BREAKING NEWS On page 10

CASSATION: AND 4 NEW DEATH SENTENCES On page 6

Newspapers against the Festival They want to kill the press. A backward-looking initiative is infecting some of those left-wing intellectuals who, until yesterday, when they were in opposition, made a living by publishing ideas in newspapers. But today, having come to power undeservedly, they have decided to declare that newspapers are disgusting and are thus trying to kill them. A project that could only come from a madman or a dictator, yet it also finds support in the indifference shown by the Government on the eve of this tragedy. Perhaps people do not care much, since the majority of the population is convinced that the press itself is to blame for the problems in Albania, even though it is clear that this cannot be true, because the press merely reflects the devastation surrounding us. The threat of newspapers dying one after another should concern the Government and intellectuals. But what is really happening? Someone from the Song Festival, one of the serious undertakings of our culture and perhaps the only one offered by the state Radio and Television, is using it to insult newspapers, which are, in another sense, essential to national culture. On a set made from car wrecks (an ugly and very sad idea), they have built the stage from pages of newspapers and magazines: the singers, too, will therefore mock the press in a crude manner, live on television. A subtle cynicism, a perfect disgrace, was enacted on stage by people who, among our intellectuals, have used the means placed at their disposal to try to destroy people and their collaborators, and to take revenge. The judiciary, Mr. Ardit Klo… [?], the illustrious director, who came all the way from Germany to bring a new, fresh breeze to the world of Albanian culture? Intellectuals want to kill newspapers by pursuing a campaign of denigration (public and private); they want to kill them by denying their constructive contribution to ideas; they want to kill them by demanding, in exchange for a few lines, shamefully high fees (for one article they expect to be paid as much as a doctor's monthly salary; otherwise they will not write). These are our new “intellectuals,” with mobile phones, money in their pockets, a rabble of scoundrels, no ideas and a great desire for revenge. Politicians in power pretend they are not taking part in this destructive campaign against newspapers, but their silence shows that they support it. Politicians never miss an opportunity to criticize the content of the press. They also say newspapers are useless, forgetting that they are a mirror of the society the politicians are building. But simply because they are in Government, they also have greater responsibility: they continue to ignore newspapers’ requests for help. Publishers and newspapers have been putting a series of requests to the government for months: abolish taxes on imported paper and machinery for newspaper production; reduce taxes on newspaper revenues; reduce telephone charges for editorial offices; abolish VAT on newspapers and advertising. The Government has replied by claiming that the International Monetary Fund is pressuring it and would not accept these fiscal measures, but Parliament has never been asked to provide funding for international financial support. The request has never been made. Even Sali Berisha, who does not… Continued on page 5

A 27-year-old man from Fier’s massacre: “He made our lives unbearable” On page 19

BREAKING NEWS Assassination plot being prepared against students Last night, emergency Government meeting TIRANË - “A terrorist act is being prepared against the striking students.” A piece of information, apparently received urgently from the Albanian secret service, prompted the Albanian Government to convene an emergency meeting to discuss the situation and the measures that should be taken to protect the students. The Albanian Government met urgently yesterday, followed by a closed-door meeting between Majko, Koçi and several ministers concerning information that had reached the Prime Minister’s desk that afternoon about preparations for a terrorist attack against the student strikers. Fatos Klosi, head of SHIK, was absent from the meeting for reasons that are already known and reflect the relationship between him and Majko. The information appears to have come precisely from the secret service offices. Yesterday’s meeting was not only for discussion, but also to take measures to protect the students; the police were tasked with tightening the cordon around the building and the premises where the strike is taking place. If a terrorist attack were really to take place at the strike site, there would be no need to predict the events that would follow. This should be borne in mind given that a similar situation involving striking students in Vlorë at the end of February ’97 was the beginning that subsequently ignited unrest in that city and throughout the country. S.I.A.V. KONSTRUKSION SH.P.K. Italian-Albanian Joint Venture L. “Parravesia”, No. “P. Llaska” VLORE Tel/Fax 063 24686 VLORË Tel/Fax 052 24043 DURRËS IMPORT - EXPORT CONSTRUCTION - BUILDING MATERIALS - PREFABRICATED PRODUCTS - CONCRETE - AGGREGATE MATERIALS