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He has not been involved with the gangs P. 3

Majko is winning more socialist hearts P. 5

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By Agim BAÇI Yesterday, the Albanian Prosecutor’s Office took a successful step toward driving away the few investors and charitable organizations still left in Albania, describing them as “Mafia houses.” This step by the Prosecutor’s Office appears to be the final blow to the complete absence of law and order in Albania, an absence that has brought about the clinical death of the Albanian economy, especially that of those who dared to invest during these “medieval” years. The path used by the head of the Anti-Mafia unit at the General Prosecutor’s Office, without having a single Mafia investor “in his hands,” is the shortest way to deter “some grown-up” who has thought he could invest in Albania, and the surest way to make even those few investors who live “Albanian- ...” Certainly, no one can deny that undesirable elements for Albanians, even Mafiosi dangerous to all the countries of the Region, may hide among investors or charitable organizations. (In a free country where the state does not exist and nobody investigates professionally, every madman is free to do whatever he wants, if nobody catches him or recognizes that he is one.) But a prosecutor’s office, which ordinarily should operate on the basis of facts, cannot stop at statements, much less imitate political games stemming from politicians who care only about the chair they are sitting on (read: have occupied). Since coming to power, the threads of power of the left-wing coalition have not, on the basis of facts, uncovered any Mafia investor, as would befit the organs of Justice. Meanwhile, the only action taken by this state has been to accuse some people of Arab origin, for whom extradition or mysterious execution has mostly been used. Therefore, the step taken by the Albanian Prosecutor’s Office looks less like a “professional discovery” than political support for the diktat that the left-wing coalition government has begun to impose. The playacting ... [continues in the adjacent column] ... a shortcut to deter “some grown-up” who has thought they can invest in Albania, as well as live “in the Albanian way” start thinking twice about what they are still doing. The spectacular steps taken by Albanian Prosecutor’s Office bodies to uncover crime and smuggling, the bizarre court rulings, the hypothetical statements of ministers and the prime minister, and the complete lack of law and order are the real blockage and asphyxiation of every aspect of Albanians’ lives. These steps become more troubling when one of them—even a senior official in a field “where only facts are spoken”—publishes the latest “Albanian-style” absurdities. If Office has evidence about mafia investors and mafia benefactors, they must hurry to publish it and immediately remove those who are abusing poor Albania. ...Otherwise, let us say it plainly: A state that speaks without evidence, a prosecutor’s office that writes poetry about “mafia houses,” a minister who tells tales of revolts, and a prime minister who keeps all these “criminals” around him should neither undertake nor can undertake the task of directing a country’s life. Albanians must help bring about the peaceful departure of this government as citizens...

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Police officers from the Public Order unit sprayed with gunfire P. 7

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The leadership of the Republican Party, Tirana, extends its condolences to the President of Turkey, Mr. Demirel, as well as to the Turkish citizens injured by the great natural disaster. Albanian Republicans, moved by the losses suffered by their brothers, stand with Turkey in these painful moments, ready to offer their help.

[Caricature; side signature: “A. [?] 99”]

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