Stephanie, Simon

Born in a family of Greek origin. After graduating from high school, he worked as a welder in a factory. In 1952 he joined the ruling Communist Albanian Labor Party (APT). He was an active supporter of Enver Hoxha and his regime.

The party and administrative career of Simon Stephanie accelerated sharply in the early 1970s - against the backdrop of the "fight against liberalism" and another party purge. In 1972, Stephanie led the APT party organization in Permet . Since 1976 - Secretary of the Tirana Committee and member of the APT Central Committee ^[1] .

Simon Stefani was distinguished by orthodoxy and dogmatism, even against the general background of the Khoja leadership of the APT. At the head of the metropolitan party organization, he conducted a tough ideological course, culture, eradicated the "liberal bias" of the repressed Minister of Culture Fadil Pachrami . In 1977, he led the campaign of ideological cleansing, dismissal and surveillance of theater and film actors - including Rosa Anagnosti , Ilia Schuti , Robert Ndreniki , noted their "biographical unreliability" ^[2] .

This position contributed to the political rise of Simon Stephanie in the hierarchy of Enver Hoxha. In 1978 - 1982, Stephanie was the chairman of the National Assembly of the NSRA . Since 1981, he was a member of the supreme body of party and state power, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the APT ^[1] . He oversaw party control of the armed forces ^[3] . In 1989 , after the death of Khoja, under Ramiz Aliya , he was appointed Minister of the Interior in the office of Adil Charchani . Adjacent to the conservative group are Necmie Hoji , Lenka Chuko and Muho Aslani . By the post of Interior Minister Simon Stefani was the head of the Political Police Sigurimi .

His task at the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Stephanie set the prevention in Albania of the revolutionary events that swept Eastern Europe . However, such a goal was objectively unattainable.

From January 1990 , mass protests against the dictatorship of the APT began in Albania. Simon Stephanie took a tough stance, advocated for force suppression. On March 19, 1990, he instructed the commanders of the border units by all means to stop attempts to leave the country by "people subject to bourgeois ideology" ^[4] . However, in the summer, emigration from Albania was allowed.

The protests were gaining strength, and Ramiz Aliya undertook a series of political maneuvers. In particular, in July, Simon Stefani was removed from the ministerial post ( Hekuran Isai returned to his place, who was replaced by Stefani one and a half years earlier). In December, a group of conservative Khojaists - Chuko, Aslani, Stefani, the widow of Khoja - were removed from the Politburo. However, these steps failed to prevent the fall of the communist regime in Albania in 1991 .

In 1994, Simon Stephanie, together with a group of senior party and state leaders led by Aliya, was brought to justice, accused of abuse of power and sentenced to 8 years in prison ^[5] . In 1996 , a new criminal case was instituted - on the fact of crimes against humanity ^[6] . However, after the political crisis and riots of 1997, Stephanie was released under an amnesty. Three years later, Simon Stephanie passed away.

• Mehmet Shehu
• Prokop Murra
• Aranit Chelya