There is no truth to accusations connecting Freedom Party leader Ilir Meta to the former communist secret police, says Filip Talo, the man whose Sigurimi file is being used politically against former President Meta.
Talo is now demanding a correction in writing by the Sigurimi Files Authority, saying the file they have sent to parliament with details published in the media contains “inaccurate, and/or manipulated or falsified data.”
In an extensive document, Talo explains that the incident in which Sigurimi questioned him after he was spied on by two dorm friends involves a man who shares the initials of the former president, not Meta.
“I request the correction/amendment … clarifying the fact that the only person who has denounced me with evidence, facts and interceptions in the state security authorities is Ilir Murati,” the document notes.
Read Talo’s full request for correction in English.
The file has two documents related to an incident in which Talo as a university student was spied on and questioned by Sigurimi about wanting to escape from Albania in 1989.
“Having read both of these documents carefully, I confirm that they contain inaccurate, and/or manipulated or falsified data,” Talo notes in his request to the authority.
Inconsistencies were pointed at by experts before Talo spoke out publicly, with government critics saying the file is clearly a political tool to try to neutralize Meta as a politician as he had just returned at the helm of a major opposition movement he has rebranded as the Freedom Party.
A group of ruling Socialist Party MPs quickly moved to write amendments to the laws that could be far ranging and could lead to a ban of Meta himself and his party from Albanian politics using the file that Talo and Meta say is forged.
Talo further accuses the authority of releasing the file without his permission and without notifying him, which violates regulations and resulted in him unexpectedly becoming the focus of unwanted media attention.
Albania’s former president, Meta, has himself filed a lawsuit against the authority in charge of the files of the former communist secret police, arguing it has commited six legal violations in an attempt to fabricate a file connecting a young Meta to Sigurimi.
Meta had received clean lustration certificates from the state commissions in the 1990s and the authority itself in 2017 before becoming president.
Meta is a perennial politician and has held every position the country has in his career of 30 years. He was a member of parliament in the first post-communist legislature and served as an MP in all following legislatures but the last. He has served as minister, in several positions, Prime Minister and Speaker of the Parliament before being elected President in 2017./Tiranatimes/
