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P. 5 Albanians deprived of their rights By attorney Nafis BEZHANI It is not right for the Albanian people to be deprived of the right to a referendum on a cardinal issue such as the death penalty. The European structures that are ... unnatural, because politicians defend limited interests, or interests dependent on international factors, whereas the people have a more realistic vision of the concrete measures that may be required. Those who today seek to impose conditions on the abolition of the death penalty in Albania are currently living through a prosperous era; however, in periods resembling the Albanian reality, Europe’s leading countries had the death penalty enshrined in their legislation. Naturally, a day will come in Albania when all domestic structures may naturally call for the abolition of this penalty, because it is known to serve only during transitional periods. But at present, introducing this penalty is not only a need, but also a necessity. There is an obvious contradiction in Albanian society over this important issue. On the one hand, political circles hold differing views on introducing the death penalty, while the broad mass of ordinary people, for the most part, support it. This is a matter of rejected or altered positions under the influence of of concrete measures that may curb this criminality. In the times we are going through, the death penalty is a good lesson for criminal elements, and they see in it the direct response of the law’s severity. These elements are therefore compelled to back down before carrying out their criminal acts, because, after all, they know very well what awaits them. It is clear that no wrongdoer dares to engage in criminal activity when they clearly foresee that a certain death sentence awaits them. In such a case, at least most of them (who from time to time take advantage of failures to enforce the law)—most of them, that is—would refrain from such activity, greatly reducing the number of crimes in Albania. Naturally, as I have emphasized, this is a necessary but temporary measure, which should nevertheless be legitimized solely by the will of the people through a plebiscitary referendum.

JUSTICE

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© [cartoonist’s signature, illegible]

Today, at 11:00, the leadership will hold a press conference at the Republican Party’s Central Headquarters.

P. 10 Experts do not confirm Kakami’s death

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