photographed in a cafe in Tirana

Born on December 21, 1972, in internment in the village of Plug, Lushnja, Bilal Kola remained there until the age of 18, enduring numerous deprivations under the communist regime. His father, Kurt Kola, came from a nationalist family and and experienced internment in the infamous Tepelenë camp as a child, followed by 26 harsh years in the communist regime’s prisons, including Gjirokastër, Spaç, Qafë-Bari, and Burrel. From the age of 2, Bilal‘s childhood was marked by prison visits to see his father. The family left internment in 1990.
In 1998, Bilal graduated with a degree in Law from South Bank University in London, and in 2011, he earned a PhD in Law from Montgomery

International University, USA. Since July 2014, he has been leading the Institute for the Integration of Former Politically Persecuted Persons and continues his career as a lawyer.