Hazbiu, Kadri

Born in the family of the rural clan-regional leader of the region of Vlore . He graduated from a commercial school. During the Second World War, he joined the Communist Party (APT) and joined the National Liberation Army .

Following the proclamation of the NRA, Kadri Hazbiu was promoted to colonel and head of counterintelligence. He received a military education in the USSR ^[1] .

In 1950, Kadri Hazbiu was appointed Deputy Minister of the Interior of the NRA Mehmet Shehu and Director of the Political Police Sigurimi . He participated in a judicial reprisal against the opposition intelligentsia in February 1951 ^[2] . Since April 1952 - Member of the Central Committee of the APT. In July 1954, Hazbiu replaced Sheha as Minister of the Interior. ^[3] He headed the Ministry of Internal Affairs for more than a quarter of a century - until April 1980 .

At the head of Sigurimi and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Kadri Hazbiu led political repression, party purges, and persecution of believers. In more than two hundred cases, Hazbiu’s direct personal responsibility for political killings has been documented ^[4] .

In 1956–1957, Hazbiu played an important role in suppressing the “Plaku – Ndreu conspiracy” when proponents of reforms in the spirit of the 20th CPSU Congress tried to remove Khoja from power at a party conference in Tirana ^[5] . This group was led by generals Panayot Plaku ^[6] and Dali Ndreu ^[7] . The attempt was thwarted. Ndreu was shot along with his pregnant wife Liri Gega ^[8] . Plaku fled to Yugoslavia, where he was soon killed by agents of the Sigurimi on the orders of Hazbiu ^[9] . (Subsequently, Hazbiu said that he promised to save the lives of Ndreu and Gege ^[10] . If this promise really took place, it turned out to be a hoax.)

In 1960 - 1961, Hazbiu participated in the organization of the “process of 65”, according to the results of which 13 people were executed, including the head of the Navy NRA Teme Seiko ^[11] .

In 1963, Sigurimi opened an underground organization led by radio journalists Fadil Kokomani Wangiel Lejo . According to investigators, the group distributed anti-regime leaflets and prepared not only an escape abroad, but also attempts on Khoja, Sheha and Hazbiu. Trifon Jagiika and Tom Rafaeli were executed, five people received long sentences ^[12] .

In May 1973 , the Interior Ministry, under the general leadership of Hazbiu — directly under the punitive operation was headed by Deputy Minister Fechor Shehu — the uprising in the Spach prison was brutally suppressed. The leaders of the uprising, Pal Zephy , Khairi Pashai , Dervish Beiko , Skender Daya , were executed, dozens of prisoners received additional sentences.

In 1974, Hazbiu oversaw the investigation into the "military conspiracy" of Minister of Defense Bekir Baluku . Several military leaders — Minister Baluku, Chief of General Staff Petrit Duma , and Chief of the Army Political Administration Hito Chaco — were convicted and executed.

In 1979, “nationalist and revisionist organizations” were opened in Spach prisons , political prisoners Jalal Koprenzka , Fadil Kokomani, Wangiel Lejo were executed ^[12] .

Kadri Hazbiu adhered to the ideology of Stalinism and Khojaism. Twice visited the PRC during the Cultural Revolution . Politically focused primarily on Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu.

In 1957, Hazbiu received the military rank of lieutenant general. Since November 1971 he was a member of the supreme organ of party-state power - the Politburo of the Central Committee of the APT. In 1980, Kadri Hazbiu moved from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the Ministry of Defense, replacing Mehmet Shehu. The Ministry of Internal Affairs was headed by Fechor Shehu.

In the early 1980s, political contradictions in the party-state leadership intensified. Enver Hoxha, First Secretary of the NSRA, First Secretary of the APT Central Committee, defended the country's total self-isolation. Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu advocated a limited opening to the outside world (at least to overcome economic difficulties). In December 1981, these disagreements resulted in a tough conflict. Hodge won.

On December 17, 1981, it was officially announced that Shehu committed suicide. (The circumstances of his death are unknown with full certainty; there is a version of Shehu’s death in a shootout with Khoja.) After this, Kadri Hazbiu’s positions were sharply undermined. He himself turned into a potential object of repression.

In September 1982, Albanian émigré anti-communists — the Shevdet Mustafa Group — illegally sneaked into the NSRA to kill Enver Hoxha. The attempt failed. Shevdet Mustafa, Sabaudin Hasnedar, Fadil Kaseli died in clashes with the Sigurimi and the police. Halit Bayrami was arrested and brought to trial.

At the trial, Halit Bairami (a former agent of Sigurimi) called Kadri Hazbiu one of the participants in the plot against Hoja. Hazbiu was accused of having links with the US CIA , the KGB of the USSR and the UDB of the SFRY , as well as with the Bekir Balluku group in the early 1970s (which he himself liquidated) ^[14] . Hazbiu was arrested on October 15, 1982. As far as is known, he did not give the requested evidence even under physical influence. Among the prosecution witnesses was, in particular, Nesti Kerengi .

The closed court, chaired by Aranit Celi, sentenced Kadri Hazbiu to death ^[15] . Eleven months after the arrest, Kadri Hazbiu was shot in a rural suburb of Tirana . Along with Kadri Hazbiu, a group of relatives and associates of the late Shehu were repressed. In particular, Fechor Shehu was shot along with Hazbiu. Mehmet’s widow, Shehu Fikireté, died in prison. ^[16]

The MVD in communist Albania was some kind of damned agency. As a " bad apartment " N 50 in the " Master and Margarita ." Kochi Dzodze was hanged, Mehmet Shekh was shot, Kadri Hazbiu was shot ... The usual communist terrarium of like-minded people ^[17] .

The circumstances and location of the execution of Kadri Hazbiu until the end of the communist regime in Albania were a state secret. Only in November 1995, at the request of the Hazbiu family, exhumation and reburial in Tirana was carried out.

• Video: Filmime te rralla. Enver Hoxha, Kadri Hazbiu, Feçor Shehu dhe çmenduria e asaj kohe - Plenum of the APT Central Committee, Enver Hoxha decides to eliminate Kadri Hazbiu (in Albanian)
• Video: 1983, gjyqi i Kadri Hazbiut! - Kadri Hazbiu at trial (in Albanian)