TENSION / Athens opposes dialogue with Tirana Drastic measures and sanctions against Albania are being called for. The Greek Defense Minister “inspects” his military forces on the border between the two countries TIRANA — Tensions between Tirana and Athens are becoming more dramatic. This time, an attempt is even being made to avoid diplomacy. Just a few hours after Albania’s President, Sali Berisha, had called — through TVSH — for dialogue with Greece to overcome the crisis, senior Greek authorities not only firmly rejected it, but also threatened sanctions and drastic measures against Albania, taking advantage of Greece’s position at the helm of the European Union. Meanwhile, in mid-March Greek Defense Minister Arsenis began a broad “inspection” of his military forces along the Greek-Albanian border. On Monday, another senior Greek official once again played the “400,000 illegal Albanian refugees” card, saying that Greece no longer had to keep them. In addition, in recent days several Greek parties — as representatives of the Albanian Embassy in Athens also confirmed — have increased pressure on Greek Prime Minister Papandreu, asking him, following the pro-Albanian statement by the U.S. State Department, to give a detailed explanation of the results of his visit to the United States a month earlier. Meanwhile, Vasil Melo, Chairman of the Party for the Union of Human Rights, when asked by Gazeta Shqiptare, addressed responsibility for and rumors about the recent arrest of another important “Omonia” activist in Albania, and the reported turning back at the border of a PBDNJ deputy who had sought to leave for Greece with his entire family. “We are determined to take the most drastic measures against Albania in order to deal with the situation,” Greek Foreign Minister Papulias said on Tuesday morning, referring, as always, to “the situation created for the Greek minority.” This statement — together with the rejection of Albania’s proposal for dialogue — came just a few hours after Albanian President Sali Berisha had again assured senior Greek authorities that: “Albania is firmly committed to creating a model for the treatment of minorities in the region, and the Greek minority enjoys all the freedoms and rights provided for by the Copenhagen Charter.” The fact is that only recently — as tensions between Tirana and Athens have reached new heights — many international institutions such as the CSCE, the European Parliament and, most recently, the U.S. Congress have described these claims as unfounded, indeed repeatedly reaffirming this. With the latest dramatic escalation, Greece could draw Albania into a serious conflict, while it has long-standing declared problems with Turkey and Macedonia as well. Following the new turn in Greek policy toward Albania, the approach of Greek Defense Minister Arsenis to the Greek-Albanian border also immediately came to the fore. Although Arsenis said that “this inspection had been planned for a long time and is unrelated to the situation in Greek-Albanian relations,” international observers have nevertheless viewed the move with concern. “Ensuring better border security,” at a time when Albania has never posed any threat or made any territorial claim against Greece, are the first signs of renewed tension in the Balkans. Commenting on the bellicose statements made by Greece’s highest authorities at the end of last week, the Albanian Foreign Ministry stated: “A Bosnia-style scenario in the southern Balkans would mean a conflict wider than the Balkans.” Edmond Laçi

