TIRANA, June 9 /ATA/ Chairwoman of the Parliamentary Committee on Education and Public Information Ina Zhupa requested today a hearing session with Minister of Economy, Culture and Innovation Blendi Gonxhja regarding the renovation project of the notorious communist prison of Spaç.
Zhupa argued that the project was not in respect of the historical memory of Albanians, of the pain that the people who suffered there.
“The project is not intended to preserve the legacy of what happened there and what we must transmit to our children, future generations, but also to our own compatriots about the horror, the hell that Spaç was and what Spaç personified as a prison for all those who decided to be different from the government, to think differently from the state power, to think differently from the dictator, to show them that freedom of expression, that freedom of thinking differently has a cost. And now, you decide to alienate it, embellish it, change it and transform it into a more or less a luxury hotel, how you want it should have been”, she said.
Zhupa stated that, “I have joined all the associations of the politically persecuted, the foundations that have reacted and all those who have felt affected even in the first person, but also those who have felt affected because of the significance that the protection of such institutions should have for the history, culture, tradition and for the common memory that we should have for what happened to Albania in the bloodiest dictatorship that perhaps even Europe has known”.
Therefore, she added, I have requested a hearing session with Minister of Economy, Culture and Innovation Blendi Gonxhja, with Director of the Institute of Cultural Heritage and with representatives of associations of the politically persecuted.
While the vice-chair of the Committee Evis Kushi reminded that, “In this specific case, the minister has made a very clear explanation accompanied by photos. Not only is the project and the conditions of the contract being respected, but also the main objective to preserve and conserve the historical values of this object.
“In fact, the photos are public and it is clear, however, the minister has declared that every responsibility for what has happened so far is being examined in terms of implementation of the project. Not only are the values being preserved, but measures are also being taken for security and to develop this place so that it is also accessible to tourists and all interested parties”, said Kushi.
After discussions, an agreement in principle was reached for a hearing session with Minister Gonxhja, the head of the Cultural Heritage Institute and representatives of associations of the politically persecuted, while the date of the session will be discussed within the Committee’s leading board. /a.f/p.s./
