Dokle at the Prosecutor’s Office, Xhixha in prison
PS Deputy Chairman only a witness in the “ZP case”
Two hours for the “lifelong friend” for MP Namik Dokle. Yesterday at 2:00 p.m., the PS deputy chairman and leader of the socialist MPs in the Albanian Parliament was summoned by investigators to testify about the 400,000-dollar printing-house deal. Almost at the same time, a police car took another former editor-in-chief of “ZP” to Tirana Prison. And since yesterday at noon, Përparim Xhixha has no longer been under house arrest. Two employees of the Bank of Albania also testified before investigators yesterday. Meanwhile, the PS Steering Committee met and protested against the Prosecutor’s Office’s latest measures against their newspaper.
Edmond Laçi on page 3
Dokle accuses
“That money belongs to ‘ZP’. The state wants to rob it”
“I am absolutely clear: the 400,000 dollars belong only to ‘ZP’ and nobody else. But if the state wants to rob ‘ZP’ of this money, it must first issue a ruling. Otherwise, this would be a robbery of the property of one of the opposition newspapers.”
On page 3
(Photos: Hektor Pustina)
Customs tariffs rise for cheese and flour too
The cost of imports changes
Taxation of investors begins
The cost of imports changes
Customs tariffs rise for cheese and flour too
Taxation of investors begins
TIRANA - Importing machinery and equipment intended for investment, which until now have been exempt from customs duties, will cost more. From now on, a tariff of 7 percent will be applied. Meanwhile, only medicines will continue to be exempt from customs duty. Parliament has also approved several changes affecting many goods and food products imported into Albania, such as cheese, flour and seasonal vegetables.
On page 5
Drowns in the stream in front of the house[?]
The child dies
ELBASAN - A bridge made up of just two tree trunks caused the death of a six-year-old boy from Lugahi i Shmilit in the district of Elbasan.
As he was returning home,
German cars against smuggling
Ten vehicles heading north
TIRANA - Now German vehicles, too, will be deployed against smuggling along the shores of Lake Shkodër. They are ten Volkswagen-brand “jeeps” expected to arrive in
Strike-bound teachers in Elbasan: “SHIK has pressured us”
The protest spreads to schools in other villages
ELBASAN - SHIK has put pressure on the teachers on strike in Elbasan to end their protest against the agreement between the Government and the unions on
From Sarajevo to Fier:
INTERVIEW
Villagers sue the Water Supply Enterprise: “Where did the money go?”
Proceedings in Gjirokastër
GJIROKASTER - An unusual trial opened on Wednesday at the Gjirokastër court. Both sides—the accused and the accusers—were people who had never before had dealings with the justice system. The defendants were three of the managers of the Gjirokastër Water Supply Enterprise,
[?]
ELBASAN - A bridge made of just two tree trunks caused the death of a six-year-old boy from the Shmil Valley in the Elbasan district.
ELBASAN - A bridge made six-year-old boy from the Shmil Valley in the Elbasan district. As he was returning home, his foot slipped on a trunk made wet by the damp, throwing S. Metoshi into the stream waters swollen by the torrential rains of recent days. The shocking incident happened three days ago. Little Metoshi had left home at his mother’s request to go to the village center, where children were being vaccinated. His stay in the village did not last long. As soon as his turn came, six-year-old Metoshi got the injection and set off for home. He made the journey every day, nimbly crossing the primitive bridge, which he was no longer afraid of. Perhaps it was precisely the confidence the child had gained in crossing the bridge’s trunks that let him down. On Tuesday, as usual, both pieces of timber were thoroughly wet from the heavy rains that had fallen in recent days; their surfaces had become extremely slippery and dangerous. Metoshi took two steps forward and put his foot on one of the slippery trunks. The six-year-old lost his balance and fell into the stream, whose waters swept him into a whirlpool. The little boy’s desperate struggles and cries lasted only a short time before he was tragically lost amid the raging waves. The young child has now been taken from life forever. Meanwhile, in his village, only two beams still lie across the stream, and tomorrow they could claim someone else’s life.
stops smuggling
TIRANA - From now on, German... vehicles will also be deployed against smuggling along the shores of Lake Shkodër.
