Kosovo’s caretaker Prime Minister Albin Kurti has commemorated Fazli Greiçevci and Cen Dugolli, who died in Pristina Prison on August 17, 1964 and 1998 respectively, saying both were killed on the same date, in the same place and under the same Serbian authorities, 34 years apart.
“Both were killed on the same date, in the same place and by the same power, but in two different eras, 34 years apart. Today, on their anniversaries, we remember Fazli Greiçevci and Cen Dugolli,” Kurti wrote.
Greiçevci was a teacher, poet and political activist affiliated with the Revolutionary Movement for the Unification of Albanians. Born in 1935 in Sankoc, Drenas, he studied at the Pristina Normal School, where he was a classmate of writer Rexhep Qosja and a political associate of Adem Demaçi.
In the early 1960s, Greiçevci worked as a teacher in several villages in the Drenica region while also writing poetry. Some of his work was published in the magazines “Jeta e Re” and “Zani i Rinisë.”
In late summer 1963, a group of young political activists established the clandestine Revolutionary Movement for the Unification of Albanians in Pristina, led by Adem Demaçi. Greiçevci was among its leading activists.
In June 1964, Yugoslav security authorities arrested more than 300 members of the organization. Greiçevci was not among those initially arrested but surrendered himself to the police. Beginning on August 3, 1964, he was subjected to interrogation and torture in Pristina Prison and died on August 17.
Cen Dugolli, born on September 25, 1966, became active during the 1990s in the Ferizaj branch of the Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms, the “Mother Teresa” humanitarian organization and the Independent Students’ Union at the Technical College in Ferizaj.
He later joined the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) as a soldier in the Nerodime Operational Zone.
On June 21, 1998, Dugolli was arrested by Serbian police at his home in Ferizaj and beaten in front of his family. He was initially held in Gjilan Prison before being transferred to Pristina Prison, where he was subjected to torture by Serbian security and judicial authorities.
Dugolli fell into a coma on August 16 as a result of the torture. He was transferred to Pristina Hospital, where he died on August 17, 1998.
“Glory to Fazli Greiçevci and Cen Dugolli, and to all those lives extinguished by the violence of the Serbian regime on their path of commitment to Kosovo’s freedom!” Kurti wrote.
