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Gërdeci/ "Shkëlzeni pressured me to hand over high-caliber ammunition", SPAK demands the testimony of former army chief of staff Luan Hoxha. What the Wikileaks cables revealed

2023-09-23 16:50:12Aktualitet SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Gërdeci/ "Shkëlzeni pressured me to hand over high-caliber
Luan Hoxha, Shkëlzen Berisha

The delivery of the list of 71 witnesses whom SPAK wants to question in the trial about the Gërdec tragedy, including Shkelzen Berisha, has once again brought attention to this process.

The two SPAK prosecutors who represent the charge, have listed the former Chief of Staff of the Army, Luan Hoxha in the 54th place on the list. Apparently, they think that his testimony is valid at a time when the former head of the Armed Forces left Albania through the Rinas border crossing on January 4, 2012.

His departure happened at the time when the "Gerdeci" file was being examined in the appeals court, where Luan Hoxha was tried in absentia, even the court appointed a defense attorney.

On the eve of his apparently well thought-out departure, Luan Hoxha had requested the termination of employment relations with a private university where he taught in Tirana. Investigative journalist Guy Lavvson said in the show "Alhqip" on Dritare TV that Luan Hoxha is in the USA with his family. Unofficial reports indicate that he received political asylum there in 2013. In a cable that the American Embassy in Tirana sent to the State Department on June 20, 2009, it is written that Luan Hoxha complained that Shkëlzen Berisha had pressured him to delivered high-caliber ammunition to Gërdec and without delays. The cable published by VVikileaks claims that when asked by the Embassy if he had reported this fact to the General Prosecutor, Luan Hoxha answered yes".

In September 2011, Luan Hoxha confirmed that he had reported to the American ambassador, but denied that he had spoken about Shkëlzen. In March 2019, Shkëlzen Berisha used Luan Hoxha's denial to defend himself from the accusation as he emphasized "Luan Hoxha himself, in a public statement, says that during the meeting with Withers, Shkëlzen Berisha's name was not mentioned". Luan Hoxha was also requested as a witness in Zamira Durda's report, in 2022, SPAK has stated that it has not found his address as he is abroad. But his inclusion in a new list, recently presented to the court, paves the way for the possibility that Albania will ask for Hoxha's question where he is, by means of letters. This procedure allows the court and the parties to the process to list the questions that are sent to the US and then, Luan Hoxha is questioned in an American court. His answers are returned to the courts in Albania and used as evidence in the "Gërdeci" process.

Shkelzen Berisha, ranked number 52 on the list of witnesses requested by SPAK, is also expected to testify there. The son of the former prime minister is mentioned in a fax sent by Aldo Bumçi to Fatmir Mediu in 2007. Also, Shkëlzen Berisha made phone calls with the Minister of Defense at the time, Fatmir Mediu, immediately after the Gërdec explosion.

Another witness that SPAK wants to question in the trial of Gërdec, is Col. Dedgjoni, a former member of the commission set up by the Ministry of Defense on the issue of dismantling. Questioned in the first trial against the 29 defendants in Gërdec, he stated before the court on April 22, 2011, that he was against the dismantling of the former tank department in Gërdec that was turned into a dismantling factory. According to him, the dismantling could be done at the army plants in Gramsh or Poliçan where there were the right tools and security conditions.


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