Rama described the interview as a reminder of “a period when freedom of expression was under mortal threat from a regime of ill-informed devoid of faith or conscience.”

In the interview, Rama recalled the events of 1997, when he was assaulted and subsequently left for France. Shortly afterwards, the newspaper Koha Jonë was itself set ablaze.

Rama recalled: “There were two moments when I realised how deeply the idea had taken hold. From my perspective it was extraordinary. When they left me on the ground, they thought I was finished off. They believed I was done. But lying there, I looked up at the windows — my home was shaped like two Ls with an inner courtyard, prefabricated blocks, and I could see the lights and people at the windows. It was like an amphitheatre. That gave me strength; I got to my feet and began shouting at them: ‘Stay at your windows, because this is how they will come into your homes too.’ I was delivering a speech, still burning with anger, not yet aware of what was happening.”

Rama said that, in a severely weakened state, he tried to seek help and escape the scene.

“I made it onto the road near the prefabricated blocks, by the former Enver factory. I went out to stop a car, but none would halt — I was covered in blood. Eventually two lads stopped and took me in. While I was speaking, someone told me, ‘Enough, you’re losing too much blood, get a car.’ Do you remember that theory that they had thrown paint over me to make it look that way?” Rama recounted.

Prime Minister Rama went on to outline his movements after the incident, including his contacts with friends and his time in hospital.

“My thoughts were still on the fight, and I decided I should have a photograph taken. But before that, I thought I should alert someone, in case I disappeared and no one knew why. I went to Sandër Furxhiu, who was working for the BBC, to say ‘here I am,’ and then to Kumi. Poor man, he was shaking. He kept pleading with me, ‘Don’t say you had the photo taken here.’ It was clear there was a climate of fear — a deep fear. He begged me, ‘Please don’t say you did the photograph at my place.’” Rama recalled.

Rama also described his time in hospital, where doctors treated him and initially identified him as a journalist from Koha Jonë.

“When I arrived at the hospital, the lads told me, ‘We’re leaving you here now.’ They didn’t take me all the way to the door — they left me 20 or 30 metres away. As I walked towards the entrance, I began to feel cold and my body started to shake. While stitching me up, the doctor kept calling me Skënder. Later, in France, when another doctor examined my wounds, he said, ‘Your height and your sporting background saved you,’” Rama recalled.

Lesi observed that “such an atmosphere culminated in the burning of Koha Jonë on 3 March 1997.

Prime Minister Rama added: “I was not present when the newspaper was set ablaze. But that event was, in effect, the final turning point.”

Rama also addressed the broader role and responsibility of journalists during the formative period of Albania’s first independent media.

When asked by Nikollë Lesi whether a journalist committed to the country should be passionate, Prime Minister Rama underlined that “yes, but it was also a responsibility, stemming from the awareness that many people would read what you wrote.”

He elaborated: “You knew readers were eager to open the paper. I recall those long interviews — even today people remind me of them, saying ‘back in Koha Jonë, back in Koha Jonë.’ It was both those who produced the work and those who were engrossed in it. Imagine — 100,000 copies. Yet there was only one broadcaster, TVSH. TVSH represented outright authoritarianism, with no connection to pluralism. And beyond that, there were only those poor‑quality publications — RD and the rest,” Rama said.

Prime Minister Rama remarked: “I mean, these were not papers to which the public referred when it wanted to learn the truth. Have you ever considered — as I have from time to time, when the subject arises — how events might have unfolded had Koha Jonë not existed? If the only media outlets had been TVSH, RD, Albania and Sporti Popullor, how would the course of events have developed?” Rama observed.

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