OP-ED

VideoEditorial by Alfred Lela/ "Berisha is to blame", even if it is a Ramiz Alia Law

VideoEditorial by Alfred Lela/ "Berisha is to blame", even if it is a

How an old lie continues to circulate, uncontested, polished anew each time there is a crime or scandal in Albania involving property.

A law passed in 1991—when the Party of Labour was still in power—has for thirty years been falsely attributed to Sali Berisha and the party he represents, the Democratic Party. The same has happened again now, after the murder of Judge Kalaja, who was killed over a property dispute between two sides in conflict in the city of Shkodra.

At the end of that law’s document stands the signature of Ramiz Alia. And ever since, the same lie has been re-signed daily by his successors in politics and in the media.

The Minister of Justice blamed the opposition for the killing of Judge Astrit Kalaja.

The shame and responsibility for the murder, committed inside a courtroom against a judge who should have been protected by the Ministries of Justice and Interior—the two institutions directly responsible—were once again shifted, as this government always does, onto the familiar scapegoat: “It’s Sali’s fault.”

It is not only “Edi’s pioneers” who find fault with the Doctor, but also “Arlind’s veterans.”

Even the lady at the protest for the miners’ status clings tightly to the same refrain: “It’s Sali’s fault.”
This time, over Law 7501.

That, too, is false.

The law was passed by Ramiz Alia on July 19, 1991, as can be seen in the attached document bearing both his signature and the date, number, and title of the law in question.

One can understand the rookie minister’s nervousness, just as one can understand the elderly woman’s nostalgia for collectivization and common socialist property.

But the fact remains: the opposition cannot be held responsible for murders, much less for the property law of 1991. For the simple reason that, both then and now, it was their party in power—today called Socialist, then called the Party of Labour.

In reality, Law 7501, so often cited as the source of all evils, had nothing to do with the “luxury properties” over which battles are fought today and which are handed out for free to “strategic investors” by the boss who so deeply moves Minister Lamallari.

That law dealt with the redistribution of agricultural land, not coastal plots, not urban lots. So even the law they falsely blame on Berisha is, in fact, not responsible for today’s murders and property conflicts.

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