Petition on Decommunization and Justice

Albanian citizens appeal for the drafting and implementation of a new legal framework that would enable the right that every society has, to know the truth about important historical events, such as the dark period of the Communist dictatorship (1944–1991).

To the Albanian Parliament,

The Communist regime in Albania exerted harsh and continuous violence on the lives and freedom of Albanian citizens. Over 6.000 individuals were executed, murdered, or died in prisons, about 35.000 women and men were imprisoned, while tens of thousands more were deported. The bodies of those executed, murdered, or that died in prison were never returned to the families, but were buried in unmarked locations: a large part of them have not been found yet! We express our deepest respect for each victim of the Albanian Communist regime and feel guilty 31 years after its fall, for this tragedy remaining unresolved properly and that the massive violations to human rights remain unpunished.

All resolutions adopted by the Council of Europe (1996, 2006) the European Parliament (2009, 2019) and the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE (2009) strongly condemn crimes against humanity and the violation of human rights by totalitarian regimes as a guarantee for these atrocities not to be repeated in the future. Albania has adopted a number of these resolutions such as condemning crimes committed by the Communist regime (2006) and crimes against the clergy (2016). However, their implementation in practice remains minimal. On the contrary, instead of being punished, those responsible have been promoted to positions in politics, justice, police, and even to the highest functions of the state. We remind the Albanian Parliament to respect the resolutions it has adopted already, to monitor their implementation and take relevant measures in case of failure to meet obligations stemming from them.

Over the past years, we have seen the increasing use of Communist regime symbols in the public space and for commercial reasons, the glorification of the dictator Enver Hoxha, and other representatives of this dictatorship in Albania, while a large number of European countries have banned the use of Nazi and Communist symbols.

There can be no real integration of Albania into the EU without properly dealing with its past! The process of dealing with Communist dictatorship and its consequences is doubtless painful, but we are convinced that only in this way can RECONCILIATION be achieved, by accepting responsibility, asking for forgiveness and promoting the moral renewal of society.

Therefore, we, the undersigned citizens of Albania call upon the Albanian Parliament:

1. To adopt legal norms that ban the propaganda of the Communist regime in the programs of political parties; to ban the glorifying discourse of the dictatorship and the use of the symbols of the Communist regime in the public space and to make appropriate interventions in the Criminal Code, according to the models that EU states have held against Nazism, Fascism and totalitarian Communist regimes.
   
2. To introduce vetting of political representatives and heads of institutions in relation to their past during the Communist regime, as a necessary condition for the cleansing of today's democratic institutions of the state.
   
3. To fully uncover the criminal activity of the Sigurimi and other repressive bodies of the dictatorship that dealt with political persecution, as well as unrestricted public access to their documents.
   
4. To rename schools, streets, squares and institutions by proposing concrete amendments to law No.139/2015 "On local self governance" and law No. 9270/2004 "On the address system". Through these changes we aim at a legal provision that obliges local government bodies to undertake preliminary verifications of proposed names for streets, squares and schools in the territories of the municipalities.
   
5. To museumize institutions where unjust punishment has been carried out such as prisons, camps and places of suffering, torture chambers, fusillade sites. The establishment of a Central National Memorial in honor of the martyrs and a special Museum for the Dictatorship. Prior to museumization, as a precautionary measure, we request the immediate legal protection of the sites of suffering and persecution, before they are alienated from natural degradation or the establishment of state or private, agricultural or industrial projects.
   
6. To revise the school curricula and establish a working group consisting of lawyers, researchers, historians and other experts, to provide the Ministry of Education with concrete proposals. This would guarantee that the young generation is better informed on the history of the dictatorship and more aware of the values of the democratic system.
   

Why this Petition?

We need as many signatures to present it to the Albanian Parliament. Sign it and share it with friends so we show how many people support this cause that benefits the whole society.

Every Albanian citizen can voluntarily help address the cause of this petition by giving it to a relative, acquaintance or other citizens to sign.

The document can be printed, filled out and delivered to us in person or by mail at:

IDMC – Institute for Democracy, Media & Culture

Bardhok Biba St., Trema Bldg.
Entrance A, 11th Floor
Tirana, Albania

Tel. +355 4 4521899