The 23-year-old man from Durrës cries out from prison: Please, a few hours’ leave

OPINION The Constitution

After the appointment of his deputy The Minister: “If Bajram Yzeiri is to be the Deputy Minister of Public Order, I will hand in the keys” After the appointment of his deputy Koçi’s ultimatum: “I will resign” The Minister: “If Bajram Yzeiri is to be the Deputy Minister of Public Order, I will hand in the keys” Koçi is keeping his deputy’s appointment on hold. “I’ll throw down the keys if Bajram Yzeiri starts working at the Ministry,” the head of Public Order is reported to have threatened. Yesterday, too, the deputy minister appointed by the government was not introduced to the Ministry’s officials. Meanwhile, Koçi’s departure on Majko’s European tour left the central police institution in limbo. Public Order officials will have to wait another two days to find out who their new leader will be. The Ministry of Public Order remains without a head. Until Koçi returns, the Ministry of Public Order is being run by Deputy Minister Celibashi, who is responsible only for the Ministry’s administrative affairs. On page 5

OPINION The Constitution: The New Albanian Passport By Kastriot ISLAMI The New Albanian Constitution was not inspired by any particular political or ideological philosophy. It reflects two main issues: It sets out the accepted standards of democracy—free elections, political pluralism, freedom of speech, and local-government autonomy—and the rule of law—the constitutional order, protection of human rights, limitations on state power, and the independence of the judiciary. The Constitution also provides for the separation and balancing of powers: a “Parliament,” the “main arena of political life”; the institution of the President, “politically neutral, a symbol of unity in peaceful periods and an arbiter in cases of conflict”; an Executive that is “stable, but accountable to Parliament”; and an independent judiciary. It can be said without any doubt that its drafting was given particular assistance by the international community, various international organizations, and especially the Venice Commission. The New Constitution is an Albanian Constitution. It is a Constitution that has examined the finest Albanian legal heritage and that of other countries, as well as the achievements of all European and global constitutionalism. Never before, nor in this document, has [illegible] ... “the Albanian national problem” ... with aspira- Continued on page 2

VLORA Just a few hours after Ballili was wounded, Luan Gausi agreed to speak to the newspaper. At the bar where it all began, together with his sister, they do not want to give interviews “because Zani gets upset in prison.” On page 17

DIRECTORATE The state cannot cover the expenses of the Student City. After the privatization of the canteens and some of the buildings in this city, the Rector’s officials are calling for the privatization of the student residence buildings. “We are one of the countries in the Balkans... On page 15

Court: They had been blocked by the People’s Assembly TIRANA — A large pile of 1,300 files concerning property disputes has remained blocked at the Tirana Court of First Instance since October 1997. More than a year has now passed since the last hearing of such cases, and the judges are overwhelmed by a process of this kind. It is not known why such a large number of files were left blocked and allowed to pile up in the court offices, when the court itself will face no small difficulty in providing a final resolution. According to court sources, all these files awaiting a legal ruling concern ownership disputes; it is still not known precisely who they actually belong to or who the lawful owner of the property is. On page 8

Klodian Muho and Violeta Gjershek, accidentally killed by her boyfriend

UNKNOWN WRITINGS BY FAN NOLI DISCOVERED IN GREECE On pages 12–13