24/1 is converted into 451 takes the Council of Ministers to court and requests the repeal of Decision 541, according to which 420 municipal secretaries are dismissed without justification from their jobs, and according to Brojka, they cannot be dismissed because they are not political employees but civil servants. This lawsuit began this weekend with the strike of municipal workers, which according to their leader “was not called by order. The forms of protest will continue. I myself, as mayor, will go on strike, but I do not force anyone. Whoever feels like it can join the strike; I have followed the legal path.” Making an analogy with the dismissed leftists when the democrats were in power, Brojka explains that they were indeed dismissed during the PD government, but 24/1 was accompanied by a justification. On the day when his subordinates went on strike, Brojka was not in Tirana and learned of Deputy Prime Minister Fino’s statement only yesterday. Rejecting Fino’s claim that “the strike has political tendencies,” the mayor explains that it should not be politicized, because this is something completely normal, since if you are a worker you feel threatened by your job and you protest so that the government does not make such actions, although the strike was only carried out by those who considered it a necessity. However, work in the municipal sectors has not been interrupted, and in fact no citizen has complained about this strike. Majlinda Xhema

The Council of Ministers spent its days in the Constitutional Court. This has been the latest decision coming out of the offices of the association of mayors. Driza changes lawyer Since yesterday, the president of “Populli” has “divorced” his lawyer. It was a decision signed by the members of the High Council of Justice, which forced Bashkim Driza to be represented by another lawyer during the court hearing. Two days earlier, at its regular meeting, the HCJ, among four judges from the court in the capital, appointed two prosecutors to the General Prosecutor’s Office as well. This time, Bashkim Driza’s legal defender is the lawyer Agim Tirana. Having been found guilty by “Populli” on a given day, he will need, in the next phone conversation from America, to give his opinion on the candidacy of the defender. A few days ago, against the decision of the court of first instance in the capital to withdraw the file for further investigation, Tirana filed an appeal in the second-instance court, reiterating the request for a change in the security measure for his client and at the same time rejecting the accusation of “money transfer.” According to Tirana, “since I was appointed by the High Council of Justice as a prosecutor in the General Prosecutor’s Office, I am not allowed to continue representing as a defense lawyer in the Court of Appeal and beyond. In these circumstances, the case will be represented by another lawyer, whom I think should be from the group that defended the accused as Driza’s collaborators, since they know the voluminous file.” According to the former lawyer, they are now in the context of talks, apparently with the people who have come to replace lawyer Nikoll Topjani, seen again from distant America. A. Tol.

Leart and Orik Shtyti: “Revenge” is a fabrication of Gazideda and Shehu The authors of the bomb at VEFA have its protection The criminals are wearing the blue uniform Leart and Orik Shtyti: “Revenge” is a fabrication of Gazideda and Shehu The leaders of the “gang” accuse the police The authors of the bomb at VEFA have its protection The criminals are wearing the blue uniform “The police is an incriminated institution.” This is the statement of the sons of Aredit Shtyti, in a letter in which Leart and Orik Shtyti, accused by Albanian justice as the leaders and heads of the “Revenge for Justice” gang, accuse the police as an incriminated institution. Not only that, but their letter states explicitly: “As long as there are in the police people who fabricate the terrorist organization ‘Revenge for Justice’, according to the mind of Gazideda and Agim Shehu, masked robbers and bomb and car-bomb planters will act without the police so much as batting an eyelid.” According to them, the source mentioned in the article is slandering in order to protect the real criminals. They say that now these “sources” have such power that they are able to do more than just slander. “Therefore we continue to stay away from Albania,” they conclude their letter, saying that this will continue as long as no one knows how long deliberate criminal speculation of a wholly governmental nature will last. One of the accusations weighing against “Revenge for Justice,” among many others, is that of placing a car bomb near a VEFA market in Tirana in February 1996, a car bomb whose explosion killed two citizens and injured several others. Following the arrest of persons accused of being members of the gang, the most important defendant was the suspected L[e?]art Shtyti, who together with his brother Orik, who did not surrender to the police and has been abroad since that time, were accused as the leaders of the gang. After the robbery carried out during the March riots in the capital, Learti and the other arrested members of the “gang” escaped from the cell. If there is still no confirmation for the letter, for the Shtyti brothers it can be said that with what they send to the newspaper they are indeed making a statement from outside Albania. On the other hand, as is clear from their letter, they accuse the Albanian police and the SHIK bodies, as they call the “legend” of the existence of their gang. They may need to be taken with caution, but the Shtyti brothers let it be understood that they know the real author of the car bomb at VEFA and that this person still has police backing. G. Cobo[?]

