“What year did you go to Spaç?
In 1974. At the end of 1974.
What work did you do in Spaç?
In Spaç, we worked underground, in the tunnel for 8 years, 7 and a half years, half of which was spent here. Without leaving the gallery for a single day, in the mines.
In what conditions did you work?
The conditions were very difficult. You went in and you had no guarantee that you would come out alive or not because there were many cases of fatal accidents in the tunnels. One night, there, the tunnel fell and took three people, young men. They were from Malësia there. All three were killed, and so on.
Were all three killed?
All three were covered by the tunnel.
Do you remember their names?
Yes, I remember one, they used to call him Kolë Mani.
Was he young?
Young. All of them were. They would put the young men in the mines.
Those who died in the tunnel, where were they taken?
Command would make a coffin for them. It was a designated place for graves of convicts, prisoners who died. They were in Shën Pal, there they stayed with guards. Even if you died there, they wouldn’t give you to the family. “When the sentence ends – they said – then the family can take it.” That was how it went.