They tried hard to make Sophia bend to their will, keeping her in a cell for three days and nights, but she refused to admit to such phantasmal activity. Because she doubted her will to resist, she always kept two pieces of a broken razor blade hidden in her dress. She decided it would be better to end her life than to tell tales about her friends to the government. For her, just as for her husband, death was better than bearing false witness.

The military court punished Dino with seven years of prison, confiscated all real estate and denied him his electoral rights for two years. When he was released from prison, he was unable to find work for five years. To help survive this difficult time, his wife worked at handicrafts from morning until night.

His second arrest was on the third of June, 1979. Many were arrested that day in Albania, in order to illustrate Enver Hoxha’s speech on the following day in Vlora: “War on the internal enemy!”

At this time Dino was 65 years old and in poor health, a consequence of his first prison sentence. But his strong character was still in evidence; he refused to deviate one millimeter from his original principles and tell of his friends’ hatred of this rotten system. He was again charged with being a Greek agent and was brutalized at the hands of his investigators.

Still he didn’t give up. After nine months of investigation his health was so bad that he was only one step away from death.