The Prosecutor's Office is also investigating in Italy Albanians and Italians seek clarity TIRANA — The Italian ambassador in Tirana is seeking clarity about the case of the stolen aid. The Prosecutor's Office is also investigating in Italy Aid scandal: Ambassador Foresti meets with Meksi Albanians and Italians seek clarity CARLO BOLLINO TIRANA — Albanians are seeking clarity. But so are Italians. Clarity about a grave matter: the fact that they were deceived and made objects of suspicion by their elected government officials, who took advantage of a people's emergency and the poverty it faced. The generosity that was also mentioned in the resolution of the Albanian Parliament, by the Chairman of the Control Commission, Blërim Cela, who has asked the Tirana investigators to shed light on the role played by representatives of the old communist regime and by the leader of the current Socialist Party. A suspicion—that the aid sent by the Italian government was immediately put to use—which also implicates former Italian ambassador Torquato Cardilli. The matter is now being handled by Italy's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome, which will certainly not delay in presenting its conclusions as soon as possible. An Italian Foreign Minister, Gianni De Michelis, was also accused in the cooperation scandal and was removed from that post. He was accused of misusing billions made available for solidarity and intended—among other countries—precisely for Albania. The public, whether Albanian or Italian, now anxiously awaits the decision. Everyone hopes it will come as soon as possible. Whoever has made a mistake must pay, whoever they may be. Whoever is innocent must be exonerated, in the name of the principles of justice on which democratic courts are founded. The danger, always present when the outcry is strong, is that all aid will be withheld, aid that should continue to be provided, because the truth—whatever it may be—always prevails. A truth that is in everyone's interest. Above all, it is in the interest of the good relations between the two peoples, which must not be damaged for even a moment. TIRANA (c. bo.) — The Italian ambassador in Tirana is seeking clarity. A Parliament that has recently been reconstituted, following the report by the Chairman of the Control Commission, Blërim Cela, on the so-called aid scandal, has been followed by a meeting between the new Italian Ambassador, Paolo Foresti, and Prime Minister Aleksandër Meksi. During their talks, which were very cordial, they also discussed the delicate issue of the aid sent in 1991 by the Italian Government, of which only part arrived in Albania. As is known, in fact, the dispatch of the aid has also cast suspicion on former Italian ambassador Torquato Cardilli, who has been at the diplomatic mission in Tirana for a month. His position—according to the report by the Chairman of the Control Commission—has been brought to the attention of the “competent Italian authorities.” Officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome, meanwhile, are calling for caution. “The rules of positive law,” they explain, “require that every citizen be considered innocent until proven guilty. If responsibilities of any kind are uncovered, they will certainly be punished.” Italian investigators have been looking into the aid issue in Albania for some time. An investigation into the Italian company “Levant Co.” was opened several months ago by the Public Prosecutor's Office in Rome; the company has requested authorization to extend the investigation to former members of the government as well. Prominent figures in Italian diplomacy have ended up in prison over the so-called “cooperation scandal,” and the investigations are still continuing. Before investigators took up the matter, the supply of aid to Albania had been the subject of parliamentary questions in Italy. Among others, the Deputy President of the Senate, Christian Democrat Giorgio De Giuseppe, had denounced alleged irregularities committed not only by “Levant.Co.” but also by the Swiss-Italian company “Bajnana.” The distribution of aid that was supposed to be sent to Albania, along with other investigations involving hundreds of tonnes of grain, must not put relations between the two countries at risk. The bodies mentioned above, both in Tirana and in Rome, are dealing with this matter and are the most competent to deliver a judgment. That judgment must in no way be influenced by the domestic political debate, which has nevertheless flared up in Parliament around this issue. Skënderbeg Square

