oT pic: The mental health system as a target of transitional justice: Mental Health reform in post-communist Albania state apparatus. From 1944 to 1949 there were 63 victims from the Catholic Clergy, (38 of them are beatified and announced as martyrs by Pope Francis), who were persecuted, arrested, tortured and sentenced to death, most of the times without any court decision. Monsignor Jul Bonatti is one of these victims, who faced the brutality of the regime. He is ranked the third in the list of thirty-eight martyrs that were beatified by Pope Francis by a special official decision signed by Him. In this decision is written: “ The great intellectual priest, imprisoned, tortured, locked up in psychiatry; as he tried unimaginable horrors in the prison cells from Vlora to Durres, he died in the prison of Durres, beside Monsignor Prenushi, who gave him the blessing for the last pilgrimage: the Holy Sacrifice. Jul Bonati was born in Shkodra on May 24, 1874, in a patriotic family of prominent traditions In 1946, at the age of 72, he was arrested and by decision no. 429 dated 31.10.1947 and the Military Court has pleaded guilty to the crime: Vatican agent who would be sentenced to 7 years imprisonment. Jul Bonati died in prison hospital on November 5, 1951, According to Prof. Dr. Verse Shah, “Ms. Jul Bonati was found ‘massacred into pieces’ in Durrës psychiatric hospital, attacked by the” unconscious “patients. THE RIGHT TO MENTAL HEALTH AND THE MENTAL HEALTH SYSTEM AS A TARGET OF TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE In Albania, the transitional justice process has been developed slowly, with a focus on material and financial reparation of victims and their families. The most common method of reparation is compensation (calculated by duration) for persecution, torture, and detention with a specific amount of money depending the category of punishment. However, through treasury bonds, houses, access to jobs and education have been delivered for former political enemies of the communist regime, this has not been a regular and inclusive process and has often promoted protests and even hunger strikes by the victims and their families. Some trials of persecutors or important representatives of the communist state occurred in 1993 and 1994, but they were limited. An official apology never came and most former Communist officials are still convinced that they have done their duty on behalf of the state. Using psychiatry as a tool for the punishment of political enemies increased the burden of mental health disorders. When interviewed, former medical staff denied any possible connection with the application of punitive psychiatry. One of them, disowned even the existence of this concept during communist Albania “I don’t know any case of this in our country. This happened in the former the Soviet Union, but for Albania, I can’t speak”. Meanwhile, in the first years of the ‘90s, one of the former psychiatrists in Elbasan was requested by an international delegation (he didn’t remember more details about them) to give a public speech, where he would apologize for the crimes and tortures of communism. He refused “I haven’t treated anyone badly and have only done my duty. I don’t give interviews, there are other people responsible for it.” Clearly, since the first years of democracy, there have been attempts by international institutions to develop a peace building process and also reparation. During the crises of 1991–1992, 1997 and 1999, the many foreign NGOs active in the country encouraged and supported the development of Albanian civil society. Several organizations, mostly with an anticommunist perspective were established. On 30th September 1991, the first law of reparation around communist crimes was published. It aimed to address the innocence, amnesty, and rehabilitation of former convicts and the politically persecuted. Through this law, the first pluralist parliament and Popular Assembly recognized the innocence of former prisoners and the politically persecuted. Also, on behalf of the rule of law, the Albanian democratic state expressed an official apology to these people for 113