Photographed in their former house in Korça

Born on October 22, 1953, in Korçë, the drama of Nestor Topençarov’s family began on April 8, 1976, when officers of the State Security and the Ministry of Internal Affairs arrested his father, a well-known topographer originally from what is now North Macedonia. At the time, Nestor was studying at the Agricultural Institute in Tirana. His father was initially accused of illegal possession of weapons and later of being a Yugoslav agent.

A year later, Nestor himself was arrested and pressured to denounce his father for hostile activities against the state. Despite enduring physical and psychological torture, he refused to confess to any accusations. On April 15, 1977, the Korçë Court sentenced him to 7 years in prison, along with 5 years of deprivation of liberty and voting rights for “agitation and propaganda.” His mother’s appeal to the Supreme Court for a reduced sentence was rejected.

After being imprisoned in Tirana, Nestor was transferred to Unit 303 in Spaç. He was released in 1982 after serving 6 years and 27 days in prison. On October 20, 1990, the family was granted the right to repatriate to Yugoslavia (now North Macedonia). In June 1992, Nestor emigrated to Italy, where he still resides today.

Nestor Topençarov has shared his story of persecution in two books: Drama e jetës (The Drama of Life) and Dekadat e errëta të së kaluarës (The Dark Decades of the Past).