Remarks by Prime Minister Edi Rama at the commemorative ceremony with families of 21 January four martyrs, following with a homage ceremony in their memory and honour at the “Martyrs of the Nation” Boulevard, in front of the Prime Minister’s Office where 7 years ago their lives were torn apart:

 

Very beloved family members of 21 January martyrs!

Dear friends, attendees!

This day of year alongside parents, brothers, spouses and children of the four man murdered here at the Boulevard seven years ago has become a rather unusual commemorative moment in the abyss of unaccomplished justice.

21 January has become a national witness of centuries-old powerless ordinary man of this country in front of the deaf and blind justice castrated by crime and corruption; A national imagery of the crying need of ordinary man for justice and popular impatience as time goes by and justice delays; A national mirror of the high up above declared fight in the last three years towards a fundamental reform of the justice system, where we face in each step the strength of anti-reform organizations, clans and cells’ desperation in the Parliament, in the justice palace, in the media cauldron and so on.

Ziveri, Faiku, Hekurani and Aleksi are no longer in our midst since seven years. Today, their parents are seven years older, their children seven years grown, the wound of injustice in the families’ spirit seven times more ascendant.

When you try to imagine the pain of this wound in these families, spontaneoulsy you think that justice is not of this world and the old Latin expression comes to mind “Fiat justitia, et pereat mundus,” (“Let justice be done, though the world perish”), by Immanuel Kant who wrote that it is worthwhile to destroy the world, to establish justice in this life and the other.

I do not intend to hide it, 21 January comes on a verge whose anxiety is special, as another year has gone, justice is once again belated and it weighs significantly on the eve of a traditional annual meeting. But just as I meet with family members, the sheer burden of embarrassment while wating the meeting leaves room to a clear calmness because, on one hand, you, my beloved friends and honored family members of the four martyrs of 21 January, reappear among us with the proof that you do not lose either your patience, vision or balance. You do not carry the tragedy that left you without a boy, without a father, without a husband, a brother, a nephew or a friend, as a burden that can be left to others through disappointment, hatered or retribution. Carry it as a cross that others cannot and should not lose sight of, until justice prevails and probably beyond.

On the other hand, sheer calmness relates to the fact that an entire world has begun its collapse; Fundamentals of the justice palace where your tragedy, even though a national tragedy, besides in your families, turned into a common bogus tragedy like many other tragedies in this country, where people murdered in the main Boulevard were rekilled in courts.

The embarrasment burden awating 21 January to come is made heavier by a general impatient climate which appears in the genuine shape of social discontent throughout people’s conversations or in a more perverse shape of patience use-abuse of common men by professional wailers and sarcastic of our political and media village. The latter, as known, make efforts to manipulate the first to their own interest. While the first, the impatient mob, there is a natural impatience which is almost pathological in our entire society.

People are not to blame. Quarter of a century is a long time to wait a state be built, a work be found, the never-coming well-being. Four years are lesser to console the long wait until the end, while reforms are neither sedatives nor candies to make the turn easier and the inpatience sweeter.

When it comes to justice this impatience is articulated as a painful spasm.

We see nothing – the sentence that summons it in the tiredness shape due to breath absence. Totally understandable, the eve of 21 January and of course today’s make spasm languish. Naturally the rancor of impatience blasts off towards politics, government and especially me undoubdetly; Why not imprisoning them?; You are all murderers!’ You protect each other hence!; you are all thieves!; May you not be around! – adding here allegations water and cursings flour.

In the face of voiced impatience explosions you might even become suspicious that these annoyed people in search of justice have not yet figured out the system change in Albania, from the system of people’s justice to the rule of law, from political party’s willingness justice to constitutional justice of the independent judicial power. Certainly, even when expressed in this extreme rancorous shape this impatience does not make them their conveyors, the ordinary people of this country, either uninformed on the democratic system or guilty to their explosions.

A world like the one under collapse, where the highest justice has emerged so many times this past years, as the roughest injustice and the unbearable deceit, as they say it makes you nuts. Facing it without losing patience needs tight nerves to not surrender to its blind rancor, hence requiring exceptional patience to resist its distrust waves, needs huge faith on the right and on the possibility of rectitude to prevail. You can ask none of this to people who have felt the oppression of deceiving justice for many years.

Whereas all you, Faik, Hekuran, Ziver and Aleks’ family members do have this me too, fortunately, at least until now. All of us here do. Many others outside this room do. Hence, we have today, not only people who aspire justice and await it impatiently and rancorously but also a number of motivated ruling majority politicians endowed of the patience, determination and belief to lead until the end world’s collapse which has made Albanians life so unbearable, has ablazed the hearts of so many mothers, has crippled the body and soul of so many women and girls, has soaked the skin of so many men, has closed paths to so many parents, has blinded the eyes of so many youth, has pristined and deprived the future to many households.

An old saying says: “Justice delays but never forgets!” However, in the time of our rat race, many years beneath the shadow of the of justice palace, oblivion and justive paired, while remembrance and injustice were left with each-other.

But is justice lost?

Absolutely, justice in communism-freed Albania has randomly been a huge loser, anytime politically or money affluent injustice has been an interested party in the process. However, nonetheless, justice lost battles not its popular sense, the war neither.

Quarter of a century without justice is terribly too much in the life of mankind, but is not too much in the history of a nation that has never had either a rule of law or democratic institutions quarter of a century ago.

Things are changing in the right direction and the long-haul waiting is coming to a closer end than two years ago. It is slow…very slow to comfort people’s impatience but it is too soon in relation to past times and the time we had at our disposal in order to undertake this endeavour, that no one ahead us neither had the courage to undertake or the willingness to imagine.

