30 years from Fadil Vata's death: A rare interview he had given in Serbian prison for torture

I'm happy to be Albanian, and today I answer for such a work. I'm happy that I don't belong to your youth who are steeped in alcohol, drugs and prostitution, but I belong to Albanian youth as pure as tears, that knowledge and commitment were made to the freedom of the Albanian people...”, Fadil Vata said of a Serbian magazine, Kosovo reported.

The hero Fadil Vata passed away in 1990 as a result of the inhuman violence and torture that were exercised against him by the Serbian criminal regime, especially during the time of his imprisonment.

Today, on his 30th birthday because of the pandemic, no Memorial Academy can be held for him, so his fellow exiles decided to honor him by reporting an interview of him in October 1987.

Belgrade's „Arena“of September 16, 1987, was published on political prisoners in Yugoslav prisons. A vast country features interviews that the journalist of this magazine developed with Albanian political prisoners, who were imprisoned during the demonstrations and spring of 1981 and after them. In these interviews, political prisoners, as well as earlier, when the occasion was given, courageously and firmly stated their views on the request of our people, legitimate and constitutional requirements.

Fadhil V ATA's young, he's 25 years old. He kept them in prison for ten years. He has suffered all the sentence, and by the end of April he has gone home. He's very intelligent and educated but angry. We learned that other Albanian prisoners call it „ok Vataj“. We won the impression that it had a lot of influence on other prisoners. He was in a dilemma to talk to us.

Arena: What are you doing in jail?

Fadhil V Best year of my youth.

The prisoner's resociation in prison, did it work?

Fadhil V No.

- Why?

Fadhil V Because I don't feel guilty, I'm not judged by justice, so I have no reason to pray to anyone.

Arena: Have you ever complained?

Fadhil V I HAVE not complained or complained. According to the directorate's behavior towards us, we see that they do not trust us, so neither do I believe that she will solve my prayers and requests.

Arena: In whom do you think when you say „ne“and „ata“?

Fadhil V I mean: When I say «in» I think of political prisoners.

How's your treatment here?

Fadhil V We're discriminated against.

Arena: In what sense?

Fadhil V ATUA: Well, my loneliness is unfair. This is not only against domestic order here but also against international conventions. This building is primarily meant for those who often went to prison and for those who committed criminal acts within prison.

Arena: Why are you alone?

Fadhil V I don't know. I've been here since day one. And most of my friends are here for no reason.

Arena: Haven't you and the other prisoners been in another ward for a while?

I was, I was being sent back here. Here I also became seriously ill, and over a year I was in Belgrade at the prison hospital. (The infamous CZ, St. Red)

Arena: Is it true that after looking for a friend of yours to disobey the prison house order, they put you in solitary?
Fadhil V ATTA: I think the prison management misuses this case. That fellow of mine is a thief and a murderer, and the director tried to push him against us. So the occasion was, as if a friend and I had tried to absorb it for the purposes of our ideas.

Arena: Do you associate with Albanians?
Fadhil V This is impossible. It has been because of a greeting between us that we have been punished.

What's up?

Fadi V ATI: For «Morning», or «Good evening»

- Maybe that's why they don't beat you up? Did they beat you?

Fadhil V No, but they often interrupted our walk and turned us into a room just because I looked back or asked a friend about our health.

How do you live in a cell?

Fadhil V We live in a cell of four. We are required to work, eat, care for, wash clothes... Can you imagine what that life looks like? Any of my friends spent all their years in prison under such conditions.

An associate of yours thinks all political prisoners should be separated from others. What do you think?

Fadhil V I think so too. There have been times when criminals have been too harsh on us. They provoked us and attempted to physically attack us.