Speech of Prime Minister Edi Rama at the ceremony to honor the martyr Simon Gjeta, fallen in the line of duty:

Very dear family members of our homeland’s martyr, Simon Gjeta!

Relatives and friends of his!

Simon Gjeta gave his life to protect the life of another citizen who was a victim of an armed attack by a relative of his.

Simon was killed as he was knocking on behalf of the law at the door of the house of someone who, instead of respecting the century-long Albanian tradition according to which doors are opened to welcome people, chose to kill the man who was knocking at his door, and killed him on the threshold of his house.

The afternoon of October 3 was a Saturday, and like every Saturday many people ran after their concerns or entertainment, but unlike most of the people, on October 3 Simon Gjeta ran after others’ concerns, like he did throughout his career. He didn’t chose to spend for himself even last Saturday, which was not for him an ordinary weekend, like it was for many other people. This because Simon Gjeta and his colleagues under the blue uniform of the State Police do never have a life totally of their own. He even gave his life to protect that of others’.

I learned that Simon began his professional life in the service of the country, of which he is today a martyr, in the inglorious 1997. Precisely at a moment when a lot of Albanians, maybe all Albanians, had lost hope and confidence in the state, and when many of them abandoned their positions, he chose to join the State Police in its most gloomy days, showing from the very beginning that he was determined heart and soul to keep going on the way that was interrupted forever last Saturday.

Simon’s death is a great loss for his family of course, for his friends and relatives definitely, but it is a great loss definitely also for the Albanian State Police and our society, who need so much to have the role model of someone in the line of duty, as was Simon Gjeta.

Without a doubt, his blood will not become water, but will serve to shape further the soul, heart and mind of a reborn State Police, who with the unwavering support of the Albanian government will destroy completely the power that crime has accumulated throughout the decades of transition, and we can see how it is becoming weaker every day.

But I am also convinced that the State Police that is growing every day, not only thanks to the firm support it is receiving more and more every day from society, and obviously with the firm support that it is receiving from the government, but also thanks to these exceptional sacrifices, like the sacrifice of Simon’s or of Ibrahim Basha’s some time ago, will grow even more and will cut all the political, economic, financial, and above all judicial strings that have fed and continue to feed crime.

The victory of the war against crime and the final restoration of the natural position between the state and the crime is as difficult as it is sure. Today there is also another reason, which is as simple as it was simple the life of Simon Gjeta’s. For, when the State Police is not betrayed, as it was until two years ago, and when in this war the government creates for the State Police all the conditions to allow the common people of this country, like Simon, Ibrahim and all their colleagues who are as common as they are extraordinary because they are not fighting for dark personal interest, to confront criminals from the most hardened to the most ordinary, from those who are armed with the judge’s gavel to those who are armed with deadly weapons, there is no doubt that victory is oriented more and more every day towards the state and society.

This simple reason is a major reason. The major reason of the moral strength of those who serve others with honor, and who are incomparably more than those who dishonor the function they have, or compared to the criminals who with their efforts dishonor the law and society.

However, let me close with a few words that I believe fit best for this moment. These are the words of General George Patton, who said: “It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived among us and also for us.”

May the memory of the martyr Simon Gjeta be never forgotten!

Glory to all the martyrs of the State Police!