In the “17 Nëntori“ (“17 November) cinema hall in Tirana, the process known as the “Trial of the Deputies” took place, one of the real massacres after a quick trial aimed at eliminating the political elite and possible opponents of the communist regime. The Council of the Supreme Military Court, consisting of Major Niko Ceta (chairman), Captain I Nexhat Hyseni (member) and Captain II Mustafa Iljazi (member), announced the sentence of the group of deputies of the First Legislation elected in 1945. In addition to the elected deputies, there were also other people who were involved in this entirely fictional trial before the execution and heavy prison sentences. It was the period when Enver Hoxha and Koçi Xoxe were extending their dictation to the maximum by sowing terror and eliminating potential political opponents. Of those tried, 15 of them were sentenced to death and the form of execution was even more macabre, when they went to the rope and in front of the firing squad. The imprisonment and punishment of deputies and intellectuals with democratic and national orientations took place at the moment when the People’s Assembly had to ratify the Yugoslav Convention and pronounce the direction of the foreign and domestic policy as pro-eastern with the Soviet Union at the head. The convicts were: Shefqet Beja (sentenced to death, hanging), Sheh Ibrahim Karbunara sentenced to death, hanging), Enver Sazani (sentenced to death, shooting), Selaudin Toto (sentenced to death, shooting), Irfan Majuni (sentenced to death , shooting), Sulo Ismail Klosi (sentenced to death, hanging), Riza Alizoti (sentenced to death, hanging), Salim Kokolari (sentenced to death, shooting), Muhamet Prishtina (sentenced to death, shooting), Tefik Deliallisi (sentenced to death, shooting), Hysen Shehu (sentenced to death, shooting), Beqir Çela (sentenced to death, shooting), Abdyl Kokoshi (sentenced to death, shooting), Pertef Karagjozi (sentenced to death, shooting), Agathkli Xhitami (sentenced to death, shooting), Ramazan Tabaku (sentenced to life imprisonment), Gjovalin Vlashi (sentenced to life imprisonment), Foto Bala (sentenced to life imprisonment), Ramë Marku (sentenced to life imprisonment), Rustem Sharra (sentenced to 20 years in prison), Xhevat Xhafa (sentenced to 20 years in prison), Shefki Minarolli (sentenced to 20 years in prison) and Sulo Konjari (sentenced to 15 years in prison). (In the photo: Moment from the court of deputies, 1947.)
Photo: © Albanian Telegraphic Archive
Graphic processing: AHCF
