36 The Unfinished Business of rT ansitional Justice: Reparation of oF rmer Political Prisoners in Post-Communist Albania the economy and abolishing all forms of private property. Collectivization of property not only impoverished Albanians but also created an ‘enemy class’ consisting of former land and property owners. Economic reforms were followed by other measures and tactics used by the communist regime to control the society. In 1967 religion and its practice was banned, Albania was declared the first atheist nation on earth, and all places of worship were demolished. Culture and literature were entirely subject to political censorship and communist propaganda. Artists, scientists and writers were put in the service of socialism and the state.34 Hundreds of innocent people were killed, thousands were imprisoned and exiled, whole families were persecuted on the pretext of “deviating from the party line”. As a result, Albania remains the most isolated and poorest country in Europe, because of the hostile policies of communist rulers towards the “imperialist West” and “revisionist East”.35 It is difficult to enumerate the people imprisoned or killed by the communist regime due to a lack of data, particularly regarding the first decade of communist rule which was also one of the most repressive periods, with many citizens killed extra-judicially. According to the Institute for the Study of Communist Crimes and Consequences in Albania (ISKK)36, 34,135 Albanians suffered as political prisoners during the communist regime; 59,009 Albanians were sent to deportation/labor camps; 984 died in the prisons of the communist regime; 6,027 Albanians were killed during the communist regime; and 7,022 people died in deportation camps. Over the years I have come across the expression ‘political prisoners’ numerous times but did not understand what the term exactly implies. The young generation of Albanians know little or almost nothing – aside from ordinary daily anecdotal and nostalgic narratives – of what exactly happened during the brutal communist regime from 1945 to 1990. There are few testimonies that shed light on the extraordinary crimes committed by the communist regime. With the collapse of the communist regime in Albania, no serious efforts, with a clear strategy of study and analysis, were ever made to understand and make public the tragedy that the Albanian society went through across almost half-century of the dictatorship.37 This apathy and indifference has persisted in the education system at all levels and other fields. This and other recent debates regarding the communist past, history, memory sites, nostalgia and commemoration ceremonies for the dictator and threats to the life fo writers and the director of ISKK for studying communist crimes38 demonstratesa compelling need for TJ measure to address the past. Reparation and treatment of former political prisoners in Albania There is almost no literature or discussions concerning political prisoners, their sufferings and their "crimes". The law ‘On the Status of Former Political Prisoners and those Prosecuted by Communist Regime’ (the Status Law)39 adopted in 1993 provides for the first time a definition of political prosecution and political prisoners. 34. ‘When Sigurimi dealt with Science < http://www.dosjet.gov.al/home/> accessed 8 February 2019 35. Krimet e komunizmit në burgje e kampe, Në Tempull nga Anisa Ymeri – News24 (February 2016) < https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=Nh4tzcZjDg8&feature=player_embedded> accessed 5 February 2019 36. ISKK is an independent governmental institute created by a decision of the Albanian Parliament mandated to study and document the crimes committed by communist regime. <http://www.iskk.gov.al/?lang=en> accessed 5 February 2019 37. Agron Tufa, The Ambivalent Role of Media on the Recognition of the Communist Crimes’ in Jonila Godole and Sonila Danaj, Media Transformation and Collective Memory in Albania (Institute for Democracy, Media and Culture, IDMC, 2015) 80 38. Koha Jone, ‘Agron Tufa kërcënohet me vdekje’ (28 September 2019) < https://www.kohajone.com/2019/09/28/agron-tufakercenohet-me-vdekje/ > accessed 20 October 2019 39. Law 7748/1993 “On the Status of Former Political Prisoners and Prosecuted by Communist Regime”