A rare document from 1976, signed by Deputy Prosecutor General Sotir Samara , reveals the internal instructions that the Prosecution bodies received after the 7th Congress of the Party of Labour of Albania . In this doctrinal text, simply titled “Instruction”, it is clearly shown how the criminal justice apparatus was placed completely at the service of the Party’s ideological line, with the aim of strengthening class struggle and political control over every aspect of social and economic life.
The Prosecutor’s Office as a Political and Class Body
From the introduction to the instruction, it is emphasized that:
“The prosecutor’s office is a class organ. It is an organ of the dictatorship of the proletariat.”
This definition positions the prosecution not as an independent institution of law, but as an instrument of the Party to maintain power. The document reiterates several times that every employee of the prosecution must be guided by the teachings of comrade Enver Hoxha and the directives of the Central Committee of the Party of Labour of Albania.
Direct connection to the Party – “Following the Party step by step”
Every section of the instruction mentions the need for prosecutors to cooperate closely with the basic party organisations of the Party. In particular, it emphasizes:
“Let us closely follow the Party in implementing its decisions.”
This means that any investigation, prosecution, or control action must occur in line with the political orientation of the moment, and not according to legal or institutional independence.
Prioritize investigations in strategic sectors of the economy
The document orders the Prosecution bodies to focus their investigative work on:
- Oil and gas complex
- Mechanical, electrical and chemical industry
- Weapons factories
- Agricultural and food processing enterprises
The aim is to “discover and punish” those who hinder socialist progress through “negligence, sabotage or foreign ideological positions”.
The expansion of the class struggle and the punishment of the declassed element
The instruction applies the Party’s class categories to criminal investigation and calls for continued scrutiny of people it labels politically hostile.
- Propaganda against the government
- Behavior unworthy of socialist morality
- Economic damage to socialist property
Involving the people in justice – the popular trial as an educational spectacle
It is explicitly required that:
“The punishment should be both punitive and educational for the masses.”
For this reason, the directive calls for an increase in public trials in open spaces, in the presence of the work collective, with the aim of “the people participating in socialist justice.” This strategy aims at propaganda and public intimidation as a legal means.
Re-education of convicts – class attitude even after punishment
According to the instruction, the Prosecutor’s Office must also control the process of serving the sentence, to see whether the “reactionaries” are being re-educated or not. It is required that there be no concessions or humanism for the “hostile” elements, unless their adherence to the Party line is proven.
“Let’s not confuse proletarian humanism with bourgeois sentimentality.”
Conclusion: This instruction reveals the extent of political interference in the Albanian justice system at the height of the dictatorship. The Prosecution Office clearly emerges as a repressive instrument of the Party and not as a guarantor of the law. Class struggle, ideological punishment, open trial and the involvement of the Party in every link of the criminal process are the essence of this document.
A powerful testimony of the use of law for political purposes in socialist Albania in the 1970s.
