Former dissidents sentenced to probation

TIRANA, Oct .1 – The Tirana District Court has sentenced Perikli Shqevi to three years’ probation.
Shqevi was accused of setting his friend on fire on purpose during the hunger strike a group of former political dissidents under the communist regime held last year in protest against the then-government lack of attention to their demands.
The court’s judge first said that Shqevi was sentenced to three years imprisonment. But then he said that taking into consideration his daily life and the goal of public awareness in the hunger strike, “it would be a human decision to suspend that verdict and turn it into three years’ probation while he should prove he is rehabilitated and his isolation from the society is not necessary.”
Shqevi was accused of setting fire to Gjergj Ndreca after he was restrained in order not to do so himself as part of a self-immulation protest. Ndreca survived and has since fled and asked for political asylum in a western European country.
A group of former political persecuted held a month-long hunger strike seeking faster compensation for their persecution by the country’s former Communist regime. They ended it citing their weakened condition and police pressure. Only six remained at the end while the rest were hospitalized with health problems. These included two men who suffered burns after setting themselves on fire as part of the protest. One of them died later at a hospital in Italy.
About 100,000 Albanians were executed, imprisoned or sent to labor camps by the Communists.