1. I met Olsi Ibron once. He was a guy like many others, one of those we call good guys, who apart from work and family, I don’t think he had any other excesses.
I met him a few years ago, when a television program made him and his partners public figures, as part of a microcredit “extortion scheme”. They came to complain that the show was deliberately designed to ruin their business, that the witness interviews were deliberately constructed out of context and that they were not even given the opportunity to express their position. They even told me that they had been asked for money not to broadcast that program. Everything they told me did not seem strange to me given Albania and the way some of the media operate. I told them to file an ethics complaint, but if the attack against them is organized, as they believed, this is a problem that can only be resolved in court.
I couldn’t verify the money issue (it’s essentially a problem for investigative bodies), but later I saw the program, which was clearly unprofessional. You can’t accuse someone for an entire hour and not give them the opportunity to defend themselves. The accused party in that program was completely absent.
But, this is no longer noticeable, because this is the new standard of Albanian media.
2. I myself was harassed years ago, first by a mobile phone company and then by a company that collected the debts of this mobile phone company. It was about 3000 ALL, which the mobile phone company wrongfully claimed I owed them.
Also, years ago, two banks were harassing me, one because of a credit card and the other because of an unpaid microloan.
The harassment by both banks continued for months, even with phone calls to the family.
Therefore, I understand very well the stress of those who receive debt collection calls. Even though, within the laws of the Albanian state, the operation of these companies is completely legal.
Albania has a huge legal problem with bankruptcy. If you take out a loan and can’t repay it, no law or institution protects you. Banks are omnipotent. Credit is a chain around your neck that you will wear forever.
Given that we live in a banking dictatorship, it is clear to me why no Parliament reacts and why no media dares to talk about the credit system, much less the Prosecutor’s Office to stand up to protect the public interest.
3. In recent months, when the name of Olsi Ibro and his partners is again in the media, I have seen with sadness how in almost no article or news, the position of those accused is not reflected.
I see with sadness how some peripheral portals sprout completely unverified information, in articles without journalistic names at the bottom, that have clearly been planted there with the intention of keeping the flame of hatred against the “extortionists” burning.
I have seen with sadness how the Albanian media (either out of ignorance, or because they are part of another game) put the stamp of a criminal on them, even though the Court needs months and years to judge and decide whether there is a crime or not. In every country in the world, even in this country, you are guilty only after a court decision. But no. The media has put the stamp on them: they are the “fraudsters”, the “fraud scheme” with microcredits.
But it’s not just the media. The media gets the “food” ready and doesn’t have time to process it. I see vague statements from the Prosecutor’s Office, which talk about “mysterious places where the fraud documents were kept,” and many other oddities. Apparently, the Prosecutor’s Office distributes materials that resemble fiction novels, and not professional work.
4. To my knowledge, the companies accused of microcredits have won all the trials in the courts of the Albanian State. We are talking about dozens of trials won, and none lost. So, in dozens of decisions, they are not thieves nor do they have a microcredit fraud scheme.
But this fact, for the media, is of no importance.
But, there is Olsi Ibron.
There was.
Because he killed himself.
His suicide is not the suicide of a guilty person.
We see the culprits, the real criminals of Albania, every day how they “manfully” decide to do a few years in prison (for the sake of SPAK) and then get out and enjoy the millions. Those who don’t want the deal of “do a few years in prison, man, then enjoy the money”, choose to enjoy the millions stolen from public positions in political asylum, or in Dubai.
Olsi Ibro killed himself because ordinary people, those who have a private office and business, and not those who made money with public property, cannot withstand the pressure of public opinion and the massacre by the media. Good guys cannot withstand it when they realize that their truth will never come to light and the decision that you are a “criminal” has been made in advance, despite the fact that only the court should give it.
Even on the day he was to be buried, the news in the media had only 2 lines: line 1: how he killed himself – to satisfy the public’s perverse curiosity, line 2: don’t forget, this was one of those “swindlers” of the “extortion scheme”.
5. I killed Olsi Ibron.
I killed him because I want to build mechanisms for ethical journalism, which in this case and many others, failed to function. Even after so many years of dealing with ethics in the media, we still haven’t managed to teach irresponsible journalists that someone is not guilty, a fraud and a criminal just because a prosecutor, a police officer or your boss says so. You are only determined guilty by a final court decision. Until then, you are only a suspect.
Olsi Ibron was killed by journalists.
Investigative journalists who never built a balanced and ethical reporting on this event killed him.
They were killed by those journalists, editors, or owners who agreed to publish disinformation news, as part of a denigration campaign.
They killed all those irresponsible desk journalists who, to embellish their headlines, bombarded the public with “microcredit scammers.”
Olsi Ibron has been killed by many people.
All those who (I believe) organized and participated in a public discrediting campaign, which does not seem normal at all in a country like Albania, and where, the same media act as if the “5 D” scandal does not exist.
After many years, in Strasbourg, I wouldn’t be surprised if Olsi Ibro is found innocent.
But that won’t bring it to life.
And none of you will blush for the headlines you’ve been making in the newspapers for all these months.
Now, whose turn is it to drive him to suicide?
Taken from Politiko.al
Koloreto Cukali u lind në Tiranë, ku dhe u diplomua për Filozofi në Universitetin e Tiranës.
Që nga viti 2000 Kolo ka punuar në media të ndryshme: radio, TV, shtyp dhe në mediat e reja. Prej mbi 15 vjetësh ai është një kolumnist i shpeshtë nëpër gazeta të ndryshme ditore dhe në media të reja.
Kolo është gjithashtu dhe kineast, duke realizuar filma, serialë e dokumentarë të ndryshëm, si skenarist, regjisor e producent.
Që nga viti 2017 Kolo shërben si Kreu i Këshillit Shqiptar të Mediave, një organizatë gazetarësh qëllimi i së cilës është të vendosë standarde etike dhe të ndërtojë mekanizma të vetë-rregullimit në vend.
