Rome Prosecutor's Office reopens investigation into aid to Albania New charges against former minister Vitalone TIRANA — (p. re.) — The Rome Prosecutor's Office has begun an investigation into the Italian Cooperation aid scandal involving assistance to Albania. And appearing in the dock for the second time in the same case is parliamentarian Claudio Vitalone, to whom prosecutor Evelina Canale has sent a notice of investigation, accusing him of abuse of office with the aim of securing an economic advantage for himself and for other people. Vitalone, who was Deputy Foreign Minister with responsibility for Albania until 1991, was first accused in May of this year in connection with the aid scandal involving Albania: at the time, the matter concerned food and pharmaceutical aid. The second charge indicates that the scandal has widened, and that this illegal activity may concern not only the first tranche of aid worth twenty billion lire from Levant. Co. of Bari, but also aid that was not properly accounted for. The matter once again concerns the serious abuses investigated by the Rome Prosecutor's Office, which took place up to 1991. An investigation into this matter, as is known, is also continuing in Albania, where the Tirana Prosecutor's Office has ordered the arrest of several political figures from the previous government, among them Fatos Nano, former prime minister and current leader of the Socialist Party. Nano has been in the capital's prison for two months, accused (like Vitalone) of abuse of office for having created favorable conditions for the company «Levant. Co.», which is involved in the investigation by prosecutor Canale. Well-known figures from the political scene also appear among the defendants in the Italian judicial investigation: foremost among them is former Foreign Minister Gianni De Michelis, as well as at least a dozen officials from that ministry. A copy of the case file was sent in May to the joint section of the Court of Ministers in Rome, which handed it over to prosecutor Canale in July, keeping the De Michelis case separate, for which a distinct investigation has begun. From July until today, Judge Canale has verified several aspects of the case and yesterday decided on a new charge. This is a clear sign that the scandal is widening. In July, the former head of the Italian Cooperation office, Ambassador Santoro, had also told the judges in Rome about other illegal matters carried out through the 50 billion lire in aid allocated to Albania, which came from the Ferruzzi company, whose president, Raul Gardini, recently took his own life. Former minister Claudio Vitalone

Police arrest three people TIRANA / In the neighborhood, revenge claims three victims The tragedy began after a trivial quarrel. A young man was killed with an axe blow TIRANA — Revenge continues to claim lives. This time in Tirana, and not at all over property, according to the latest reports. Two people have been killed and one wounded, a six-room house has been burned to the ground, one criminal has fled to an unknown destination, and finally three other people have been arrested by the Police. This is the toll — though perhaps not the final one — of a blood feud that arose between families in the outlying neighborhood of Farka e Tullës? in Tirana. The entire story of the vendetta unfolded over a few days. The cause: a trivial quarrel between neighbors ended in murder, with an axe and an automatic weapon. The wife of the man involved was also a victim; she was killed by an axe blow to the head. Then came the final part of this new revenge story. Only a few days later, at 8:30 p.m., three armed men entered the neighborhood billiard hall. It was sheer terror. Two of the three armed men were Albanian. The armed man was Haxhia. Inside the billiard hall, the automatic rifle's magazine was fired indiscriminately, although not everyone there was related to the person who had killed their nephew. Moreover, among the young people inside, only the owner of the establishment, Fatmir Sina, 19, was wounded. In a frenzy, the three armed men, thinking they had avenged their nephew, went out to the end of the narrow alley and — in the darkness — emptied the entire magazine of the automatic rifle. But this time, fate did not spare anyone. A 45-year-old mother of three, Lule Lleshi, became an accidental victim of the avengers' bullets. Worried about her 14-year-old child, she had left the house as soon as she heard the gunshots. On the day of Lleshi's funeral, that same evening, the house of the Haxhia brothers was burned to the ground; two of them had terrorized and killed people just hours earlier. Fortunately, their family members were not in the house that night when it was set on fire. Investigators say the owners of the house explained that they had left because they had been threatened with murder. On September 29, the Police managed to capture all three armed men, who were hiding outside Tirana. In this neighborhood — calm on the surface — now only the shell of a burned house can be seen. Someone asks what this means for the victims, while others hide for fear of further revenge. Meanwhile, the Investigation Office continues its inquiries. Police District 13

