We are worried. The economy is not moving forward We are worried. The economy is not moving forward P. 9

The murder suspect was killed under suspicious circumstances P. 11

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By Sabri GODO The stripping away of citizenship from every kind of property, as a means of destroying its independence and character, was ruthlessly carried out in Albania. The whole population was reduced to servitude under a system ruled by slander, denunciation and treachery, under an ever more brutal communist administration. Only in this way could the dictatorship’s boundless power be secured. Total expropriation was carried out step by step through several laws and decrees, but not without resistance and clashes. Hundreds of thousands of owners were thrown into prisons and internment camps. Thousands of villagers, the backbone of the peasantry, were subjected to civil death. Private property, as the eternal law that has regulated social relations, could not be eliminated without bloodshed and violence. As I mention these things, it feels to me as if I am speaking in 1991. But given the way things have gone, we must ask ourselves: have we built all the bridges that connect us to the past? Especially where property is concerned—which was and remains the ongoing conflict between the citizen and the state—we still suffer from several pronounced communist mindsets. Sometimes one might say that we are making an issue of demolishing unauthorized private shops, which shows that privatization has gone beyond its limits. So it seems. But what about land, the basis on which every kind of property is built? Among other things, if we had respected land ownership, today we would not be facing the urban-planning catastrophe into which we are sinking ever deeper. I do not mean by this that the property issue concerns only land. A number of laws are just as arbitrary with regard to property as certain deputies are. Property is a problem Continued on page 3

Although it was initially believed that Zani would be present at his brother’s funeral, everyone thought that he would certainly be there to say his “final” goodbye. However, the boss’s arrival was ruled out by two impossibilities (according to the townspeople): he was undergoing treatment, and his health was not good enough to endure a journey by sea to Vlorë and attend the funeral. P. 7

The second reason was that the police forces would arrest him if he appeared in public, since the Vlorë Court of First Instance had sentenced him in absentia to an indefinite prison term for the incident that took place two weeks earlier.

Inside: The electoral process is being manipulated Mediu: The President’s appointment of 5 members of the Central Election Commission constitutes a violation of a constitutional article. “We are calling for the drafting of a new law on the electoral process, under which all the parties from the three political groups could enter the elections with equal rights. Otherwise, we will boycott the new elections.” This is what the right-wing parties declared through “E djathta e Bashkuar” and “Bashkimi për Demokraci” during a meeting at which they publicly denounced the manipulation of the electoral process through the violation of P. 2

• Tirana is punished by the Kanun P. 11

Tirana’s Socialists threaten a boycott. Fatos Nano has no mandate to hold such meetings. The meeting planned between former PS chairman Nano and the Socialists of the Tirana branch has failed twice. Meanwhile, it has been rescheduled to take place today at the Academy of Arts. P. 3

• Four dead in Fier-zë Van carrying 12 passengers rolls over in Lioqen P. 10

The long ordeal of the Albanian hostage-taker, who was killed according to two versions given by official Athens The “tragic” hours under the pressure of a 30-year-old who put the governments and police forces of two countries on edge 8:00 p.m. The hostage-taker is killed. (Official version) 8:00 p.m. The hostage-taker is killed. (Official version) In the Albanian hostage-taker incident, in which he was holding several bus passengers, he was killed and the hostages were released. The release of the five people who remained hostages was carried out “with the intervention” of the Greek police. The hostages were released in Palaistra, a locality 11 km from Follorina, where the bus had been blocked by police since Wednesday evening. Greek Socialist Prime Minister Kostas Simitis expressed satisfaction in several statements to the press about the success of the operation and reiterated that P. 11

Private property is sacred

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Today, 16.07.1999, at 10:00, at the PBK National Front headquarters. Press conference