Today, a seminar on treating victims The stories of those tortured in the prisons of the dictatorship The psychotherapeutic treatment of people still suffering from the severe consequences of the dictatorship’s torture in Albania will be at the center of a special scientific seminar that begins today at the Palace of Congresses in Tirana. For three days, some of the best-known experts in this field will exchange experience with their Albanian colleagues — who have long been engaged in healing the psychological and health-related wounds from which many victims of the dictatorship still suffer — in the area of therapeutic treatment. This important event has been organized by a section of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee — Aid Norway Albania — which is focused on helping Albania, in cooperation with the International Council for the Rehabilitation of Torture Victims, based in Copenhagen. The latter organization has also been very active in providing substantial assistance to the Center for the Rehabilitation of Torture Victims in Tirana. TIRANA — These are stories of torture, which seem to come from another, unreal world. A universe of hallucinations and nightmares still populated by the contorted faces of torturers who roam the darkness of cramped cells. Although for a long time now no torturer has been able to inflict torture, for many the torture they endured in the past, torture stories... In everyone, the signs of premature injury are evident. Elderly persecuted people suffer extensively from chronic bronchitis and asthma. But the most serious — and hardest to treat — are the psychological consequences suffered by those who were tortured. Dr. Valentina Pjeshkazini, one of the doctors … draw on the past, understanding that her nightmare has worsened and now tortures her every night. “With psychotherapeutic treatment, the patient has begun to improve,” says Dr. Pjeshkaz[?]ini, “and the distorted face of the guard is now beginning to recede further and further.” More dangerous is the condition of a patient from Tirana. Arrested in co- distorted faces of executioners who whirl through the darkness of narrow cells. Although no executioner can torture anyone anymore, for many people the torturers they experienced in the past remain very present in the form of images that still cause suffering. These are the stories told by the doctors at the Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture in Tirana. The Center is relatively new. It began its activity last August. A team of four doctors works there, including two psychiatrists, a neurologist, and a general practitioner. So far, they have treated hundreds of victims of torture who have suffered various consequences—and psychotherapy has been introduced here in Albania for the first time—and the doctors’ experience to date is limited. “Almost all the patients we have treated,” begins Dr. Gjergj Zavallani, “still bear the physical marks of brutal torture on their bodies.” Zavallani speaks of men and women who now have serious injuries to their spinal columns and limbs. Many still carry scars caused by the most terrible things. But the most serious—and hardest to treat—are the psychological effects of the specialists involved in psychotherapeutic treatment, tells the story of a grandmother. Among the cases is also the story of a young woman from Pogradec who is still haunted by the terror she experienced in dark cells, and especially by the face of her torturer. The story of the young woman from Pogradec—she was a minor at the time—began many years ago. After serving nine years in prison, her father decided to escape with the whole family, including the minor children and his wife, who was then pregnant. This is when the young girl’s suffering began: while her father managed to cross the border, everyone else was caught by the border guards. Her mother tried to kill herself by swallowing a razor blade, while the young girl was locked up for two months in a narrow cell, where she could see only the face of the guard who checked on her through the peephole. It is this face that now appears to her, distorted and with enormous ears. Soaked in sweat, the girl wakes up frightened from sleep and … …at a time when it has long had strained relations with the new Greek authorities, last weekend the Albanian Foreign Ministry confirmed that: “Bosnia’s game in the south of the Balkans means a conflict wider than the Balkans.” The condition of a patient from Tirana is more dangerous. Arrested during the “war against liberalism,” he spent many years in the prisons of the dictatorship. His only offense was that he had read foreign literature, which was brought in illegally without being checked by the censorship authorities. Doctors now say that he suffers from a dangerous syndrome. At certain moments he becomes aggressive even toward members of his own family. During moments of lucidity, he has explained everything to the doctors. “I hear inner voices ordering me to kill,” he has said, “and I have heard many of them many times; they are the voices of my executioners.” These were just two of the many cases that doctors witness every day as they try to ease the consequences of these people’s suffering. Some, especially the younger ones, have begun to show clear improvement, but given all these conditions, the severe suffering they endured will remain etched in them forever. Fatos Baxhaku The psychiatric hospital in Tirana

THE “ÇAMËRIA” ASSOCIATION PROTESTS AGAINST THE LETTER FROM THE “OMONIA” CHAIRMAN — The patriotic political association “Çamëria” immediately protested against the letter that the chairman of “Omonia” sent to former Greek Prime Minister Micotaqis. “We want to remind the rebels and those behind them,” the protest states, “that the ‘Çam issue’ is not a theoretical or technical fabrication by Albanian political parties, as stated in the ominous letter of the General Council of ‘Omonia’, but a deed practically carried out by the darkest Greek chauvinism, which drove us from our millennia-old homes through genocide,” the “Çamëria” association’s statement continues. BERAT, GOODS WORTH 50 THOUSAND DOLLARS SEIZED AS SMUGGLED — An undutied shipment of goods has been seized and an investigation has begun in the city of Berat. The goods — electric stoves worth 50 thousand dollars — arrived addressed to a trading company named “Republika,” a company that does not exist in this city. Meanwhile, the owner of a company of that name in Lushnjë denies having ordered the electric stoves. At present — although the investigation is continuing — all these goods remain unclaimed and have been considered contraband. KORÇË, “SKËNDERBEU” VETERAN FOOTBALLERS PLAY AGAINST THEIR GREEK COUNTERPARTS — The football match held in the city of Korçë was very unusual. In the stadium, the teams of veteran “Skënderbeu” footballers and their colleagues from Grevena, Greece, faced each other. The match — proposed by the Korçë footballers — ended in a 2–2 draw.

