By Dritan Hila
Yet another case file has been opened against Berisha, this one connected to January 21st. It is the second, but certainly not the last.
His decline resembles that of many authoritarian or dictatorial leaders who, in their advanced age, spend their final days shuttling between prosecutors’ offices. That image alone is enough to understand that the bell has already tolled for him. He resembles Pinochet, Kraksin, or more recently Berlusconi. None of them spent their last years in prison, but their old age was a pilgrimage through prosecutors’ and judges’ chambers, with their reputations in ruins. Each of them had a more illustrious career than Berisha—and a more dignified conduct before justice and history.
Berisha’s story surpasses all of them when it comes to fear of the consequences of his actions and his lack of dignity in facing the past. And he surpasses them in the discomfort others feel when reminded of the relations they once had with him.
Berisha is a closed chapter for the Americans. Fleming’s visit to Tirana and the avoidance of any meeting with him was nothing more than a reconfirmation of his “non grata” status. A status that even Rama perhaps wishes were lifted, because he needs a scarecrow in the opposition—but for the Americans, Berisha’s file is closed. Even if they were to remove it formally, for them, Berisha is an archived case. It seems La Civita and the lobbying companies understood this—and almost mockingly took eight million dollars from him.
More than American refusal, Berisha’s fate was sealed by the British. No amount of money can reverse that. A man certified even by the British judiciary as connected to crime and trafficking carries a stigma only Noriega had. Let Berisha and his claque exhaust themselves calling the UK a narcotics-trafficking state—this particular medal, for now, belongs solely to Berisha.
And to confirm the old saying that when death approaches, a man goes to defile the doorstep of the mosque, comes the attack on the EU ambassador. Berisha is not simply closing a door. There is no logic in this attack. It merely displays his frenzy at such an inglorious end to the life of a politician—a man whose guiding principle was always enrichment.
The only one who has not shut the door on Berisha is Edi Rama, and it is unclear whether he does so out of mockery or as a guarantee that in the lineup of history he will always stand one row ahead of him.