Father Anton Luli, a Catholic clergyman, was born in Lohe, Shkodra. In 1924, he started the Pontifical Seminary in Shkodër. In Shkodër and at the Seminary, he taught Italian, Albanian, history and geography. After three years of teaching, one of which in Tirana, the superiors sent him to study theology at the House of Saint Anthony, in Kieri, near Turin, where he was ordained a priest on May 13, 1942. In August 1943, he finally returned to Shkodër. In January 1946, Monsignor Frano Gjini appointed him rector of the Saverian College and the Pontifical Seminary. After their closure, a vicar was appointed to the parish of Shkreli. He was arrested on December 19th, 1947, for agitation and propaganda. While waiting for the judicial process, he was held for eight and a half months in Koplik prison. In the judicial process that took place in November 1948 in Shkodër, he was sentenced to seven years of forced labor. He served most of his sentence in the labor camp, in Bede of Kavaja. From there, after six years, he was transferred to Burrel prison, from where he was released on October 20th, 1954. He was allowed to serve again, so on May 15th, 1955, he was assigned to Shënkoll in Lezha, where he served until December 6th, 1966, when it was closed and used as a “culture hall”. He stayed with his brother in Lohe for ten months, where he worked cooperatively with his fellow villagers. On April 30th, 1979, he was arrested for the second time. Awaiting the trial, he was held for nine months in the Sigurimi prison in Shkodër. On November 6th, 1979, he was sentenced to death by firing squad; after two days, the sentence was changed to twenty-five years of imprisonment and five years of exile. He began his sentence in the Ballshi camp. After Ballshi, he was transferred to the camp of Shënkolli, in Lezhë, and from there to Përparim of Saranda. He was released on April 15th, 1989. He said his first Mass in the Bushat cemetery on November 25th, 1990. He passed away in 1998. (In the photo: Anton Luli with Pope John Palin II, November 7th, 1996)
Text: Encyclopedic dictionary of victims of communist terror – Vol. V , “West Print”, Institute for the Study of Crimes and Consequences of Communism, Tirana, 2016, page 111-112.
Photo: © Institute for the Study of Crimes and Consequences of Communism
Graphic processing: AHCF
