Albania Remains Hostage to Its Communist Past

This March marked the 30th anniversary of the first multiparty elections in Albania that followed the fall of the communist regime, which, according to Neil Kritz, researcher at the American Institute for Peace, was one of the most tightly closed regimes in the world.

For about half-a-century, this brutal regime built and ruled through the State Security Service, known as the Sigurimi in Albanian, one of the most oppressive secret police apparatuses in the world. By the late-1980s, it is estimated to have recruited tens of thousands of people, while more than one third of the total population formed part of its extensive information network.

Under the leadership of the communist elite, the Sigurimi is estimated to have executed more than 6,000 people, investigated, persecuted, imprisoned for life and interned in inhumane prisons and camps thousands more, while instilling fear in every corner of Albania. This half-century-long regime transformed Albania into a massive detention camp.

That's why, in the beginning of the 1990s Albania had all political and historical credentials to pursue a radical and transformative model in dealing with its communist criminal past.

A woman casts her ballot at a polling station in Tirana, Albania, 25 April 2021. Albanians head to the polls on 25 April for parliamentary elections. EPA-EFE/Malton Dibra

Ruti Teitel, a leading expert on transitional justice, asserts that condemning the crimes of totalitarian regimes, establishing justice, uncovering the truth, and acknowledging human rights abuses is an important precondition for reconciliation and the rapid transition of a post-totalitarian society towards a functioning democracy.

However, 30 years on, despite all the hopes of the people who poured...