Adil Çarçani
Adil Çarçani was an Albanian politician who served as the 24th Prime Minister of Albania in the Communist regime led by Enver Hoxha. He served as the titular head of the Albanian government in the years immediately preceding the fall of the Communist regime.Biography
Çarçani was born on May 5, 1922 in the village of Fushë-Bardhë, near Gjirokastër. During World War II, he fought for Partisan forces against the Italian fascists, and joined the Communist party and the government that it set up after the war. He became mining minister in the 1950s, joined the Politburo of the Party of Labour of Albania in the 1960s, and by 1981 had become First Deputy Prime Minister.
On December 18, 1981, immediately after the violent death of Mehmet Shehu, Çarçani became the 24th Prime Minister of Albania. He remained in that position until the Communist government began to fall in 1991, when he resigned after mobs tore down the statue of Enver Hoxha, Albania's communist leader from the 1940s until the 1980s. Çarçani was, however, elected to parliament that year, and gave the opening speech.Post-1991
On 21 May 1994, Çarçani was tried for and abuse of power, alongside Ramiz Alia. He was tried, found guilty and sentenced to prison. His sentence was commuted to five years of house arrest, however, as he was beginning to suffer from health problems. He died under house arrest in Tirana.
