// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did SHIK say to its friend? "IKnow a good hike

National Informative Service

Shërbimi Informativ Kombëtar SHIK
Agency overview
Formed	2 July 1991 (1991-07-02)
Preceding agency	Sigurimi
Dissolved	22 November 1999 (1999-11-22) (renamed as SHISH)
Superseding agency	State Intelligence Service
Jurisdiction	Albania
Headquarters	Tirana, Albania

The National Informative Service (Albanian: Shërbimi Informativ Kombëtar, SHIK), also translated as the National Information Service or National Intelligence Service, was the main civilian intelligence and security service of Albania during the early post-communist transition. It was created in 1991 after the dismantling and reform of the communist-era Sigurimi and was later reorganised and renamed the State Intelligence Service (Shërbimi Informativ i Shtetit, SHISH).

SHIK was formally established by Law No. 7495 of 2 July 1991. According to the official history of SHISH, its primary mission was to prevent, detect and interrupt unconstitutional activity that threatened Albania's freedom, independence, defensive capacity, territorial integrity and national wealth, and it was intended to function as a depoliticised institution. In practice, SHIK became controversial during the presidency of Sali Berisha and the Democratic Party government of the 1990s. Human Rights Watch and other observers reported allegations that the service was used against opposition politicians, journalists and government critics, particularly before and during the 1997 Albanian civil unrest.

In 1997, amid the collapse of the Albanian state during the pyramid-scheme crisis, Prime Minister Bashkim Fino announced the abolition or suspension of SHIK's activity and accepted the resignation of its director Bashkim Gazidede. A 1998 law kept the institution under the name SHIK but redefined it as an intelligence body operating in accordance with the Constitution and Albanian law; in 1999 a Constitutional Court decision changed its name to SHISH.

Background and creation

SHIK emerged during Albania's transition from communist one-party rule to political pluralism. The communist-era Sigurimi had operated from 1944 to 1991 as the state security, intelligence and secret-police apparatus of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania. After 1990, with the introduction of pluralism, the state security organs were formally reformed to adapt them to the requirements of the rule of law.

The official institutional history of SHISH states that SHIK was created in 1991 by Law No. 7495, dated 2 July 1991, "On the organisation of the National Informative Service". Its legal mandate was framed around protecting the constitutional order and national security rather than enforcing the ideology of the former communist regime. Albanian press accounts of the service's leadership list Irakli Koçollari as the first director of SHIK, serving from 1 August 1991 to 29 June 1992.

Legal mandate

The 1991 law described SHIK as an intelligence body serving national security. SHISH's official history summarises the 1991 mandate as preventing, discovering and stopping unconstitutional activity that endangered Albania's freedom, independence, defence capacity, territorial integrity and national wealth. Unlike the Sigurimi, which had been subordinated to the ruling communist party and operated according to internal party platforms, SHIK was presented as a depoliticised institution.

The extent to which SHIK achieved that depoliticisation became one of the central controversies of the 1990s. Human Rights Watch argued in 1996 that Albania's Democratic Party government had used state institutions, including the secret police, the courts and state-owned media, to discredit rivals and consolidate power.

Leadership under Bashkim Gazidede

Bashkim Gazidede became SHIK director on 29 June 1992 and remained in office until 9 April 1997. His tenure coincided with the presidency of Sali Berisha and the period of Democratic Party rule following the 1992 Albanian parliamentary election. Albanian media later described Gazidede's leadership as the most politically controversial period in the history of the post-communist service.

According to Human Rights Watch, by the mid-1990s Albania had made substantial progress compared with the communist period, but the legacy of one-party rule continued to affect state institutions. The organisation reported that critics of the governing party were often treated as critics of democracy itself, and that the opposition complained of harassment, surveillance and political pressure by police and secret-police structures.

Human rights criticism and allegations

Opposition and media

Human Rights Watch reported in 1996 that opposition parties and political organisations had complained of repression by the state and that there were allegations of harassment by the secret police, including telephone tapping. The report also recorded specific complaints from opposition activists and journalists who alleged SHIK harassment or pressure. It noted that editor Ilirian Zhupa of the independent newspaper Populli Po was convicted for defaming Gazidede after publishing an article on former Sigurimi agents; Zhupa and other journalists told Human Rights Watch that the case was seen as a way to silence the press.

The same report stated that a journalist from the magazine Hosteni was questioned by police and SHIK inspectors after the magazine published a satirical image of President Berisha. Human Rights Watch also recorded allegations by opposition figures that SHIK agents monitored political opponents and disrupted meetings, while noting that some allegations could not be independently confirmed.

Remzi Hoxha disappearance

One of the most serious allegations linked to SHIK concerned the 1995 disappearance of Remzi Hoxha, an ethnic Albanian from Macedonia who lived in Tirana. In a 2006 statement to the OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting, Amnesty International said Hoxha was taken from his workplace on 21 October 1995 by men in civilian clothes in a vehicle reportedly later identified as belonging to SHIK.

Amnesty International stated that a judicial investigation concluded in 2004 that at least four SHIK employees in 1995 had been involved in Hoxha's disappearance, but that his fate and whereabouts remained unknown. The organisation called on Albania to clarify the case and end impunity for past human-rights violations.

1997 crisis

During the 1997 Albanian civil unrest, which followed the collapse of pyramid investment schemes, SHIK was widely criticised as a politically loyal instrument of the Berisha administration. Human Rights Watch's 1998 World Report described the year as a tumultuous and tragic period in which around 2,000 people lost their lives, and stated that the government had ordered the secret police and army to quell the uprising as protests spread. It also reported that the ruling Democratic Party controlled the executive, judiciary, legislature, police, SHIK and electronic media, and that the secret police harassed opposition politicians, journalists and government critics during the crisis.

On 2 April 1997, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported that Prime Minister Bashkim Fino had announced the abolition of SHIK, blocked funds for the agency, and said that a new intelligence service would be built "with a new face". Fino also said that he and Berisha had accepted the resignations of Gazidede and deputy director Bujar Rama.

Reorganisation into SHISH

After the 1997 crisis and subsequent elections, Albania undertook security-sector reforms. A study on security-sector reform in Albania noted that the actions of the services during the early transition negatively affected their reputation among citizens and that, after 1997, the police service and intelligence service were priorities for reform.

SHISH's official history states that Law No. 8391 of 28 October 1998 defined the National Informative Service as an intelligence body in function of national security, operating in conformity with the Constitution and laws of the Republic of Albania. On 22 November 1999, Constitutional Court Decision No. 61 changed the name from SHIK to the State Intelligence Service (Shërbimi Informativ i Shtetit, SHISH).

Directors

No.	Name	Took office	Left office	Notes
1	Irakli Koçollari	1 August 1991	29 June 1992	First director after the establishment of SHIK.
2	Bashkim Gazidede	29 June 1992	9 April 1997	Director during most of the Berisha presidency and the 1997 crisis.
3	Astrit Kodra	9 April 1997	29 May 1997	Acting head during the National Reconciliation Government period.
4	Arben Karkini	29 May 1997	21 August 1997	Served briefly before the appointment of Fatos Klosi.
5	Fatos Klosi	21 August 1997	7 August 2002	Directed the service during the 1998 reform and 1999 renaming to SHISH.

See also

• Sigurimi
• SHISH
• 1997 Albanian civil unrest
• Remzi Hoxha
• AIDSSH