A request from Vlora to the Italian justice system The father of two brothers imprisoned in Puglia, accused of murdering their employers, speaks VLORE — “At least the Italian authorities should help us find the names of the lawyers.” The father of two brothers imprisoned in Puglia, accused of murdering their employers, speaks Who is my sons' lawyer? A request from Vlora to the Italian justice system EDMOND LAÇI VLORE — “At least the Italian authorities should help us find the names of the lawyers”: these are the first words of the family of Gjoni and Alfred Fetahu, who are accused in Italy of murdering two shepherds from Lecce. Their father, 51-year-old Ali Fetahu, and their uncle Shpëtim, from inside an Adriatic cell, learned through the “Gazette” that the Fetahu brothers are accused of murdering their employers, Antonio Esposito and his son, Carmelo. They subsequently learned of their arrest by the Galatina Police (Lecce). And nothing else. “When I read my sons' names, I nearly collapsed,” says their father, Ali, showing the newspaper page that he has kept folded in his pocket since that day. The whole Fetahu family lives in a village. None of them speaks Italian. Nevertheless, with help they have managed to speak by telephone with Italy and with the employer of one of their accused sons. “I feel very sorry for the Italian victims, as a father and as a person, all the more because they were truly good people,” continues the father of the accused, without hiding his concern for his own children: “Bruno, Freddie's employer, informed us that my son had not hired anyone, so their defense has been entrusted to a lawyer of their own. We don't know him, and we don't have the money to pay for such a procedure.” The Fetahu family is therefore completely powerless to do anything to help their children. Shpëtim Fetahu, 30, the brothers' sibling and the one who himself took them to Italy, works on a fishing boat in Vlora. He often has the opportunity to go to Italy, and sometimes now he has to go there: “An Albanian refugee who worked with Gjoni and Freddie came to Albania one day after the crime. His name is Polandi. He had heard that the boys had been arrested in Antonin; I hadn't told our father and brother the truth.” Shpëtim knows all the members of the Esposito family and sadly shows photographs of the dead, which he now keeps only as mementos of a distant time. “I didn't expect my brother to kill old Antonio. Their father had promised to find him a few things in Albania so he could get married, because his wife had died,” he continues. The father of the brothers who committed the murders in Italy wants to explain what he can to his children's lawyer: “Even while he was in Vlora, my son Gjoni had a very good reputation. I myself was admitted three times to the Neuropsychiatric Hospital in Vlora and I have a report to that effect. Perhaps my son inherited something from my own condition.” He understands that, as he speaks, the Italian lawyer cannot hear him and has no way of understanding him. The same is true of Gjoni's wife in Vlora, who, together with a three-year-old child, is also expecting another. Even so, he wants to tell everything: “I don't want to say that my sons are truly guilty. If they stole or committed an act of violence, then, in my view, they deserve to be punished.” Still, he willingly recounts: “My father and mother sheltered three Italians in 1943. They gave them food, washed and clothed them, and saved them from the Germans.” But that time is now very distant for the Fetahu family. “I am ready to serve my brothers' sentence myself,” Shpëtim continues, “because I feel as if I myself sent them to Italy with my own hands to be punished.” Meanwhile, the father of the brothers accused in Italy holds his “Gazette” in his hands. And he knows only that yesterday morning they left his village for Italy: Gjoni in June 1992 and Alfred in January 1993. They are now imprisoned on charges of murder. Gjoni had been working there for nine months, tending the cows, and had not seen his employer during that time. Nothing more. Only the hope that Italian justice will act as quickly as possible. The two brothers from Vlora imprisoned in Italy for murder; Gjon Fetahu is on the left, Alfred Fetahu on the right.

TIRANA — A police cap and jacket, possibly used in burglaries, were found in the home of the arrested men. TIRANA — A police cap and jacket, possibly used in burglaries, were found in the home of the arrested men during a search of their house. The people arrested were from the village of Musheqeta, Rrogozhina: Dapi, Dritan Kasa, Bashkim Alçina and Dritan Stafa, the latter arrested by the Tirana Police. “The arrested men are suspected of stealing cars and their contents along the Tirana–Elbasan road,” confirmed Sheqelimi Hajdari, head of the Police Station of Rojani 4 in Tirana. Two of the detainees, who were also found with bladed weapons, admitted that they had these weapons as tools for committing thefts. During searches of the homes, police officers found that many of the goods kept there were the product of systematic thefts. An investigation into all four detainees has begun and is continuing.

The number of Albanians killed by Serbian border guards reaches ten TIRANA — Once again there is grief and indignation in Albania over killings on the border between Albania and Kosovo, following the incidents in Kukës, Tropojë and Mehalë e Epërme. In the last seven days alone, ten Albanian citizens have been killed by Serbian border forces. All were unarmed and were shot by Serbian soldiers only a few metres inside the territory of the former Yugoslavia. In a protest statement, the Albanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reacted harshly to these grave actions by Belgrade, describing them as “in open contradiction with the most elementary human norms enshrined in international acts and documents.” According to the Tirana government, these crimes are a continuation of the ongoing provocations and brutal conduct of the Serbian authorities toward citizens of the Republic of Albania in general, and those living in Kosovo and Montenegro in particular. It said these were “unjustifiable barbaric killings, because the victims had stopped when the Serbian patrol called on them to stop.” In the same note, the Albanian government once again expressed its deep concern over the large concentration of Serbian troops along the Albanian-Yugoslav border, and especially the reinforcement of paramilitary formations in the border region with Albania. “It is no longer possible to speak of sporadic incidents, but of deliberate provocative actions aimed at igniting dangerous fires,” the forceful Tirana protest concluded. As in the other cases previously verified, Belgrade's response was evasive and vague: “The Albanian citizens were killed because they had illegally crossed the border.” Map: KOSOVO, ALBANIA, MACEDONIA, SERBIA, ROMANIA, BULGARIA; Novi Pazar, Trepçe, Podujevë, Leskovac, Mitrovicë, Vuçitërnë, Prishtinë, Pejë, Gjakovë, Rahovec, Ferizaj, Prizren, Kukës, Tropojë, Shkodër, Tetovë, SKOPJE, TIRANA.

Of the cars circulating in Albania today, only one in six is new TIRANA — The vehicles circulating on Albanian roads are numerous, and almost all are old. According to figures from the General Directorate of Customs, only four are in the country out of this total of around 900 cars, 1,900 trucks, 89 buses and 143 minibuses. The overwhelming majority of vehicles bought in the West this year are used. Only one in six vehicles are used. Only one in six vehicles are new, imported during the year as used vehicles. The average price of vehicles is low, around 1,000 dollars. The increase in vehicles on the roads has raised demand for parking. Recently, in addition to repair shops and services, as well as other facilities, we have no information on the sale of new vehicles. In Berat, where 3,000 vehicles have arrived in just the last two years, the first repair and car-parking facility has opened. The inspector at this enterprise is a single person, who opened the city's first driving school two years ago.

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