January 21st, 2011, Berisha on Top Story: “Rama would have not been alive today”

Berisha said that on January 21st, if Edi Rama had not restrained himself from escalating the protest, he would have not been alive today. “He behaved like the enemy and surrounded me so that he could give a speech from my office”, Berisha said.

As for September 14th 1998, when Berisha was leader of the opposition and armed protesters stormed the Prime Minister’s Office and Public Television, giving a speech to the country, Berisha said that in that time it was the people rising up against the government, not his supporters trying to overthrow the ruling party.

When asked about a former DP main figure, Azem Hajdari, who was shot dead in front of the Democratic Party in 1998, Berisha said he was friendly with him until the end, and that Hajdari was “a volcano” in politics.  As for the accusations of his former bodyguard, Izet Haxhia, who claimed Berisha was involved in Hajdari’s murder, the former PM said he has always been ready to testify for his murder, and that Haxhia is a criminal on the run.

For the first time Berisha admitted that the Secret Service during his time as president (1992-1997) went beyond the law because of incompetent members. He also recognized the pyramid schemes of 1996 and the Gerdec tragedy as the biggest problems of his governments.

When asked about the Justice Reform, Berisha said the Democratic Party has contributed with its creation, that what was challenged at the Constitutional Court were the illegal claims of the Socialist Party and their supporters, and that he now expects the Constitutional Court to respect the opinion of the Venice Commission.

Berisha said cannabis cultivation needs to be halted at all costs, and stated his government did not tolerate Lazarat. “We intervened in Lazarat in other ways, not through violence. We intervened by cutting irrigation water”, Berisha said.

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