Fatmir Mediu clarifies the phone call with Shkëlzen Berisha on Gërdec Day

2024-01-13 09:20:00, Politikë CNA

Fatmir Mediu

The former Minister of Defense, Fatmir Mediu, spoke in a television studio about the massacre of Gërdec and the trial that is taking place on this issue in the Special Court.

The medium also showed the phone calls he made with Shkëlzen on the day the incident happened. He stressed that they did not talk about Gërdec but about personal health issues.

Interview:

Question: Did Shkëlzen Berisha have a role in the Gërdec factory?

Mediu: Why should you ask me, he was in court...

Q: Did you have a phone call with him before and after the explosion?

Mediu: No, there was no before and after the explosion. There was the day before and after the explosion, some 3 hours after, for a matter of my interest that I could not afford in Albania. It was a family affair. What would Shkëlzen Berisha choose for me? I told the prime minister to open the phone for me. I was in contact with the prime minister when this incident happened.

Q: Would you do anything differently if you could go back?

Mediu: From the point of view of practice, it will not do anything differently... I have respected the military hierarchy, I have not brought in any interference from outside who is colonel or general. Who would I ask if I have the military hierarchy that suggests something to me and come out and say that it should not be done this way. There has never been any advertisement to the Minister of Defense about the demolition in Gërdec. The minister has never been to Gërdec, he has had no contact with those who could do business... I didn't want to get involved, but since you are asking me, there was an American team of experts who evaluated what happened. They said 5 different reasons and did not put their finger on any of them. Carriage welding is one. The son of the deceased Deliu, who lost his life and is alleged to have welded the cart, said that I was at home from 12 o'clock until the explosion occurred, because the father did not weld the cart, I was there. It is an eyewitness.... Outside the experimental context is the national interest. Frankly, we don't have a national security council. We have no intelligence analysis in Albania. We receive information, look at it and put it in the right place as confidential information. We do not have an analysis of the problems posed by intelligence. We are a member country of NATO./ CNA