A storm of dismissals at the head of the Justice system. The Sudists shoulder to shoulder with the police. Ceka: 12 years for the Government Hajdari disrupts Berisha’s conference. Kakavia and Kapshtica are closed. Alimuçaj brings the quarrel into the Government

Minister Kondi in a campaign for “transparency” The High Government Commission chaired by Fino decided to entrust the Minister of Justice, Thimio Kondi, with defending the case of the administrators in Cassation, even though Cassation has provided no official confirmation whatsoever that the appeal in the case won by the VEFA Company in the Court of Appeal will be examined. According to a special article of the Civil Procedure Code, it is up to the Court of Appeal to forward the court file to Cassation, if a procedural violation is observed. The deadline for filing an appeal is 30 days after the decision is received. In the VEFA case, the decision was final. But even if Cassation were to decide to examine this case, Minister Kondi’s presence would be embarrassing for the judges. Besides his ministerial post, Kondi also serves as vice-chairman of the High Council of Justice, the supreme body that appoints or dismisses judges of all ranks in the judiciary. A Legal Directorate operates near the Council of Ministers, with a staff of selected jurists, which could perfectly well follow the case in question. But it seems that the sudden failure in the Court of Appeal has also angered the government officials. Their propaganda has suffered a shock. They do not even realize that bringing the Minister of Justice into the game, as a special case in the history of modern trials at the end of this century, makes the government’s position even more ridiculous. It is feeling its own inferiority. The political tendency to close domestic firms and companies pushes the government’s will toward prejudice against the justice institutions. The leaders of the Council of Ministers, Nano, Malaj, etc., have publicly accused the courts at all levels of corruption and bias. But on the other hand, the Council of Ministers forgets that it is the prosecution authorities who have the right, on the basis of evidence and new investigations, to ask the Court of First Instance that issued decisions on the mortgaging of company assets to conduct new judicial proceedings and annul the previous decisions. This too, if contradictory facts have been gathered. Today, “Republika” with 24 pages and only 20 lekë. News, culture, sport and of course a literary supplement on pages 11-14

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Nano and Berisha in a TV debate — Page 3 File: The Mayor tells about the burning of the Municipality of Vlora. Zilja: Gazidede was reporting to PD — Page 5 The “Diana” investigations: The car was traveling at normal speed — Page 19 Italian visas, quarrel at the embassy — Page 2 VEFA liquidates its creditors in Tirana and Vlora — Page 22

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