On June 21, 1972, from Burrel Prison, political prisoner Ruzhdi Bajri addressed a letter to the General Prosecutor's Office of the People's Republic of Albania. The document is direct evidence of the violence, humiliation and systematic deprivations that, according to him, the prison's management bodies exercised against political prisoners.
From the very first lines, Bajri accuses the command of the 321st ward, the Internal Affairs Branch and the Burrel District Prosecutor's Office of being aware of the events and, according to him, of tolerating or indirectly assisting persons who "massacred in the most cruel ways" the most honest prisoners. He writes that the convicts were sentenced to deprivation of liberty and not to deprivation of dignity or death.
The letter describes a constant climate of fear, where, according to the author, the lives of prisoners were not safe and every complaint fell on deaf ears. Bajri claims that, although the prison was surrounded by strong security measures, the authorities justified the violence by attributing it to the prisoners, while he insists that the governing bodies themselves were behind it.
A significant part of the letter focuses on the new restrictions imposed on the prisoners. According to Bajri, they were forbidden to listen to the radio, borrow books from the library, and even consume the food brought to them by their families during meetings. He also cites the threat that, according to him, was made to them by the command: “We will take you to Ademi and Dhori with their friends,” a reference that indicates the atmosphere of terror that prevailed in the prison.
Faced with this situation, Bajri informs the Prosecutor's Office that the prisoners have gone on a hunger strike, considering it as a last resort to seek the intervention of state institutions. At the end of the letter, he writes that the strike will continue until the arrival of representatives of the Prosecutor's Office and demands that their claims be heard.
This letter remains one of the most significant documents in the archives of the communist dictatorship. It not only recounts the suffering of a prisoner, but also proves that in Burrel, in addition to isolation, the convicts also faced constant restrictions on their basic rights and felt compelled to resort to hunger strikes to make their voices heard.
