They sought salvation in Albania, they were accused of being "agents" of the UDB

By: Kastriot Dervishi

The stories of the Albanians who came to Albania from the Albanian lands in Yugoslavia are really painful. There is no better case than their examples for the anti-national regime of Enver Hoxha, which made it their duty to mistreat and humiliate them.

Ahmet Vatovci and Hamit Hajdini, prisoners in Department No. 307 in Rubik, wrote to the Central Committee in December 1964, among others:

"We are a small number of Kosovars who work in this camp in an intolerable regime and we are listing here the contradictions in which we live and work:

1. Each of us has served 1-14 years in prison and we have been sentenced to 6-25 years.

2. Most of us are sick and physically crushed, so unable to work. Even those who have little strength for work lack the normal living conditions to withstand physical work.

3. We suffer from hunger and are barefoot and naked in all seasons of the weather. Because here we have been denied the rights guaranteed by law by the Albanian government.

4. At work, a norm is required, which we are not able to achieve, and therefore we suffer the consequences that come from this.

In the letter of the General Prosecutor's Office dated 5.5.1965, it was accepted that the process of Ahmet Vatovc was not regular, recommending the remission of the sentence by decree of the Presidium of the People's Assembly. Vatovci from Novoloni, Pristina, had come to Albania in 1951, at a very young age (17 years old). He worked in Vlora. At this time, he finds an old seal of the executive committee, which he did not hand over, but used for authorizations for the purchase of bread and groceries, putting the name of General Petrit Hakan. After it was discovered, out of anger, they arrest him and process him as if he were an agent of the UDB. He had attempted suicide from the torture. In the report dated May 11, 1965 of the Directorate of Administrative Bodies of the Central Committee of the PPSh, it was accepted that the accusation of espionage was "unconvincing" and should be forgiven. But the young man had been serving a sentence for 12 years in vain. He was released on 21.5.1965. It is not known how his life continued after he was released from prison, as he was ill.