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SPAK opens its investigation
The killing of Aleks Nika and the wounding of three other citizens during the protests outside the Prime Minister’s Office on 21 January 2011 will be investigated by the Special Anti-Corruption Structure (SPAK).
The deceased man’s family hopes for a deeper investigation and justice. The case has remained without identified perpetrators for 13 years, despite an earlier investigation by the Tirana Prosecutor’s Office.
On Tuesday, 16 July 2024, SPAK announced the opening of an investigation into part of the so-called “21 January” case, in which Aleks Nika’s killing remains unsolved.
SPAK has requested the files from the earlier investigations carried out by the Tirana Prosecutor’s Office. The Special Prosecution Office said it would investigate “aggravated murder”, “abuse of office” and “actions obstructing the discovery of the truth”.
The complaint and the Nika family’s expectations
SPAK’s involvement follows an order from the Supreme Court, which on 12 March 2024 ruled that it must examine a complaint previously filed by the Nika family.
In September 2023, the Nika family had asked SPAK to investigate former Republican Guard commander Ndrea Prendi, former Interior Minister Lulzim Basha and former Prime Minister Sali Berisha as those responsible who “ordered the Guard to fire on protesters, resulting in the deaths of Ziver Veizi, Faik Myrtaj, Hekuran Deda and Aleks Nika”.
The Nika family filed its complaint after the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) had said of the case that “the unfinished investigations have violated the fundamental rights to life of the victims and their relatives”.
But in February 2024, SPAK declared that it lacked jurisdiction, forcing the family to turn to the Supreme Court. The Court ultimately ruled in their favour, and today SPAK has formally opened criminal proceedings against the former officials involved.
“For us, this is a new window for justice,” Mark Nika said in a comment to SHTEG.
Until now, the accusations against former Prime Minister Berisha and former Interior Minister Basha have been made only in public, mainly by the Socialist Party.
Berisha is currently under house arrest. He is accused of corruption in the transfer of properties at the former Partizani complex in Tirana, a case in which his son-in-law, Jamarbër Malltezi, is also a defendant as a beneficiary.
“We trust SPAK, and what is happening is, so to speak, a reward for our persistence in seeking justice, for not giving in to despair. Back then, despite our insistence, they would not open the door to us, not even to examine the evidence,” Nika continued.
Alongside the four men who died, Nika, Veizi, Myrtaj and Deda, Artes Dybeli, Ilia Qesko and Ilia Papa were wounded during the 21 January 2011 protest. SPAK said it would also investigate their injuries.
Previous investigations and decisions
The Tirana Prosecutor’s Office’s initial investigation brought charges against former Guard commander Prendi and guardsman Agim Llupo over at least two of the four killings.
The Tirana Prosecutor’s Office had sought heavy sentences of up to 25 years in prison, but in September 2013 the Court of Appeal sentenced them to a total of four years. The Court concluded that Veizi and Myrtaj’s deaths resulted from negligence.
The decision was widely discussed in the media and caused dissatisfaction among the bereaved families, particularly the Nika and Deda families, who were left without concluded proceedings over the killings of their relatives.
A decade later, the Nika family sees light at the end of the tunnel. Despite various allegations of evidence tampering or obstruction of the investigation, Aleks’s uncle says with conviction that the case will be solved.
“Of course, time has passed, more than ten years, but I am sure that even if they wanted to, it is impossible to destroy the evidence, because everything leaves a trace and the truth will come out. We now also have an audio recording in which officers are ordered to shoot, and we expect SPAK’s investigators to examine it now,” Nika stressed.
The political context of the protest
The 21 January protest was called by the Socialist Party (PS) after a secretly recorded video leaked to the media, raising suspicions of corruption against Ilir Meta. At the time, as leader of the Socialist Movement for Integration (LSI), now the Freedom Party, he was deputy prime minister in the coalition government with Sali Berisha’s Democratic Party (2009–2013).
Two years later, PS leader Edi Rama entered into cooperation with LSI leader Meta, forming a pre-election coalition for the 2013 elections, which they won decisively against Berisha’s Democratic Party. PS and LSI governed together from 2013 to 2017, during which time Meta was appointed Speaker of Parliament with PS support.
*Version prepared by the author for Shteg.org, a project of the Network for Reporting on Corruption and Organised Crime in Albania. Republication rights belong exclusively to the author and “RRKOKSH”.