TIRANA, Dec. 21 – The governing Socialist Party has proposed a law in parliament to voiding medals and other honors given to former political persecutors and others high officials in the communist regime.
The main opposition Democratic Party had also asked for a similar measure to be taken.
The proposal comes following public anger when it became public that a man accused of torturing the late Father Zef Pllumbi, a Catholic priest, and Professor Sami Repishti, a leading Albanian American anti-communist dissident, had been give the Medal of Gratitude by the Albanian Ministry of Defense.
Shyqyri Coku’s name has been in a default list of WWII veterans that automatically get medals, the government said.
There was also hot debate in a parliamentary session
In a rare public apology, Prime Minister Edi Rama expressed regret for decorating an infamous political prosecutor of the communist regime who had violently interrogated two leading dissidents.
“I feel obligated today ask for forgiveness for the understandable shock about the medals given to the torturers,” Rama said during a visit this week in Shkodra, the northwestern Albanian city known for its anti-communist resistance.
