Government-company meeting fails. Malaj waits; VEFA does not show up Alimuça faces investigators “I am ready to speak with the prosecutors on the case” The president of VEFA goes on the counteroffensive: “I will sue the bank in an international court” The silent duel between the two sides continues. The government maintains its position, while the Prosecutor’s Office has begun questioning important people. The date of the proceedings is set. On November 14, the Court of Cassation will have its say, while the Constitutional Court will speak in the first week of November. TIRANË - Vehbi Alimuçaj faces investigators. Yesterday, the president of Vefa faced his first meeting with the prosecutors, to give explanations about the transfers at the National Commercial Bank. A few days earlier, the Prosecutor’s Office had asked Alimuçaj to explain the movement of large sums. The company boss gave a positive response. “I am ready to give any explanation you want,” said the president of Vefa. Yesterday, he also told Gazeta that his lawyers had prepared a complaint against the National Commercial Bank. The bank is now to be sued for violating laws and regulations to the detriment of the Company. While Alimuçaj says “okay” to the investigation, the prosecutors have examined the documents showing that the withdrawn money had been returned to the company. “All of this was done properly and with the aim of paying off creditors as well as continuing investments,” Alimuçaj said. According to him, the questioning session will bring everything in this story to a close. Investigators, meanwhile, also say that a final conclusion to the investigation is near. On page 3 Gazeta Treg On page 8

On page 5

A soft approach toward the opposition Vranicki TIRANË - Nano meets Vranicki one-on-one. “I am pleased that you came, but don’t forget us; we truly intend to continue our cooperation.” This was the essence of the talks held yesterday by the Albanian Prime Minister with Vranicki, the former chancellor and mediator in resolving the crisis in relations between Albania and Serbia, at least according to ATSH. “The Chancellor in Albania for the European [???]” — suggesting that Nano himself also aspires to receive the title and official functions of a Chancellor, at least as Vranicki once did in Austria. On page 2

Yesterday, the trial of Mazreku, the would-be assassin TIRANA — “Careful, Gramoz, I have three bullets in my shoulder.” That is what Hajdari said to Gramoz Ruçi as he was lifting him up, moments after he had been wounded in the corridor of Parliament. At yesterday’s hearing in the Mazreku trial, the MP from Saranda was questioned as a witness. Ruçi also shed light on the moment the would-be assassin entered with a pistol in his hand. “Azemi and the other MPs summoned as witnesses must be brought to the courtroom by force,” said lawyer Icka. On page 3 Mazreku during the trial

TIRANA — The “hunt” has begun for soldiers who leave military service. The first five denunciations have been filed with the Tirana Military Prosecutor’s Office. Judicial police officers have gone to the units to investigate, while strict measures are being introduced against those who leave without permission. Sporadic departures from military units have been recorded, a further indication of the decline in the functioning of the Albanian Army. On page 5

Bezhani: I am alone TIRANA — The Commission for the Verification of Figures has become a phantom. The alarm was raised yesterday by its own head, Nafiz Bezhani. “We are almost nonexistent and we do not know the other members.” The 70-year-old jurist summoned the press and media yesterday, apparently seeking their support in an appeal for help and awareness. The lack of an office or documentation, as well as technical and organizational difficulties: these have been the absurd obstacles that have turned his institution into a “phantom Commission.” Bezhani went on to write that he was being obstructed by various sectors of the state and that he did not understand why the commission had been created. On page 2

It had been scrapped amid much debate four years ago Parliament votes. It will now be celebrated again on November 29 TIRANA — The celebration of November 29 is returning. “Forgotten” three years ago, after lengthy historical and political debates, “Liberation Day” is to be celebrated again amid the veterans’ emotion, the right’s protests and the left’s jubilation. The November 29 holiday returns quietly, through official channels. Yesterday Parliament decided that Liberation Day would be celebrated again, after more than four years, by the community of veterans, Democrats and Socialists, and would remain where it was placed 52 years ago, seeking three hours of revolution, at a time when there was also a political effort by the old world, based on the purity of the government’s positions. Diktit? Dukle? qeverisë? Unclear [?]. The approach to history and the events it carries on its shoulders has pushed MPs to resolve, one after another, the dates and signs of a people’s identity. The other side objected vehemently. They have denied an entire history of sacrifice. Kafër? gjë më pas për? Parliament fitë? this time “pink” raised it? on the empty pedestal of holidays. Could Parliament mark the holiday again in this way, as an opposition MP put it? Yesterday, this? Albanian politics will continue debate? e dan dokohipth? amid opposing debates? about the holidays and the antifascist war. Such a holiday event, as the MP described it, ngjela? pushes national reconciliation back yet again, and the place reinstates? and politicizes? more with? in a? nation? a people’s sacred symbols [?] of the dignity of Albanians. Why all this haste to intervene in the politics of a holiday, min e nje festës? Since nation? a people’s sacred symbols [?] of the dignity of Albanians. November 29, 1984 At the celebration, an event from the various issues? should have been brought up next year, but there is another point too. Is this really the time to concern ourselves with holidays and symbols when the country has other, even more vital, emergencies? November 29 or 28, one day or dozens will not make a great difference to many Albanians who are still wondering how to solve their vital problems; each could have celebrated in its own way and the problem could perhaps be resolved? Ajetë? from a more...? The MPs who have thought and valued? at a time with thought? what? This should have been thought through differently. Usually they know their work well. Rezar Xhaxhiu

TIRANA — The Institute of History sets out its position. “No one must be allowed to politicize the institute.” Its head, Ana Lalaj, commented yesterday on Parliament’s decision regarding Liberation Day and on the scholarly historical position concerning the restored holiday. The director says that three years ago her Institute was unjustly drawn into the political maelstrom, with attempts to turn it into a person? and something more than a historical event with political tendencies. Director Lalaj believes that November 29 was not decided by historians but by those who fought the war, and that a commission made up of medieval historians was the one that reached a conclusion about a date in the 19th century. Three years ago, the Commission for the Verification of November 29 emerged from this institution, with the institute’s former director as its chair. The commission concluded that November 29 was an importation of the date of Belgrade’s liberation and argued that, for half a century, Albanians had celebrated a holiday that did not exist.

TIRANA — Kasem Biço-ku defends his trench. “It is a violation of history”—that is the tendency behind changing such a date. This is how the historian, who three years ago concluded that the date was demanded by Tito and was a compromise by Hoxha, commented yesterday on the decision to restore November 29 as Liberation Day. The former director of the Institute of History is not budging from his position. “Ramadan Çitaku proposed November 29 as Liberation Day,” Biçaku says. According to him, just days after returning from his post as ambassador in Belgrade, Çitaku proposed November 29 as the date of liberation, on November 9, 1945. The historian believes that what Parliament decided yesterday shows that “the Socialists have not broken away from the dictatorship era, as they seek to violate history and rehabilitate what no longer exists.” Three years ago, the left-wing historian headed the Commission that decided to abolish November 29 as Albania’s Liberation Day, presenting Parliament with the historical arguments for his position.

Trial of the assailant Mazreku yesterday COMPLAINTS Bezhani: I am alone

TEPELENË — On page 5 TEPELENË The town square responds: five women injured On page 5

ELBASAN — On page 5 ELBASAN Panic at the University: students leave On page 5

FIER — On page 6 FIER The city is ready to receive the victims of Otranto On page 6

FOOTBALL BETTING — On page 7 FOOTBALL BETTING Predictions by international experts for the Italian, German and Spanish leagues On page 7