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Former President of the Republic, Bamir Topi, has reacted to the media after his exit from SPAK, where he was asked about the 'January 21' issue.
He asked for the journalists' understanding not to reveal details of the case, as it is a confidential investigative procedure.
"I was the head of state at the time. I have constantly spoken about 'January 21' in respect of transparency towards the public. But since it is a process under investigation, I cannot say more than that. SPAK is investigating to get to the truth," he said.
Investigations for January 21 by SPAK
The investigations into the state crime of January 21st were launched by SPAK in July of last year, following the registration of the criminal offenses of murder under qualifying circumstances, committed in collaboration, against two or more persons and in a manner dangerous to the lives of many persons, abuse of office and obstruction of justice.
Former Interior Minister Lulzim Basha, and then former Prime Minister Sali Berisha, are the two main figures, also in that event, who have been summoned so far for questioning.
SPAK is investigating the event that the old justice system judged as “negligent homicide”. The insistence of the family of Aleks Nika, the only victim without a perpetrator, brought the file back into the spotlight. On March 12, 2024, the Supreme Court, following the Strasbourg decision, ordered SPAK to investigate January 21 as a state crime and to clarify the responsibilities of senior leaders, including Berisha, Basha and Ndrea Prendi, for the murder of four protesters Hekuran Deda, Ziver Veizi, Faik Myrtaj and Aleks Nika. Initially, the Tirana Prosecutor’s Office brought to trial only the former Guard commander, Ndrea Prendi, and the former officer Agim Llupo, sentenced to 1 and 3 years in prison respectively, who have long since been released. In July 2024, SPAK registered criminal proceedings for three charges: "murder in other qualifying circumstances" in collaboration, "abuse of office" and "obstruction of the discovery of the truth", all committed in collaboration.
What happened on January 21, 2011?
On January 21, 2011, four opposition protesters were killed during protests in front of the Prime Minister's Office.
Ziver Veizi, Faik Myrtaj, Hekuran Deda and Aleks Nika are those who were killed on the "Martyrs of the Nation" boulevard, during the protest of the Socialist Party, which was in opposition at the time.
Even though years have passed, this event has not been fully resolved and the families of the deceased continue to seek justice.
The four victims have been declared "Martyrs of the Homeland" but justice for this grave event has not been served.
It all started around 2:00 PM, when protesters gathered from all over Albania marched from Skanderbeg Square to the Prime Minister's Office. The protest was organized by the Socialist Party, after the publication of the Meta-Prifti video. While the crowd began chanting against the then Prime Minister, Sali Berisha. In just a few minutes, the throwing of hard objects towards the Prime Minister's Office building began. Seeing that the protest was taking on new dimensions, around 2:30 PM, more Guard officers were added to the Prime Minister's Office yard. While a pressurized water truck began to wet the protesters. This action further irritated the protesters, who began throwing hard objects, sidewalk tiles and whatever they could find towards the Guard. At this moment, they climbed onto the railings of the Prime Minister's Office, but were unable to get inside. While another part of the protesters also climbed onto the Pyramid building, from where they were hitting it with stone tiles. Many Republican Guard members suffered a number of physical injuries from these attacks. After that, the Guard reacted by initially firing practice rounds, and when the situation became even more tense, they began firing live ammunition into the air.
A group of officers with rubber batons began to beat and expel protesters who had entered the railings surrounding the Prime Minister's Office. It was 16:10, gunshots were heard from the Prime Minister's Office. It was later confirmed that Ndrea Prendi and Agim Llupo fired simultaneously from the Prime Minister's Office towards the crowd of protesters. As a result, Ziver Veizi, Aleks Nika, Hekura Deda and Faik Myrtaj lost their lives. Seven other people were also injured, including journalist Fatos Mahmutaj. It wasn't long before the then Prime Minister Sali Berisha gave a press conference and said that they wanted to stage a coup. Later, the officers who fired at the crowd and killed four people, Ndrea Prendi and Agim Llupo, were acquitted by the Prime Minister's Office.
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