Ceremony to commemorate late Pjeter Arbnori

TIRANA, Nov. 13 – The International Center of Culture launched a commemoration ceremony for late Pjeter Arbnori named “A life with you.” Since July the center keeps Arbnori’s name set only months after his death. Participants will present their memories, Arbnori’s literature and other documents to personify this former communist dissident. Well-known actors will recite his poems. Arbnori, a former parliament speaker who spent 28 years in prison as a dissident during the communist regime, died from a stroke in July. He was 71. Arbnori had been one of the founders of Prime Minister Sali Berisha’s Democratic Party, and served as parliament speaker from 1992 until 1997. During Albania’s communist regime, Arbnori was sentenced to 25 years in 1961 for creating a secret, anti-communist group that tried to topple the regime. Another 10 years were later added to the sentence, but Arbnori was released after 28 years in 1989, a year before the regime collapsed. Arbnori, a dedicated writer wrote seven novels among many other shorter books.(Tirana Times Staff)