Berisha asks for a statement, a van and a tent SP: Hunger strike helps Milošević. Page 3 Photo: Geri Noka

Freedom of speech, an eternal sacrilege for Albanians. And once again, the hunger strike by four DP deputies continued, in the fight against the official media’s seizure by the regime’s mouthpieces. Hajdari, Minarolli, Memia and Vejsiu appear to be heading toward self-sacrifice to secure for their party a genuinely legitimate status connected with access to information on RTSH. Hunger strikes, however forced, cannot be prejudged. Ultimately, they embody the defense of democratic values, for which Albanians also pay a tax. Television has long been scorning freedom of speech, legitimizing the freedom to lie and serving a handful of politicians dressed in power. We are not expressing our judgments about the forms of political struggle chosen by the DP, or about how effective they may be. For the print and electronic media, what matters is information and its truthfulness. Sadly, Albanian Television is ignoring this role, fragmenting the spaces available for information. Whether the protests are lawful or not is for the law-enforcement bodies to confirm. From a journalistic standpoint, on whose principles the staff of Radio and Television is also supposed to base its work, street protests are not passing news. All the more so when they are being held by a legitimate opposition party. Television journalists tend instead to favor one-sided political commentary, limiting themselves to Berisha’s press conferences. A murder or another crime is also illegal, but television does not produce taped news reports about it. Brussels appealed for the opposition’s demands to be respected as a matter of principle, but the Socialists apparently prefer electoral self-sacrifice to demands for the institutionalization of democratic values, among which the right to information is undoubtedly one of the most fundamental. The police cordon imposed yesterday around the four deputies who had shut themselves in shows that the strike is not a spontaneous act, but one provoked by the Socialist government.

Vranicki returns to Albania on October 31 — Page 4 Italian police hold victims’ relatives for three hours. GODO: The Albanian state should have done more about the “Otranto Case” — Page 5

TIRANA 25 complaints against DP activists — Page 2 Berisha’s amnesty pardons the Army — Page 10 DURRËS Bullets in a car; two young people killed. VLORË A broken engagement spews bullets SARANDË Attack on the “Mimoza” ferry ELBASAN A cow sets off a mine: three victims PËRRENJAS I million $ buried in Bushtricë — Pages 6–7

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