Demir Pojani

These days, Albania is the fastest growing tourist destination in the world – going from one extreme to another after many decades of the strictest Stalinism under Enver Hoxha.

Demir Pojani is a former prisoner from the infamous Burrel Prison. Born on 12 August 1948 in Korça, he served 17 years in Burrell Prison, from 1973 to 1990.

While serving his sentence he was re-convicted two more times, once for beating a representative of the government and the second time for agitation and propaganda in prison.

Demir Pojani witnesses that when a prisoner died, their limbs, arms and legs were broken with a pickaxe and then placed in very small coffins. The bodies were buried in a place called Qershiza, after the name of a cherry tree that was there, 500-600 meters away from Burrel Prison.

After 1965, a stadium was built on the site and a bulldozer was used to clear the digs. After this time, the dead were buried elsewhere, behind the prison building.

He witnesses that during his time in prison 10-12 people may have died, among them 3-4 of his friends who committed suicide.

“They used to say to us: Here it is Burrel, where someone enters but never gets out!”