Speaking at a commemorative ceremony at the Prime Minister’s Office for the four people killed during anti-government protests 15 years ago, attended by victims’ family members, Rama said justice for Jan. 21 had not been betrayed but deliberately placed in the hands of an independent judiciary.

“We have upheld that responsibility with dignity and have not violated our solemn commitment, because by freeing justice from political power and establishing SPAK and the Special Court, we created- for the first time – the conditions to end impunity through law, not custom,” Rama said, stressing that accountability must come through judicial institutions, not the government or political parties.

The government head said that until the new justice system delivers a genuine trial for Jan. 21, it risks appearing “increasingly old,” warning that the case remains “an open wound in the foundations of the new justice.”

“Justice for Jan. 21 is the moral cornerstone of the new justice system and of Albania’s rule of law,” he concluded.

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Speaking to reporters after leaving SPAK headquarters, former President Topi kept his comments short, saying “the investigation into the Jan. 21, 2011 killings remains ongoing in order to establish the truth.”

He said he cannot share details because the investigation is secret.

Topi was questioned as a person with knowledge of the events of Jan. 21, when four protesters were shot dead during an anti-government demonstration in 2011, a period when he was serving as Albania’s president.

“The role of the Special Prosecution is clear – to investigate and find the truth. Everything is still in the investigation phase. I have spoken extensively,” Topi told reporters after leaving SPAK.

Former Prime Minister Sali Berisha has also testified in the same case, after being summoned twice as a person with knowledge of the events.

The investigation into the 2011 killings was relaunched following a request by the family of Aleks Nika, one of the victims, who have sought justice for more than a decade. His case remains the only unresolved killing from the incident. Tirana prosecutors suspended the investigation in 2020, before reopening it in 2021. The family repeatedly asked for SPAK to take over the case, but the agency initially declined while it was still being probed by the Tirana Prosecutor’s Office.

On Nov. 14, 2023, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the Jan. 21 case constituted a state crime and must be investigated as such by Albanian authorities. It also ordered that the investigation into Nika’s death be allowed to proceed, prompting the family to appeal to Albania’s Supreme Court.

One year later, the Supreme Court ordered SPAK to register the family’s complaint and open a full investigation into the Jan. 21 events.

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Speaking to the press afterward, Berisha dismissed accusations that the shots that killed the protesters came from within the Prime Minister’s office, calling it a “blatant lie.”

He argued that the Republican Guard, under legal authority, fired at protesters, not from inside the office but from the perimeter, in line with their rules of engagement.

Berisha emphasized that no orders were given to open fire, asserting that the Republican Guard’s actions were justified by law in response to perceived threats. He also recalled his refusal to evacuate the Prime Minister’s office during the unrest, saying he remained at his post despite pressure.

He criticized the proceedings as part of “socialist propaganda,” accusing SPAK of using his testimony for political purposes, and added that the questioning was a normal procedural matter but should not have been made public.

This is the first time Berisha has been questioned by SPAK regarding the January 21 events, which is still under investigation. The killings of Aleks Nika, Ziver Veizi, Faik Myrtaj, and Hekuran Dedaj were ruled a state crime by the European Court of Human Rights in November 2023, which called for further investigation into the events.

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In a TV interview after the Albania-Italy intergovernmental meeting in Rome, Rama said it was still unclear whether the Special Anticorruption Prosecution Structure (SPAK) would be able to deliver what he called “a real breakthrough”.

“January 21 is the heaviest burden of a justice system that has yet to prove it can rise to a higher standard and handle major crimes that set benchmarks for the rule of law,” Rama said, when asked about the opposition leader’s call for him to be questioned by SPAK.

He added that he hoped the renewed proceedings would mark “a final and substantive phase”, not “another episode of spectacle” around SPAK.

“For years, January 21 has stood as a test. The victims turn in their graves every year, while the rest of us bow our heads in shame because there is nothing left to say, and those responsible still preach morality from morning to night,” Rama said.

Four protesters were shot dead by the Republican Guard on January 21, 2011, during a Socialist Party demonstration on the central boulevard outside the prime minister’s office.

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