WAS KILLED WITHIN AN HOUR OF AZEM HAJDARI
And the country?
Naim Canaj, the fourth person killed on September 12, 1998
Where was the country? What happened a [?] On the night of September 12 of the previous year, a person wounded by a firearm was brought to the emergency department of Hospital No. 2, near the University Hospital Center in Tirana. The patient, in extremely serious condition, did not remain [?] in the emergency room, but was [?] … kelqim Hajdari. Thus, another person killed on the evening of September 12, 1998, in Tirana. The evening when MP Azem Hajdari was killed near the Democratic Party headquarters together with his bodyguard Besim Çera, while the other bodyguard, Zeni Neka, was wounded. urgently transferred to the surgical clinic. The surgical clinic on September 12, 1998, was Surgical Clinic No. 1. Although he did not remain in the emergency department, there is no written record in that unit concerning the wounded man who arrived on the evening of September 12. Meanwhile, he was entered in the register of the First Clinic, where he also underwent surgery. His name is Naim Cangu. His age and place of residence are not written in the register. The staff at the clinic say that haste often means some details get overlooked, but these are usually recorded in the medical file. The diagnosis in the register from a year ago is: Gunshot wound to the left and right hypochondriac regions, injury to the right bone, and several other wounds. The register specifies preliminary information about the patient’s health as well as the surgery he underwent and the doctor who performed it. Naim Cangu’s case did not go unnoticed by the other doctors who saw him the following morning, shortly before he died. “I remember him,” says one of the doctors at the First Clinic. “He was a young man, very strong and muscular, but he could not withstand all the wounds he had received. He had very severe injuries to his abdomen and chest. He lived for about 10–12 hours and died,” says the doctor, explaining that even after the operation his condition was absolutely incompatible with life. During the 10 hours he lived, the wounded man was kept under the careful observation of doctors in the intensive care unit. “Fortunately, we don’t remember anyone coming during those hours,” the doctors say. They acknowledge, meanwhile, that even after the wounded man died, there were no reactions from his relatives, as commonly happens in such cases. Although the time of admission to the clinic was not recorded, it must have been late at night, since this was the last operation entered in the register for the evening of September 12. CLINICAL FILE IN THE PROSECUTOR’S HANDS. The clinical file is in the prosecutor’s hands. Representatives of the law-enforcement authorities of the Kruja district also came to the Statistics Department of the University Hospital Center to see it. According to Statistics Department employees, on the orders of Chief Prosecutor Dolo rez Velaj, the clinical file was taken from the hospital to be made available to the justice system. The person to whom the Statistics Department employees at Tirana University Hospital Center handed the file is named Sh-
Hajdari was killed near the headquarters of the Democratic Party, together with his bodyguard Besim Çera, while another bodyguard, Zenel Neza, was seriously wounded.
Naim Cangu is the fourth person who did not live to see the end of that night. He was shot at the same time and fatally wounded. People took him to the civil hospital, left him there, and immediately left; this happened at the same time that other people were taking the bodies of Hajdari, Çera, and Neza to the military hospital. He underwent emergency surgery, the last operation in Clinic No. 1 that night, and died 10 hours later, the following day.
Doctors say that the numerous wounds he had sustained clearly showed that they were the result of his being caught in an armed clash, which ended in his death.
On the evening of September 12, the police were unable to establish where Naim Cangu had been shot. But the service reports from Tirana’s four police stations officially confirm that there were no armed clashes anywhere else in Tirana, except near the Democratic Party headquarters. The unfortunate truth for him was that here, too, in front of the DP headquarters, someone had incited the irritation of MP Hajdari’s supporters so that the crime scene would be deprived of evidence. That evening, the police failed to secure the crime scene immediately after the crime; they did so many minutes later—enough time to remove the evidence, which, in the hands of experts, could have revealed a great deal about what happened.
Nevertheless, one question is worth asking: Who killed Naim Cangu? Who was he? DP members whom we asked said that, as they recalled, he was one of the people often seen alongside prominent figures close to the leaders of the Democratic Party. If so, then why did the Democratic Party say nothing about Naim Cangu’s murder? Why was nothing said about him for nearly a year?
The answer may be delayed, or may never be given. The fact is that the DP has repeatedly accused the Prosecutor’s Office of dragging out the investigation and failing to find the perpetrators of the crime against MP Azem Hajdari. But not with the sincere aim of finding the killers of the leader and martyr. Rather, with the macabre aim of keeping this case unresolved and shamefully using it in the struggle for power. Meanwhile, the Prosecutor’s Office is investigating thoroughly, ordering searches in dozens of places where evidence hidden late on the night of September 12 might be found. One such piece of evidence is also the killing of Naim Cangu.
“Zëri i Popullit” correspondent