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Albania to open communist-era secret police files

31.10.2006

TIRANA, Oct 31, 2006 (AFP) - Albania's parliament has adopted a resolution to open the country's communist-era secret police files, the assembly's spokesman said Tuesday.
Passed by 76 out of 140 lawmakers on Monday, the resolution condemned the crimes of Albania's late communist dictator, Enver Hoxha, said spokesman Suela Ruseti.
"Enver Hoxha was the inspiration and the leader of the longest reign of repression in eastern Europe, which must be recognised and denounced so that they are not repeated," said the document.
The declaration also called for the opening of the files on all elected officials, civil servants and judiciary, as well as state-run media officials to make public their possible implication in crimes, said Ruseti.
"The deputies or civil servants who were once communist secret police must leave their jobs," the ruling Democratic Party's parliamentary president, Bamir Topi, told journalists on Tuesday.
The debate on the possible opening of the secret police files has kept Albania's entire political leadership under pressure for several years.
Albania's post-communist governments have never succeeded in adopting a law on opening the files, despite many public statements to the contrary.
Local media occasionally publish alleged excerpts from the files, presenting under pseudonyms current political and media personalities who could have been former secret police.
Albania was isolated for many decades under Hoxha's 40 years of rule until his death in 1985.

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