It is ironic how Sali Berisha gets declared persona non-grata by the US, including his entire family, which is like the ‘family lists’ during the communist regime, said Jonila Godole on Ilva Now. At a time, when he has been a key personality that has led the Student Movement in order to overthrow the statue of the dictator, Enver Hoxha and at the same time give an end to his regime.

“This lynching carried out on Sali Berisha and his entire family, it reminded me of that historic leader we link to anti-communism; to me, it wasn’t a very catchy decision from the US Department of State, especially concerning his family. Naturally, Mr. Berisha isn’t like any of the other figures declared [non-grata] until now,” said Godole.

Jonila Godole on the other hand, said that for her, it is very saddening that in the Albanian democracy, the local Justice System wasn’t able to investigate these cases that have now gotten old, regarding Berisha, because the latter, has resigned from the political scene, 8 years ago, but this was done by the US department of state, instead.

“This has to do with old matters, because it has been 8 years that he doesn’t hold any public posts, they weren’t able to do this themselves and Berisha shouldn’t have been the only one. I would’ve preferred that this had come from our own institutions,” said Godole.

Godole called Mr. Berisha a historic leader, who from a symbolic perspective, shouldn’t have ended his career with such a harsh accusation of corruption, weighing on his shoulders.

“It is ironic to see this historic leader of the entire Albanian transition period, to conclude his career, from a symbolic perspective – because today he said he will continue – to see him close his career with such a serious accusation of corruption, at a time, when the war against corruption has been his shield and strongest point, through which he won the elections in 2005,” said Godole.