How Berisha tapped his enemies and associates for 30 years

During a meeting in Shkodra on October 1, 2021, within the framework of political action to bring down Lulzim Basha, Sali Berisha said he had systematically watched Basha, when he attended his office, to take advice and consult on various issues.

I have a lot of documents in this iPad that prove that Lulzim Basha I said in my office a lot of things”, Sali Berisha said, delivering a clear message to Basha that she has been spying on him in his office.

The statement was also an attempt to blackmail Basha, whom Berisha urges to leave in the Netherlands after his decision to expel him from the party, under US pressure. Lulzim Basha is not the first associate, now turned into a political enemy, to be tapped by Sali Berisha.

The prosecution of collaborators, opponents within the party or another party, as well as suspects, is one of the obsessions that has dominated Sali Berisha's political life for three decades. As a reflection of this obsession, Berisha has demonstrated an ongoing obsession to control intelligence services, creating strong clashes with the West, as was the case when he fired SHISH's leader, Bahri Shaqiri, in August 2012, replacing him with Viso Ajazi Lika, who was part of his government as deputy minister for IURate.

On 26 June 1992, just three months after coming to power, Berisha appointed his trusted man, the Gazideden Union at the head of the National Intelligence Service, an organ that turned into a Mafia-like structure, leading antilegal surveillance operations, kidnapping, torture and extinction of people, violation of Berisha's political opponents, repressions, crackdowns, persecutions, burning critical newspapers, physical attacks on journalists, plans for the southern conquest of the country, etc.

Just two months after that appointment, Azem Hajdari, the second most important man in the DP, publicly complained that he was being begged by the Gazidede Union, of course on Berisha's behalf. Azem was very concerned that the Gazidede Union was watching and monitoring the leg-leg. Azem Hajdari was viewed as a danger by Sali Berisha at the time and until he closed his eyes on the night of September 12, 1998. That seems to be why Berisha had hired Gazidedes' SHIK to spy on him, in order to use these materials to blackmail him in cases of political need.

On September 7, 1992, during an interval with the attorney general at the time, Maxim Haxhia, Azem Hajdari, says: <x0)

Maxim Haxhia, today a prominent lawyer, says “As for words, Mr. Azem Hajdari, who is heard up and down, I cannot go with their reasoning, as I couldn't go to begin criminal responsibility for Mr. Gazidede, for recording you, at least speaking in newspapers. Anyone with concrete convictions, with concrete evidence, the prosecution's door has opened, and our dedication is always nearly<x0.

Given this concern of Azem Hajdari, parliament called the EU head of the SHIK Gazideden Union on 22 September 1992 to an interreciency.

Asked the issue of Amem spying, the Gazidede Union claims “On this question, the day MP Hajdari held the press conference, I made a statement to ATSH, which was transferred to the radio and clarified about this problem that it's about a telephone conversation made between Mr. Hajdari and me live, not between Mr. Heidi and a third person. So, Mr. Hajdari spoke to me in Albania and not from the United States, so he spoke to me on the phone. He told me something in the phone conversation directly between me and Mr. Hajdari and this fact I gave him at the National Council of the Democratic Party”.

As the Gazideden Union deliberately shows itself vague and vague, Azem Hajdari was very concrete when he said that He made a mistake on the National Council of the Democratic Party when he said I recorded Azem Hajdari in a telephone conversation, because he should have known that today's security cannot record more than 50 phones. I know very well the possibility of SHIK's network being completely destroyed and which should be organised”.

But what was the job with the head of SHIK at the DP meeting. For this, the Gazidede Union has clarified the MPs: I was at a meeting where the MPs were present. I was an MP at the time and attended that meeting with the deputy's quality. I am depoliticised and can even say that I never had a Democratic Party card, except for the fact that I am a signatory of 300 people for legalising this party”.

Azem Hajdari was not the only one to plead for Berisha's account. In 1992, a bug was placed in the office of DP Foreign Minister Alfred Serreqi, who resigned after the wiretapping. On this issue, SP deputy at the time Namik Dokle, since the beginning of the new parliamentary session on 9 September 1992, called for the establishment of an investigative commission. Dokle said that “Possibly a secret wiretap in time, we want to know who has decided, rather that two Socialist ministers have been tapped, and now finally the DP minister, Mr. It's gone. If it's only set for Mr. Serreqi, the more accountability required, although there is so much transparency in democracy that there is no need for surveillance devices. God save him, as if he's been bugged by Mr. Gensher in our minister's office just before he resigned. Therefore, I propose that an Albanian interim parliamentary commission be established immediately or entrusted to receive information on the issue of the Parliament's Foreign Affairs Commission, and if that's true, or this Albanian Watergate, take all legal measures, even from the strictest”.

This scandal too was overcome without responsibility.

Sali Berisha returned to power in 2005. Under conditions where the United States showed him the red line not to affect the State Intelligence Service, Berisha was charged with using the Army Information Service to spy on political opponents, but perhaps even suspicious associates in the DP.

The opposition Socialists claimed that on Berisha's behalf, as well as under the special care of former Defence Minister Arben Imam and former SHIU head, Star Zyla, SHIU has been spying for 27 months, SP leader Edi Rama, the Socialist deputies, foreign diplomatic representatives in Tirana and some suspicious Democratic Party exhibitors, through illegally acquired equipment.

In mass 2014, Mimi Kodeli, then the defence minister said that What I can say is that this agency is being abused and violated by both legs. It's complicated things that require a certain confidence, we're talking about inspection of documents that are classified. It's a file that's worth sharing with competent bodies to see what happened to what happened, with the listening of the opposition, with an agency that has no duty on this”.

In April 2014, the Defence Ministry deposited in the Prosecutor a criminal outcry for SHIU leader Ylli Zyla for practices followed to purchase a surveillance device.

Following Bujar Nishani's appointment as president in 2012, Sali Berisha, despite US pressure, managed to capture the State Intelligence Service through Nishani, dismissing head Bahri Shaqiri, whom he replaced with Viso Ajazi Lika.

Doubts at the then Socialist opposition were immediate. Edi Rama, then leader of the opposition, commented on the movement this way: “On behalf of the prime minister, the president replaced the Secret Service director with one of Sali's servants, just as he himself is”.

During SWH direction from Viso Ajazi Lika had systematic accusations of illegal wiretapping on Berisha's account, even after his departure from power in September 2013. In March 2014, the National Security Commission established a group for controlling the legitimacy of the SSHH event.

The control group drafted a report with the confirmation findings of the US event and handed it over to Ilir Meta, who was chairman of the Parliament. Even though the report was kept secret, members from the control group claimed they had been bugged by all political leaders except Berisha. Ilir Meta was the most observant politician, specifically over 800 times. That was when Meta left the DP, joining the SP. Evidently, Berisha was concerned and sought to learn Meta's movements.

After the scandal was discovered and apparently after reading the report, Ilir Meta said: “Give me any idea of those wiretapping... ”. Also, claims were filed by Prime Minister Edi Rama, MPs and ambassadors. There were several claims in the media that the wiretap was also Sokol Olldashi, who challenged Lulzim Basha in July 2013 to take over the DP. Olldashi began to be viewed as a danger by the Berisha family, who supported Basha as trusted.

On the other hand, SISH denied claims of wiretapping. On October 30th 2017, Viso Ajazi Lika resigned in exchange for a diplomatic post. The resignation reflected with alarm to Sali Berisha, who indicated that “Annastics and reliable sources confirm that he paid with his surprise resignation, the denouncing price at the prosecutor and other institutions, as well as countless information proving Norriega's connections...”.