Late Albanian dictator’s son denounces forced home eviction

The son of the late Albanian dictator Enver Hoxha on Monday accused the government of arrogance and “fascist acts” after authorities evicted him and his family from an apartment building.

Ilir Hoxha, the dictator’s oldest son, said that last week authorities forcefully took them out of their apartment on the outskirts of Tirana without warning. They were unable to retrieve their belongings, which were later looted by other people.

In an open letter directed to Prime Minister Edi Rama, the U.S. and EU ambassadors, Hoxha mentioned “persecution of Enver Hoxha’s family” by the now-leftist government and also after the fall of the communist regime in 1993 by the then-center-right Cabinet, both times evicting them from homes.

”We suffered not only material but also moral damage because the belongings of our homes ended up in the hands of unknown people,” he said.

Hoxha said he would sue the government for human rights violation and moral damage.

The government has pulled down some 300 buildings to make room for expanding the Tirana's ring road. Previously Hoxha’s mother, Nexhmije, who died in February, also opposed the demolition of their apartment.

Enver Hoxha governed Albania with an iron fist from 1944 until his death in 1985, five years before a student revolt overthrew the isolationist communist regime.

Hoxha is survived by two sons and a daughter.