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Basha as Minister of the Interior/ "January 21" beyond violence and victims

2024-01-21 08:19:00, Aktualitet CNA

Basha as Minister of the Interior/ "January 21" beyond violence and

The "January 21" event, which started as a protest organized by the Socialist Party, is one of the most tragic dates of Albanian democracy and the long transition.

Everything started as a protest organized by the Socialist Party in front of the Prime Minister's Office, where thousands of citizens demanded the overthrow of the Berisha government on January 21, 2011.

The gathering happened after the publication of a video on the "Fiks Fare" show, where Ilir Meta, then deputy prime minister, in the Berisha government appeared with a black pad in his hand, making bargains with the late former minister Dritan Prifti.

Irritated citizens protested and demanded the overthrow of the Berisha government. In this protest were also its organizers, such as Edi Rama and many socialist deputies.

Basha as Minister of the Interior/ "January 21" beyond violence and

The January 21 protest

However, the protest degraded into violence and clashes while a fire was opened from inside the Prime Minister's Office, bringing the tragic balance with four victims. Those killed were: Aleks Nika, Ziver Veizi, Hekuran Deda and Faik Myrtaj.

The murders shocked public opinion and brought back to the minds of Albanians the events of 1997, when riots gripped the country.

Innocent people were killed, protesting citizens. Even the bullets fired by the guards of the Prime Minister's Office caught the protesters who were not actually causing clashes.

Everything happened while the Guard of the Republic was guarding its perimeter, but none of the victims are inside the perimeter of the Prime Minister's Office, the security zone. This is a very telling detail, it is the answer to every argument for or against.

The January 21 protest

Even today, this event is still not fully clarified and family members wander around the courts and demand justice for their family members.

The Socialist Party continues and pays homage to this day. Even this January 21, there will be no shortage of tributes from socialists.

But, even though he has governed the country for 3 terms, the Rama government has not given a strong impetus to the clarification of these investigations.

After 13 years we can say with full mouth that there is no justification for the socialists with the event of "January 21" since at least the institutions they led should have provided all the facts and evidence, including the people who were at the event, to deposit in the implementation of the law, to have a clean investigation, to have a real investigation.

Family members already have their eyes on international courts.

The European Court of Human Rights, in the decision of November 14, 2023 for Aleks Nika, one of the killed protesters, emphasized that in the investigation of the events of January 21, 2011, there were numerous shortcomings, which raise suspicions that the authorities had tried to divert it or interfere unjustly.

The January 21 protest

Meanwhile, Rama, on the other hand, demands justice and uses this event politically even today.

Basha as Minister of the Interior.

The "January 21" event has two sides of the coin. There is the side of the victims, but there is also the side of violence against State institutions, which was ordered by someone. Of course, this protest had a political background, that is, it was organized by the socialists, where citizens were used to cause riots.

Lulzim Basha

Lulzim Basha also had an important role that day.

We emphasize that when the serious incident happened, Lulzim Basha was the Minister of the Interior of the Berisha government. We must emphasize here that even though he held this position and gave orders to the Guard of the Republic and commanded the State Police, there is no investigation against him today and he himself bears no responsibility for the 4 victims of the serious incident.

Today, Basha is in politics and he goes out and asks for the trust of the citizens, their vote, while referring to the laws of the country, he was the minister directly responsible for that event. Many questions remain today: Who ordered the Guard to fire on the Guardsmen? Why was such a decision made?

The January 21 protest

Now after 13 years, justice must be done for the victims and that event must be clarified. The persons responsible should be brought to justice. There is no more time to waste./CNA