lying on the bed face down, pale, covered with blankets up to his neck.
Milto removed the blanket, took one of the pillows off his head, placed his hand on his forehead and pulse; his forehead was cold, and the pulse was absent. On the left side of his heart, we saw a spot of blood. On the right side of Mehmet Shehu’s body, almost in the middle of the bed, above the blanket, I saw a pistol placed in the middle of the bed, and from all this, I realized that Mehmet Shehu had committed suicide, and we did not take any action.
When I stepped back from the bed, I saw that about one meter away from the bed was a shell casing, which I picked up by hand and placed on the bedside table on the left side of the bed, where Mehmet Shehu’s body was. I did not make any other actions on Mehmet Shehu’s body and his bed, while Milto raised his head slightly again, placing the pillow he had taken earlier and covering him with the blanket.
When Milto and I entered Mehmet Shehu’s bedroom, I noticed that the door to his office on the second floor, which is adjacent to this bedroom, was open and at the office table were Ali Çeno and Jonuz Luto, where Ali Çeno was talking on the phone, apparently to inform about the event, but I do not know with whom he was speaking. Milto and I left Mehmet Shehu’s bedroom and waited in the corridor on the second floor, by the armchairs. After us, Ali Çeno and Jonuz Luto also came out and stayed in the corridor of that floor. Later, another friend from the Ministry of Internal Affairs arrived………………………!
Before the investigative group arrived, as I heard from those present, Kadri Hazbiu came in, who entered Mehmet Shehu’s bedroom, accompanied by Ali Çeno and Vladimir. Kadri Hazbiu went to Fiqreta’s room, where he met Fiqreta……………………………………………..!
After the investigative group arrived, I did not stay on the second floor, but sat on the first floor. On the second floor, Pëllumb Rusta was stationed as a guard with a weapon. I noticed that Elham Gjika was going in and out of Mehmet Shehu’s bedroom, but I did not see where he was going or what actions he was taking……………………………………………..!
I do not know if by the time the witnesses were questioned, the actions on the second floor had finished or not. The witnesses were questioned in a room on the first floor. Here I was also questioned by Koço Josifi and Elham Gjika, who did not stay until the end of my questioning, but left; I do not know where he went. As far as I remember, Fiqreta Shehu and Vladimir were also questioned here, but I do not know specifically by which people each was questioned……………………….!
While I do not know if Fatbardha and Milto Kostaqi were questioned there that day or not. I do not know if after the witnesses were questioned, the investigators went back up to the second floor, as I did not see anything…………………………..!
When the room was examined by the investigative group, as I mentioned, I was not there and do not know what actions were taken………………………………………………..!
I clarify that besides the occasion that I was questioned that day, I was also questioned once more in Elham Gjika’s office at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where the process was typed on a typewriter. In this case, Koço Josifi was there with Elham Gjika. I was also questioned on another occasion in the leadership clinic by two persons from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, whom I do not know…..!
After reading the protocol and seeing that my statements were written correctly, I sign it……………………! Memorie.al
Witness Investigators
Llesh Rroku Bashkim Caka Sokol Koleka
Continued in the next issue
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