Constitution 55, or Agitation and Propaganda against the State ( sq, Agjitacion dhe Propagandë kundër shtetit), was a

criminal offence In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

Communist Albania The People's Socialist Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika Popullore Socialiste e Shqipërisë, links=no) was the Marxist–Leninist one party state that existed in Albania from 1946 to 1992 (the official name of the country was the People's R ...

. This law was used from 1945 until 1991 and was part of the

Constitution of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania The Constitution of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania was the constitution used in the People's Socialist Republic of Albania. The constitution, promulgated on 28 December 1976, established Albania as a "People's Socialist Republic". The c ...

. The term was interchangeably used with counterrevolutionary agitation. The latter one was in use after the

Albanian Resistance of World War II In Albania, World War II began with its invasion by Italy in April 1939. Fascist Italy set up Albania as its protectorate or puppet state. The resistance was largely carried out by Communist groups against the Italian (until 1943) and then Germ ...

and was gradually phased out by the end of the 1990s in favor of the former one. According to article 55 of the Albanian Penal Code enacted during

Hoxhaism Hoxhaism () is a variant of anti-revisionist Marxism–Leninism that developed in the late 1970s due to a split in the anti-revisionist movement, appearing after the ideological dispute between the Chinese Communist Party and the Party of Labo ...

, "propaganda and agitation that called to overturn or undermining of the Albanian power" was punishable with at least 6 months of imprisonment and up to the

death sentence Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...

in the periods of war or unrest.

Definition

Article 55 was defined: :The creation of any type of organization of a fascist, anti-democratic, religious, and anti-socialist character is prohibited. :Fascist, anti-democratic, religious, war-mongering, and anti-socialist activities and propaganda, as well as the incitement of national and racial hatred are prohibited.

Usage

The article 55 was considered by the critics of the Albanian System as a grave violation of the

freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...

. It was among the main legal instruments for the prosecution of the Albanian dissidents, some other being the

punitive psychiatry Political abuse of psychiatry, also commonly referred to as punitive psychiatry, is the misuse of psychiatry, including diagnosis, detention, and treatment, for the purposes of obstructing the human rights of individuals and/or groups in a society ...

and the offense of the social parasitism. While the clauses were phrased using the provision "with the purpose of", official commentaries (referred to as "Additions and Explanations to..."), as well as the actual legal practice made it sufficient to assert that the prosecuted person of sane mind must have realized the malicious implications of their utterances. This article was the most common tool in fighting Albanian dissidents. The first time the law was used was in 1951 at the bombing of Soviet Embassy.

Trivia

Gazeta 55 ''Gazeta 55'' ( en, Newspaper 55) is an Albanian language newspaper published in Tirana, Albania. The newspaper is a politically unaffiliated daily, with nine reporters on staff records. The tabloid's owner is Fahri Balliu, an Albanian businessma ...

uses number "55" because Article 55 of the Constitution of communist Albania, dealt with Agitation and Propaganda related crimes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Agitation And Propaganda Against The State 1945 in law People's Socialist Republic of Albania Legal history of Albania 1991 disestablishments in Albania