REALITY IN ITALICS TIRANA — Suicide attempt in Tirana. A 17-year-old girl tried to kill herself a few days ago by taking a massive dose of medication, threatened by her own efforts. Only the intervention of specialist doctors at the National Toxicology Center at the Military Hospital made it possible for the girl to be saved, it has been reported… Meanwhile, the girl made the fatal decision to do this and chose four tablets — one milligram each — of the drug colchicine (colchicine), which is actually used for conditions such as deformities in the cartilage of joints. Colchicine — a medicine used more often and considered highly toxic — acted immediately, causing severe distress and intense abdominal pain accompanied by diarrhea. Only after these symptoms appeared did the parents realize what their daughter had done and rush her to hospital, where doctors intervened. It was first noted that the girl had a delay in her psychological development. Because of the medicine she swallowed — the girl is still in serious condition. The phenomenon of suicide, especially among young people, is not, however, simply something new. In fact, it is spreading on a worrying scale. “As happens elsewhere in the world, in these cases,” Zihni Sula, Head of the Toxicology Center, explains to Gazeta Shqiptare, “drug overdoses and exposure to highly toxic substances have been confirmed as among the most widespread and commonly used methods of carrying out a suicide. This occurs mainly among adolescents because of their characteristics, including social imitation and the need for affirmation.” Ar. Me. Medicines can also serve as dangerous weapons

TIRANA — The triumph of the free press. And a new chapter in Albanian democracy: beginning on May 31 of this year, Albania joins all those developed countries that not only no longer have any journalists in prison, but do not even have a dictionary. Thus, President of the Republic Sali Berisha’s civic initiative is consolidated; on International Press Day, he had pardoned all Albanian journalists convicted of various “crimes” during their professional activities. This time it is the Albanian judiciary which, through the Court of Cassation — on Tuesday morning — finally acquitted Aleksandër Frangajn and Marin Lekën of the newspaper “Koha Jonë,” who had been found guilty and sentenced a few months earlier by the lower and appellate courts for “disseminating state secrets” and “publicly made remarks.” Among the three appeals lodged by the lawyers with the Court of Cassation was also that of serviceman Romeo Luli, whose sentence was reduced from four years’ imprisonment to … “After President Berisha’s initiative, it must be admitted that we did not await this trial with much emotion,” Aleksandër Frangaj, manager of the daily “Koha Jonë,” tells Gazeta Shqiptare following the Court of Cassation ruling. “Nevertheless, I am glad because at last it is the Justice system itself correcting the previous absurd rulings.” The earlier arrest of Frangaj and Leka, immediately after their newspaper published an order — then considered secret — signed by Safet Zhulali, Minister of Defense, had created artificial tension between the press and the authorities. Alongside several other cases — in which journalists were accused of “crimes” committed in the course of their professional activities — for days the Albanian press focused on, and debated, nothing but the free press. Until Sali Berisha, President of the Republic, through a special decree, sought a pardon for all Albanian journalists who had been convicted. The Court of Cassation’s ruling — in addition to acquitting Frangaj and Leka — creates a new climate for the free press in Albania. A press that has only just begun to demand respect for truth, information, and readers’ right to know. The Albanian Justice system finally shows that it has placed the Albanian press where it belongs, so that it will no longer be a revol[?]t of … (Ed. La.)

Greece heads toward the European Parliament elections Papandreu does not stand as a candidate ON PAGE 2 The progress of privatization reflected in figures Another 3,000 enterprises in the process ON PAGE 3