TIRANA, July 19 – The International Commission on Missing Persons signed a cooperation agreement with the Albanian state for the identification of a group that was victimized and buried in Dajti and Ballsh during the communist regime of 1944-1991.
The ICMP will provide legal and technical assistance to authorities, including family members, in the search and identification process.
The EU is helping the pilot project for the mass graves at Dajti Mountain and Ballsh with $600,000, a project which includes DNA tests for the victims’ family members.
“The agreement shows the desire to protect the human rights of missing families,” said ICMP program leader for the Western Balkans, Matthew Holiday. “The agreement shows the political will of the Albanian state to address the issue of missing persons during the communist regime in an effective, legal and accurate manner. All these efforts are made not only to respect the dead but to elevate the right to life, dignity and the law,” he said.
The agreement foresees the identification of victims with modern methods.
European Union Ambassador Romana Vlahutin said this agreement is a new hope for families who lost their people from the brutality of the communist regime.
“These people were imprisoned, tortured and killed only because they wanted to live in dignity as free people in a democratic state. Families, society, and youth today need to learn the truth, because without this truth there is no justice. Albanians have suffered a lot and their suffering must end once and for all,” Vlahutin said.
“The victim identification process needs law and love,” she stressed, “and it is also a message for Albania that justice can finally be achieved.
Communist dictatorship has killed and disappeared several thousand political opponents without trace, and according to various evidence, there may be undocumented mass graves near any prison and forced labor camps.
