"I do not accept any accusations. I have never acted against the people. I have not committed any act against the homeland. Neither I, nor my son. I appeal to my son and others unjustly accused: Do not accept false accusations of treason against the homeland. We have not committed any acts against the homeland… we are dying defending the homeland. I do not accept the accusations and I do not ask for mercy."
Sheh Ibrahim Karbunara denies all charges in court and all statements against him. Before being in the dock by the new government, he was known as a patriot, one of the members of the Initiating Committee of the Lushnja Congress and a key figure in the Halveti Order. A connoisseur of five foreign languages and a theology graduate from Istanbul, he supported the national liberation war, but its end brought the end to him and his son, Hysen Shehu-Karbunara.
Shehu denied all the charges before the trial, while his lawyer finally adds that he later denied the statements made to the investigator and signed in his own handwriting. To save him from bullets, lawyer Fuad Fico tries to present him as incompetent, so he asks the jury to take into account his “limiting cultural abilities”, suggesting that “he has never been at the level of politicians… and before he had his natural intelligence not to fall into the trap and step on rotten dirt like this time”.
In his defense, the lawyer adds that this time "he has acted completely contrary and this is due to his advanced age, which is understood to have brought about a certain decline in his judgment, to the point that he did not have the slightest prudence to avoid at least his son Hysen."
Today, 78 years since the execution of Sheh Ibrahim Karbunara and his son, we remember not only their tragic death, but also the resilience, faith, and dignity of man in the face of injustice.
By Fatmira Nikolla