TIRANA - From now on, German... vehicles will also Ten Volkswagen “jeeps” have just arrived in Albania as a gift from the Germans to the Albanian authorities, who need to stem the illegal flow of oil toward the territories of the former Yugoslavia. It was the Albanian authorities themselves who had repeatedly requested technical equipment.
SHIK—... if there’s a problem
ELBASAN - SHIK pressure on striking teachers in Elbasan, in an attempt to put an end to their protest against the agreement between the Government and the trade unions on wage increases.
ELBASAN - SHIK pressure on striking teachers in Elbasan, in an attempt to put an end to trade unions on wage increases. “The director of the Municipal Education Directorate himself, together with two officers from the National Intelligence Service, came to Belsh yesterday and directly pressured me,” Ilir Mborja, one of the strike’s organizers, told Gazeta Shqiptare. “They even threatened me physically.” Mborja has also been summoned to appear at the SHIK Directorate in Elbasan at 6:00 p.m. “But I will not go,” the strike representative declared in the early afternoon. “Our strike is not anti-national in character.”
From Sarajevo to Fier: “I’ll tell you about the hell of war”
INTERVIEW
“There was fighting on every side. I lived in Sarajevo. One day three Serbian soldiers came to me and told me to surrender. I retreated and then fired at them with an automatic weapon. Two of them fled, while one was killed. I was on the third floor...”
E. Myftari on page 5
“Where did the money go?”
GJIROKASTËR - An unusual trial opened on Wednesday at the Gjirokastër court.
GJIROKASTËR - the director himself, the head of the finance department, and one of the engineers. The plaintiff was the Municipality of Lazarat. The trial has attracted interest in Gjirokastër not only because the two sides were facing each other angrily, but especially because of its subject. Lazarat has sued the Water Supply Enterprise for misusing funds allocated to a water supply system built some time ago. “The quality was very poor. Where did the money for our water supply system go?” people in the village have said. The first formalities were completed in the proceedings that began on Wednesday, but both sides stood firm in their positions: the Water Supply Enterprise defending itself, while the Municipality of Lazarat strongly insisted on its lawsuit. It is not known how this whole affair will end. Perhaps the enterprise’s managers will be found not guilty, but in any case, this shows that consciences are beginning to change. Many people in the village, too, have no intention of letting anyone tamper with what belongs to them.
Returns from Greece only to kill his wife
Berat: She had told him that she had divorced him
BERAT - He returns from Greece only to take revenge on his wife and slashes her with knives.
Shkurte Dojani, 18, from the village of Pashnje, about 17 kilometers from Berat, was attacked yesterday afternoon by her husband, Artan Jahja, 24, solely because she had told him that she had decided to separate from him and return to her parents. Stabbed eight times, the 18-year-old was taken to Berat Hospital, where her life is in serious danger. Jahja, meanwhile, fled and disappeared without a trace. It was a fit of frenzied jealousy that drove the 24-year-old to travel from Greece to take revenge on his young wife, whom he had been married to for four years. A week earlier, she had written to him on the phone, telling him definitively that she had decided to return to her parents’ home. The decision clouded Jahja’s mind, and he immediately set off on the journey back. Yesterday, at around 3:00 p.m., he appeared near the Dojani family home in her village of Pashnje. As soon as he saw his wife in the yard tending the livestock, he rushed at her and brutally slashed her with knives. Immediately afterward, he fled, leaving his wife lying in a pool of blood. Dojani, 18, was rushed to Berat Hospital, where she was admitted to the Surgery Department. According to doctors, her chances of survival are slim. Police have meanwhile launched a search for the murderous husband, who has disappeared without a trace.
RTSH: Butka’s candidacy falls through
PD group
Uran Butka. A strong candidate is also actor Rikard Ljarja. On page 3
Investigations intensify into the 400,000 dollars: two employees of the Bank of Albania also questioned
On page 3
The Balkans
— Does Belgrade recognize Bosnia? On page 2
Vlorë
Explosion on a boat carrying clandestine migrants
On page 3
