Now the West is taking hesitant steps toward Albania No one could have predicted that the excessive zeal of the PD’s “loyalists” would cause considerable damage to President Berisha and the country in general. Various international institutions, primarily the EU and the State Department, could not help reacting to the complaints of the Albanian opposition, which was outraged by the scale of the manipulation. For this reason, the negative reaction of international opinion was natural. The percentage achieved by Berisha’s party caused astonishment, but also a certain shock among foreign observers. Albania was now being seen as being under the absolute power of one individual, which would mean a major step backward on the road to democracy. Thus, the West, which had not spared its praise for the steps Berisha had taken to transform the country, would suddenly regret having done so. This caused a number of agreements expected to be made possible by Italy, as the country holding the rotating presidency, to be put off indefinitely. Although Foreign Minister Serreqi agreed in Berlin to discuss holding elections again in a number of areas, the current president of the EU Council of Ministers, Lamberto Dini, and the President of the EU, Jacques Santer, have decided to cancel a visit to the Balkans simply because they do not wish to land in Tirana, burdened by the heavy weight of election manipulation—in other words, with its democracy in doubt. While the country is expected to strengthen its position in the international arena, our process of integration into various continental structures is being blocked as a result of the desire and obsession to monopolize political life. From abroad, specifically, most recently from Brussels, signals are coming that elections should be held again in at least a number of areas many times greater than those claimed by the PD and the governing coalition. This should happen soon, with new elections to be held within a relatively short period. More or less the same thing was proposed by the PR only a few days after the events of 26 May. Such a compromise seems the most reasonable under the circumstances created in Albania after the elections. The PD’s domination of parliament would significantly diminish pluralism in the country, turning it into a kind of one-party state. Nevertheless, the PR supports a detailed examination of the reports and data on the manipulation found in various areas, and only then should a sound conclusion be reached, one that can better serve the future. Above all, it would have been good to make positive changes to the electoral law, which to a considerable extent was responsible for creating the highly unpleasant situation during and after the elections.

Chief Prosecutor Adnan Xhelili says there will be further arrests for crimes against humanity. Fatos Nano will soon give explanations about the events of 2 April. Yesterday, the third group of former bloc officials completed the judicial investigation at the Tirana Court. The former senior military officers, who played a particular role in internments and deportations, are now awaiting the prosecution’s closing arguments. The defendants Prokop Murra, Dilaver Bengasi, Qemal Bregasi, Foto Çami and Zef Loka listened for four hours straight to testimony about the internments, arrests and extrajudicial punishment of more than 1,000 citizens. The 20 witnesses described the entire inhuman mechanism, in flagrant violation of even the most basic human rights and freedoms, which was implemented under the signatures of the former Minister of Defence and former heads of the internal affairs branches. For them, too, the sentences range from 15 years in prison to capital punishment, which three defendants have received so far. Today the prosecution delivers its closing arguments against three former district first secretaries from the dictatorship era. Judge Gjin Gjoni, who completed the judicial investigation in record time, will today submit the sentence sought by the prosecutor. But while the trials of three groups of former bloc officials accused of crimes against humanity are coming to an end, signs that the trial of around 20 others, headed by Ramiz Alia, will begin are still far off. Tirana Chief Prosecutor Adnan Xhelili, who led the case that has just concluded, declared in the courtroom: “The prosecution will bring further defendants to trial for genocide and crimes against humanity.” As was reported some time ago, first in the Prosecutor’s Office’s “crosshairs” was Gramoz Ruçi, who was summoned over the events of 2 April, for which he will answer together with Ramiz Alia and Fatos Nano. B. Malo

A group of six people, all Albanians, were caught yesterday by Italian police at the railway station in the southern city of Bari, carrying 25 kg of drugs. The rather strange behavior of the six people mentioned above, who were waiting at the railway station, aroused the suspicions of local police. After stopping and immediately searching them, police found a large quantity of drugs, amounting to a full 25 kg and constituting the largest quantity of drugs seized from Albanians. Just two or three weeks earlier, Bari police had caught two other groups of Albanians transporting 7 and 13 kg of drugs. Italian anti-drug police officials have expressed concern about the sharp increase in the flow of drug traffickers from Albania and, according to them, Albania is becoming one of the key points in the trafficking of narcotic substances. Albanian drug traffickers, taking advantage of Italy’s geographic position, transport drugs from Albania to Bari and then, through their associates, whose outward appearance arouses no suspicion, distribute them by train to the north of the Apennine Peninsula and onward to other European countries. K. V.