During quarter of a century, not until two years ago, – 24 months more or less – Judicial Reform was a utopia. The Justice Palace was an “occupied land” by corrupt judges and prosecutors tied like fingernail and flesh to the political power once and for all.

The world is collapsing precisely from the fundamentals of this palace which was an offshore arbitrary territory to the unassailable and to the powerful’s impunity. Today, two years later, the Judicial Reform is adopted. Liberating the “occupied land” has initiated. The powerful are seized of the fear fever of getting punished.

We were here last January. Our comfort towards you were optimistic words on Vetting and in February, following January, the barricade tent was set up only a few metres from here to kill Vetting by capturing elections in Albania. Today, this January, Vetting has started and certainly by February punity of the corrupted taking justice as an age-long hostage will initiate prosecutors or judges alike.

It should have been done long ago, but did not!

Whoever, did not do it on time, nowadays threats to capture not elections but Albania as a whole, hindering it be sitted on the EU accession negotiations desk, only because it fears incense like devil does, the one that comes after Vetting, punishment by the justice freed from the claws of those to be punished by Vetting.

People torn out of the never coming feeling of justice seek impatiently the culpables’ scalp to have caused their pain, concerns, troubles, dragging and delays of quarter of a century injustice, impatiently seek paying quarter of a century huge debt, where in the found fury of freedom following a prolonged collective imprisonment, the injustice fury dressed up in new constitutional powers or street powers, wreaked havoc on the country and on the powerless rights.

This type of impatience as much as it is a meaningful index of justice’ time it also could be a bad advisor to the path towards fair justice. Fair justice is not the ruling political party’s will but a system built through steel-made patience, remarkable determination and huge faith, first and foremost by the ones in power and such in-power people were non-existent in Albania a few years before. This is what we look forward to doing, justice reform pomotors and guarantees. We are hence doing such and we will do it ahead.

Whoever impatiently and sincerely demands justice, any common person complaining or cursing delays and does not care where the curse falls, being suspicious that probably we neither are serious about nor powerful to bring this refom towards utter completion, which in fact is a fight, if you distrust us today by considering each part of the process as being dragged, you will understand us tomorrow looking at the process’ outcome.

There are wealthy people in this fight, rich and very rich, firm to do the impossible of the possible, more than the latter to save their heads by obstructing implementation of this future national project such as the Judicial Reform. There are politicians, judges, prosecutors, officials, businessmen, bankrupt publishers, well-paid analysts, foreign powers or their spies, as well as others not yet defeated. Lesser have surrendered. In their everyday efforts they trie to cause so much fog, so much confusion, arguments, but even worse they cannot hide it between the lines that they dream of turmoil, possibly strike a disaster, certainly, on Albania’s behalf. Undoubtedly, in the name of justice, in the name of people, who has no food, no jobs, no desire to live here any longer, who wants to leave as crime, the mafia of any evil on this land has seized the government, which is the mother of all evil. Hence, all open and infected wounds from quarter of a century of lying idle, no state, no justice, education, health were caused by this government even according to some of this kindish, who used boots for hunting and not for  hysteria in eight years, this government opened all these wounds as soon as being independent or either without taking oath.

Thus, poverty was stricken which according to them was not an issue until last May and which according to these others it was not a wound until 2013. We brought forth unemployment, which until 2013 was not a wound just as health, education and so on. We brought all evils. We even brought cannabis as a criminal activity in Albania because since 2013 it was merely an ecologic activity, without profit intentions, in a cultural heritage museum village. We have now decide to bring forth the plague, capturing courts and prosecution justice as since yesterday, four years or four months ago, depending how you consider it, by the right or left boot, justice was free and independent. Prosecution prosecuted the powerful and courts punished them. These patriots developed Albania without intervening on the works of justice and without worrying about colleagues, who after swallowing a tablespoon of soured stew spend years vomiting the stew behind bars.

Therefore, exactly because until they were there but not any longer and had in their hands what no longer have kept justice hostage which is slipping away, while say that Zeus himself cannot halt them, these savers of Albanian people to lead them towards the economic boom golden era where all wounds inflicted by us were merely issues of Albania’s growth as a developed country as Ciljeta’s song said during the development drums’ campaign.

This entire burlesque is unfortunately the reality of our political stage today, where parties divided between the need to fundamentally reform justice and the fear from reformed justice go back and forth in such as unavoidable debate as it is useless to people who demand no words, not even want to know who is in the history and who is not, but seek justice. However, let me tell you that I am optimistic it will never be any resisistance, however desparate, to stop its way, not because I believe on the political force I lead and on justice for Albania and Albanians, but above all I believe when the sword of time rises on a knot that has captured justice in Albania. And the sword of time to cut the old knot that ties justice in Albania has risen up high. It the majority of Albanians that hold it, with the priceless power help from the great international friends, while we just contribute and will contribute until the end in order to make politics not tackle the hit of the sword and hence cut the nod that ties justice.

A friend of mine told me that a journalist had attempted to make a series of interviews with some Ambassadors, whom he had asked whether 21 January crime will be punished to the core form the justice freed of corrupt judges and prosecutors. No one of the ambassadors had accepted to reply. According to my friend it is a bad sign, according to me a good one. Time will show who is right and we won’t wait too long to know if he is right or if I am right. However, something is certain that the truth along with Aleks, Ziver and Hekuran’s young children, or Faik’s niece, he did not recognise, are growing up orphans to the families of others, is today more fragile than it yesterday and tomorrow it will be enough strong to fight its own war with injustice as tha sword of time is raised up and won’t be put down without untying the knot.

May their memory be unforgettable!

Great honor and respect to all of you noble family members of 21 January martyrs!

Thank you very much!