Kelmendi on the Murder of Jusuf and Bardhosh Gërvalla and Kadri Zeka: I Still Believe Riza Salihu Was the Main Assassin

In the second part of the “Debat Plus” program, within the “Files” series, activist Ibrahim Kelmendi spoke about the meeting between Jusuf Gërvalla, Bardhosh Gërvalla and Kadri Zeka before they were killed. He also discussed his own role in the relationship between Gërvalla and Zeka, as well as the German authorities’ investigation into the assassination.

Kelmendi said the meeting had been held at Murat Kryeziu’s home. According to him, at around 1 a.m., after the gathering ended, nearly 20 people went out into the courtyard to say goodbye, and almost all of them learned where the three men would be sleeping, as Jusuf had said aloud that they were guests of the Gërvalla family.

He added that a list containing the names of all those present could be found in Nuhi Sulejmani’s book, while most of them came from the area around Stuttgart.

Speaking about the relationship between Jusuf Gërvalla and Kadri Zeka, Kelmendi said that from October 1981 until January 2, 1982, he had acted as an intermediary between them. He said his aim was to overcome as quickly as possible, and with as few consequences as possible, a conspiracy for which he blamed Sabri Novosella.

According to him, relations between Gërvalla and Zeka had improved during an event marking the November 1981 holidays, held in Esslingen, near Stuttgart. At that event, Jusuf and Kadri were the only two people seated together on the stage, where they delivered speeches and answered questions from their compatriots.

Kelmendi said the event had, to some extent, concealed Jusuf’s resentment toward Kadri, but that, in his view, the “spies” had continued their subversive activities.

Asked whether the assassination had been carried out directly by the UDB or whether other actors had also been involved, Kelmendi said he did not know what had gone on behind the scenes. However, he presented his version of the investigation and the court proceedings in Germany.

“I continue to believe that Riza Salihu was the main assassin because I trusted the lead German investigators, who said that Riza had no alibi,” Kelmendi said.

He recounted that, just a few days after the murders, German police had distributed leaflets asking members of the public to say whether they had seen the person shown in the photograph. According to Kelmendi, the person was Riza Salihu, whose photograph had also been broadcast on television.

Kelmendi said Salihu was arrested a few days later but was quickly released. He linked this decision to the fact that German institutions at the time prioritized good relations with Yugoslavia and the pursuit of people described as its “enemies,” a category that, according to him, also included them.

According to Kelmendi, the investigation was reopened in 1990, as Yugoslavia was breaking apart, and Salihu was arrested again as a possible suspect in the murders. He said the German criminal investigation agency, the Baden-Württemberg LKA, was convinced that Salihu had no alibi for the time when the murders occurred.

After about 16 months in pretrial detention, the case went to trial at the Stuttgart Court, where Kelmendi was designated as a witness. He said he testified at only one hearing, while Salihu, according to him, refused to attend on the grounds that he was ill.

Kelmendi said the hearing lasted only a few moments and that he was not summoned again afterward. He added that he did not know how the trial had ended because his status as a witness did not allow him to follow the proceedings.

According to what he had heard, the proceedings were halted because Yugoslavia had not handed over the requested witnesses. Kelmendi said this meant that Riza Salihu had neither been acquitted nor convicted.

He criticized the victims’ relatives, fellow activists and Kosovo’s institutions for their lack of commitment to solving the murders. Kelmendi claimed that Kosovo’s institutions had not done even the “bare minimum” to seek information about the findings of the investigation or to assist the process.

Later in the interview, Kelmendi was confronted with statements made by Suzana Gërvalla. According to the host, she had said that Jusuf Gërvalla had thrown Kelmendi out of the house several times and that the family had harbored suspicions about him.

Kelmendi rejected these claims, saying that Suzana had slandered him for reasons he did not know and which, in his view, she could not explain either, although she was aware that the claims were false.

He said Suzana Gërvalla had not been awake when he, Kadri Zeka and Jusuf Gërvalla arrived at the house during the night of January 16–17, 1982. According to him, she had also not been present during the two- to three-hour conversation attended only by Jusuf, Kadri and himself.

Kelmendi said he later left with Sylë Nuha to watch a film screening in Düsseldorf, while Jusuf Gërvalla and Kadri Zeka remained in the study.

He stressed that the purpose of the meeting had not been reconciliation because, according to him, Jusuf and Kadri had reconciled earlier, at the wedding of Kadri Zeka and Saima. Kelmendi said the two had “shut themselves away” in the study to prepare the documents for the unification that had been agreed upon.

Recalling the period after the murders, Kelmendi said he had stayed at the Gërvalla family home for about three weeks. He said he had been a member of the coordinating council for the funeral ceremony and had drafted the speech that was to be read at the burial.

According to him, throughout the funeral ceremony, Suzana Gërvalla had treated him properly and graciously. Kelmendi said there had always been mutual respect between them.

Kelmendi was also asked about a section of the files describing Gjeto Sinishtaj’s visit to Suzana Gërvalla on September 23, 1983, as well as statements about Kelmendi attributed to her. He reiterated that Suzana had not been awake when he arrived at the Gërvalla family home.

He clarified that, as he understood it, his brother Mustafa had been in Albania together with his sister-in-law, Sabrie. The latter, together with Vezire Nuha, had helped at the Gërvalla family home during the funeral ceremony.

In conclusion, Kelmendi said the files showed that the Albanian State Security service had been a highly complex organization. According to him, it could also be described as criminal and as collaborating with Yugoslav intelligence agencies, but he clarified that this did not apply to all its members, since not everyone had been involved in criminal acts.