The American who supported Kukes protesters speaks of her stay in custody

American Professor Lori Amy and her Albanian colleague on April 2nd were arrested before the Tirana Police Directorate. They were held in custody for 7 hours and, as they have said later, did not have the opportunity to speak with lawyers or translators.

Lory Amy lives in Albania for the moment as she studies the traumatic effects of communist crimes on contemporary Albanian society.

Amy and her colleague have been indicted by Albanian police according to Article 242 of the Penal Code for “misobedience to the order of public order police officer” and Article 293 “obstructing transport vehicle flow”. Police have referred their case to the prosecutor.

Exit.al spoke to Professor Amy.

She explained her experience:
“We were passing in front of the police community on “Sami Frasher”, when we saw some cars stuck in the street because of the protest. It was a very dangerous situation. There were cars trying to get back and worried people protesting.
We went to a police officer and told him to go down the road with the Lana River and tell people the road is blocked. The police officer told us that he could not do this because he had not received any orders. So we went to another policeman near the intersection and asked for the same. Nobody answered us. We started showing the drivers at the intersection that the road was blocked. Drivers were glad we were announcing.
Then there came a group of three policemen and we thought they would help us. They told us: “Thank you for your help, but now we will take over the” situation. So we left the intersection and went to get a coffee. Then we noticed that the police were still allowing cars to enter the street. We came back and asked what was going on. Police said: “We have received orders not to divert traffic because this kind of protest in front of the police station is illegal”. In other words, because police judged the illegal protest, she refused to protect the safety of citizens, both of those driving cars on a blocked road and of those protesting.
Then they accused us of blocking the road, although we only gave drivers information that Sami Frasher Street is blocked! ” continued confession Mrs. Amy.
Twelve police officers surrounded us and told us not to tell people that the road was blocked, which I refused. There were several police officers who knew the communist past, and clearly were in conflict with orders given. They wanted to protect the safety of the citizens, but they had not received orders to do so. This shows that we have some good people in the police forces who feel united because they know what is morally right, but they have orders to do something contrary to their conscience.
Since I refused to inform the drivers that the road is blocked, the police told us that we had to go to the police station to post “information”, Amy follows.
It's learned that at the police station, about 1500, Lorry Amy was impounded with laptops and cell phones. She was put in a cell and was not given a chance to speak to a lawyer or a translator because she refused to submit her documents. She adds that she also refused to give a statement to the police, that she was concerned about mistranslating it. ”
Professor Lory Amy and her colleague were released and released from the police station at 10:30.