Shkodër, 280 bakers on welfare SHKODËR — (p. re.) — Private enterprises are pushing state-owned ones into bankruptcy. This competition has recently left 280 workers at the Bread Factory in Shkodër on welfare. It was the only state factory supplying Shkodër and its villages, with a capacity of 18,000 loaves a day. The operation of 38 private bread factories — the highest number in the Republic — has brought the Factory's output down to 8,000 loaves. “The 120 workers who remain will be reduced to 80 next month,” Nikolin Radovani, the Factory director, tells the Gazette. “The quality of the flour allocated to us was very poor and, as a result, no one would have wanted to eat our bread.” The drop in production — accompanied by the placement of many workers on welfare — has now forced the factory's managers to contend with the fierce competition from private factories. The factory's construction also creates difficulties. “The construction of the factory was sabotaged,” says Radovani, referring to one of the factory's buildings, constructed back in 1982. This building now stands idle, as do its 280 employees, who are waiting for welfare support. The survival of this director and the workers who remain on the job depends solely on the quality of the bread they put on the market. According to them, work is now being done only to change its [unclear]. Not only in Shkodër, but in all the country's districts, the newly established private bakeries have almost solved the bread problem. The long queues for bread have now been replaced by short queues for quality.

Another massacred refugee awaits identification TIRANA — (Ed. La.) — Two more victims among Albanian refugees. But this time their names are unknown, and they are still waiting — at Tirana's Central Morgue — for their families. Yesterday, according to morgue staff, no one had shown any interest in them. Perhaps — following announcements on TVSH — they will be identified as well. They are mutilated victims, in circumstances that are still unknown: one is headless and the other has been mutilated in the face and body. At the Central University Forensic Medical Examination Service, only the relevant documents from the Thessaloniki Hospital are available, where in Greece these unidentified people had been taken in? “Meanwhile, an official at the Albanian Embassy in Athens tells the Gazette that a third body is also expected to arrive. “We are always notified by the relevant hospitals,” he continues, “and then we inform our Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Construction, which is responsible for transporting the victims.” The return of Albanian refugees who have died continues without pause. Only a few days ago, another Albanian who had drowned was returned from Corfu to Sarandë. The issue of Albanians arriving from Greece as victims several months ago had also caused problems at Tirana's Central Morgue. According to the staff at this center, people — who could not be identified for a long time — were buried by the Tirana Municipal Enterprise. The horrors of death are thus compounded by the horror of family members waiting without knowing that their loved ones have died. Refugees at the Albanian-Greek border

The championship of the various forces has recently begun SHKODËR — (ar. ça.) — A special spectacle will take place in Shkodër this season. Before the people of Shkodër, who are always passionate about football, two very unusual teams met on the green pitch this time: the rapid intervention unit from Korçë and their colleagues from Shkodër. It was not an ordinary match between colleagues, but an activity organized down to the smallest detail. Thus a special championship is continuing, just like the mission of these young men themselves. The initiative was taken some time ago by the men of Tirana's Unit 88 and was supported by the rapid intervention units of seven districts. The Shkodër police felt more favored. The match was played on their own field: at the sports ground of the Shoe Factory. Moreover, around a quarter of the people present were among their 500 colleagues from the Public Order Department and many other contemporaries... The match ended with their victory, which they secured by a score of 2 to 1. A narrow but encouraging result, showing that the rivalry was intense.

YOUTH FEDERATION DISCUSSES TOLERANCE — «Tolerance in post-dictatorial society» was the topic of the symposium organized by the Albanian Youth Federation at the Palace of Congresses. Lecturers of all ages and professions, as well as figures from the arts and culture, addressed the topic from different perspectives and discussed that tolerance must be understood correctly and not abused, because maximum tolerance cannot exist in a democratic state. Overcoming hatred and pogroms, violence against the press and freedom of the press in the face of violence, a sense of proportion in tolerance, socialist realism literature as a preacher of intolerance, democratic exclusivity and anarchy, relations between the state, the law and the individual, the clash of generations and the problem of intolerance among them, the collapse of the myth of [illegible] and the preservation of myths that look backward, society facing the challenge of tolerance, and the realization of democracy through active tolerance — these were some of the topics discussed with considerable insight by the participants at the symposium. CONGRESS OF THE ALBANIAN AND ITALIAN SOCIETY OF JAPAN — CONCERT AT THE CITY STADIUM OF DURRËS — This first concert to be held at this stadium, featuring the Albanian and Italian singer Shirli Polena, Miki and Pino D'Angelo, and the Italian group «Colla», was a spectacle. It will be followed by other concerts in seven cities of Albania. MEETING OF ECOLOGISTS IN TIRANA — ... «The continuation of nature and the protection of the environment...»

In August, the price index reaches 838.3 Where is the secret of the super-lek? ON PAGE 3 Earthquake in India: 30 thousand dead Situation worsens, international aid ON PAGE 2

Readers will receive today, free of charge, the new panorama of a city, distributed every Sunday together with the Albanian Gazette. Today's panorama is a reproduction of an old image of Lecce.