Shocking details have emerged from the testimony of the repentant justice Artan Tafani, who has confessed to SPAK the plan to eliminate Rexhep Gina, the preparations, weapons, disguises and movements that according to him were made by Laert Haxhiu's group. In his testimony, Tafani describes how he disguised himself as a woman with a blonde wig, plastic mask and make-up to approach Gina's bar without being noticed, while also showing the atmosphere of fear and terror that, according to him, existed within the criminal group.
He told me about Rexhep Gina's case that he wanted to kill her, because Laerti had issues since the time of Aldo Bare and also issues for Nash. Rexhep Gina was guarded by Laerti, because he was afraid that they would kill him. Rexhep Gina would drink coffee there and Lili Lala would pass by, she would make videos of her. Then I heard on the news that Lorenci had it. He had been watching Rexhep Gina for a while, then recently he put a guy on her, whose name I couldn't remember. This guy watched Rexhep Gina every day. I never saw the observer in the photo. Lulezimi's girlfriend would go and send the observer a chat-email to communicate. The observer was in Lushnja. Laerti said that he wanted to kill her and didn't want to escape.
"In the end, I was going to go with Lulëzim to kill Rexhep Gina. Two days before he was arrested, he had started talking to a guy from Kuçova, Fatjon Veliu. We went, we had lunch in Peqin, me, Fatjon Veliu and Laerti. After Lulëzim was arrested, we left home and were staying in a hotel. Then we went to Saranda, we stayed in Saranda for a week. At first, he approached Fatjon to keep him busy.
We took measures to kill Gina. We had a short Kalashnikov and a small pistol that we fixed. We were going to escape with the car we had stolen from Palmanova. We put on a plastic mask from Laerti's girlfriend, as well as some things from Lulezimi's girlfriend. We took two blonde wigs. I dressed as a woman in a long dress. I put on the mask and Laerti's girlfriend put on make-up. We went the next day to kill Rexhep Gina. At that time, we were keeping the boy who was arrested with Laerti in Greece at home.
Tafani said that on the day they set out to commit the murder, they had a Kalashnikov with two magazines, one of which had 40 rounds of ammunition.
"Fatjon Veliu was in Kuçova and we were going to meet on the way, while Laerti left in another car. Then in Lushnja I picked up Fatjon Veliu. We left Lushnja, entered Peqin. During the two years that I had known Laerti, we had learned all the roads of the villages between Lushnja and Peqin, because we had prepared them there. We were near the city, it was not far, we were waiting for Laerti's order to leave for Rexhep Gina. I was dressed, I was ready. Fatjon Veliu didn't want to come, he was shaking because he had his own troubles. I would shoot from behind, while Fatjon would be the driver. Laerti told us to leave, because the observer had written to him."
According to Tafani, along the way, Laerti had started yelling at him about the keys to a garage in Kavaja.
"Laertes started yelling at me, why was he swearing, because he had written to me to leave the keys at a bar in Kavaja, the keys to the garage. Because I couldn't open the phone because I was going to give it to the car. I was upset that he was swearing at me."
He further describes the moment when he approached Rexhep Gina's bar disguised as a woman.
"Laerti wrote to us to go. I was wearing a plastic mask, I had a long black dress, black sneakers, a blonde wig, a painted mask and a jacket. I had tied the Kalashnikov with a belt. While Fatjoni, who was at the wheel, had a cream-colored dress. When I got out of the car, I went between the buildings and came out in front of his bar. He was alone in the bar, drinking coffee. I saw that he was dressed, because I had the information from the observer. A thought told me not to do it, but I passed by the bar once, because I wanted to see it exactly. As soon as one of them saw me, he stood up and looked at me as if he was scared. They were scared because I looked more like a madman than a woman.
After I left there, I told Laerti that I didn't find him there, that he had left. Laerti then turned the watchman around to see and he was no longer there, because apparently he had gone inside the bar. Then we left. Then he wrote to me and said: yes, he has left. I left Fatjonin where I picked him up and returned home, to Tirana.
Asked by SPAK what he knew about Rexhep Gina, Tafani stated:
"There was a bar there, he had his own and it was open 24 hours. I had seen it in a video from '97, because I knew it. Then Laertes ran out."
In his testimony, Tafani also spoke about the fear that, according to him, Laert Haxhiu exerted towards the people around him.
"That man was scary. We lived in terror because he cursed us, beat us, and could even kill us. I woke up in fear. He treated me a little better because I was older, but we lived in terror of him. But I had killed three people and he had a little more compassion for me."
Tafani recounted another episode related to the imposition of a fine on a businessman in Lushnja.
"We had fined a businessman in Lushnja, a guy named Enea, I don't remember his last name. I was staying there. We asked him for 1 million euros. This businessman had problems with some gangs, Land Shyti, they call him 'Mustaqe Kuqi'. They had been killed and dismembered. Laertes wanted to catch the businessman. In the end, he came himself, asked for help because he had problems with 'Mustaqe Kuqi'.
"We take the businessman and go out to the exit of Tirana. We take him and send him to a mountain range and Laertes imposed a fine of 1 million euros on him. The businessman gave 100 thousand euros as a gift to the boy who introduced him to Laertes. We took 120 million lek that day. That means we took 360 thousand euros from that businessman in total. His name is Enea, but I don't remember his last name."