Statement by the Daily Newspapers and Albanian Magazines Today, on 11 November 1997, all publishers and directors of daily newspapers, as well as magazines, met to discuss the severe economic situation of the Albanian press, as a result of the increase in VAT and other fiscal obligations imposed on the press. This situation has also arisen as a result of the dizzying increase in printing-house fees and the increase in press transport fees, which can no longer be borne by any press organ. Likewise, the press still cannot cover the income of 60% of the Albanian population living in villages, not to mention that advertisements on newspaper pages are non-existent, which has caused a significant drop in revenue from this market. Given the severe economic situation, which will lead to bankruptcy, the entire written press, starting from the repeated requests of the leaders of the private press made with the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister to discuss grouping, and given the negative responses of the Nano cabinet, all publishers and directors of the Albanian written press decided: 1- On 15 November 1997, an open-ended strike of all the Albanian press will begin, until the specific problem of the press is resolved. 2- The publishers and directors of the main newspapers appoint a four-member commission made up of - Shpëtim Çarçako - Dalip Greca - Ylli Rakipi - Aleksandër Frangaj which will negotiate with the government or with the President of the Republic for a solution to the crisis of the Albanian press. 3- We call on all other Albanian newspapers and magazines to show solidarity with our strike. 1- “Koha Jonë” Armard Shkullaku 2- “Republika” Dalip Greca 3- “ZP” Luan Rama 4- “Gazeta Shqiptare” Ylls Bozhaku 5- “Albania” Ylli Rakipi 6- “Dita Informacion” Astrit Patozi 7- “Shekulli” Shpëtim Nazarko 8- “Bulevardi” Koço Kokëdhima 9- “Klan” Bledo Malo 10- “Hosteni” Aleksandër Frangaj 11- “Rilindja Demokratike” Filip Çakuli Tirana, 11 November 1997

Zylyftar Ramizi returns to the homeland The head of Internment-Exile has arrived in Tirana, this time without the noise of a diving helmet on his head. Just a few days after the ruling issued by the third-instance court in Tirana, former high-ranking party and state officials accused of genocide and crimes against humanity in collaboration began to “land” one after another. According to some sources, two days ago the former head of the National Intelligence Service, Zylyftar Ramizi, arrived from exile. The former head of the SHIK perhaps had the worst fate, since he was tried and sentenced first among the groups of genocidists. On 24 May last year, together with Mino, Çela, Myftiu and Lleshi, described as the head of the “internment-exile” system, Ramizi received a death sentence from the court of first instance. After a few months, while chained and wearing a diving helmet, he learned that the Court of Appeal had overturned the sentence, converting it into 25 years of imprisonment. But it seems that the fate of the former communists from the time of Hoxha’s storm will smile only after the victory of the left coalition in the elections of 29 June this year. After four days of trial, a ruling by the Court of Cassation overturned the two above-mentioned decisions, ending the trial and ordering the release of the former genocidists. After that, just a few days later, Bushati and Bengasi returned, and two days ago Ramizi as well. According to some sources, these days the former last communist president, Ramiz Alia, is expected to return from Sweden, in the first instance. Apparently, the full framework of the “Internment-Exile Commission” is gradually being completed. A.Tol.

Grunasi and his accomplice are back in court. After a long interruption, during which everything had ended without even getting started, yesterday at midday, in the court of first instance in the capital, under the direction of Arian Balliu, the trial of Aleksandër Grunjas and Eleni Bojaxhiu resumed. The prosecution accuses the president of the firm “Grunasi” and his financier of “theft and fraud in collaboration involving large sums.” According to the prosecution materials and the expert report, the fraud against creditors amounts to 14 million lek. After the reading of the indictment, since the trial was being held in absentia, the prosecutor requested that the witnesses for the prosecution be questioned. For this purpose, at the next hearing, scheduled to hear 21 witnesses, including 11 former employees of this company, a session is expected. This request was approved by the prosecutor. The defense representatives of Grunasi and Bojaxhiu asked the court to set a hearing for one of this month, in which the witnesses would be directly connected to the company’s activities. Perhaps Grunasi will have the fate of the colleagues of “Populli” and “Xhaf[?]”.

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