The Unfinished Business of rT ansitional Justice: Reparation of oF rmer Political Prisoners in Post-Communist Albania with compensation is associated with the amount allocated per day of imprisonment. Some interviewees stated that the amount was too low compared to the compensation provided in other countries of Eastern Europe or compared with the promises that the government had made earlier. Interviewees also emphasized that the compensation is partial and addresses only some of the injustices committed by the communist regime. It was stated that the government compensated only the unjust imprisonment but not forced labor.81 The lowered the compensation from 50 dollars to 20 [per day of unjust imprisonment], which means that they have compensated our imprisonment but we have received no compensation about the forced labor.82 Further, some benefits provided immediately after the fall of the communist regime like houses were calculated not taking into consideration the market price at the time and withheld from compensation provided later. Political prisoners frame their financial compensation in comparison with treatment of communist perpetrators. They state that the communist elite set free in 199783 were fully compensated for miscarriages of justice and also received their compensation on time. Whereas, they received reduced compensation and had to fight for many years and pressure the government. On the other hand, perpetrators received special pensions while political prisoners are not entitled to a special pension scheme. In a situation where Parliament has acknowledged the political prisoner’s innocence, this compensation is charity. Because this is contradictory. What about all those years of unpaid work in the mines, who will pay for those? Who will pay for mine carriages we used to excavate in a barbaric manner. This is unpaid work, this is double standards …84 Compensation is not enough. Communists were compensated five thousand a day while us two thousand. They gave us securities and houses but they were later deducted from the total compensation, while after 1990 all houses were provided free. Also the unpaid labor, we have worked as slaves and that has not been paid…85 Those of the communist bureau were compensated with fifty thousand a day after being declared innocent, meanwhile, we were compensated now that the currency has lost its value. Therefore, we have a lot to accomplish [with reference to reparation].86 On the other hand, in the face of a lack of other measures and seriousness to address political prisoners some interviewees expressed the opinion that the financial compensation is an attempt by politics to buy their silence.87 81. The Law on the Reparation of Former Political Prisoners adopted in 2007 does not make any reference to the right of reparation of political prisoner for their forced labor. The law refers to reparation of prisoners for their unjust imprisonment. 82. Bujar Gucia (23 June 2019) 83. According to two interviewees there were in total 32 former perpetrators that were convicted after the fall of regime between the period 1993 - 1996. After the social unrest in 1997 they were set free and latter with a Constitutional Court decision they were declared innocent and the court ordered compensation for miscarriage of justice. There is almost no public information about these trails and the public has forgotten that these trials took place. The harshest punishments for the former communist elite were given in the period 1995 – 1996 trails under the controversial Genocide Law, however, all the convicted were set free during the 1997 social unrest. Albanian Telegraphic Agency (November 1996) < http://www.hri.org/news/balkans/ata/1996/96-11-05.ata.html#15> accessed 3 October 2019 84. Agim Hakacani (31 July 2019, Tirana) 85. Fadil Daja (21 July 2019, Tirane) 86. Ylber Merdani (14 July 2019, Korca) 87. Zhivko Petrovic, Reshat Kripa, Nebil Cika 43