They lied about the visas, the Army gave them authorization that they were on duty. Nikolin Jaka and Ilir Berzani, corrupt officials but received light sentences WIKILEAKS, ARVIZU ALSO REACTS: THE PUBLICATIONS ARE DAMAGING, HAXHINASTO SILENT US SLAPS DEFENSE WITH A SETBACK 20 commandos deserted, did not return from America They lied about the visas, the Army gave them authorization that they were on duty. Nikolin Jaka and Ilir Berzani, corrupt officials but received light sentences The Albanian commandos, returned from Iraq, were in- volved in a network of visa fraud with US visas in order to secure entry and stay in the US. The case has turned out to be very worrying for senior embassy officials and Ambassador John Withers himself, who reported it to the State Department. In a cable dated 19 February 2009, it is stressed that 20 Albanian commandos applied at the US Embassy in Tirana for tourist visas, with the aim of visiting friends they had met while performing military service in Iraq. Many of them presented invitations from contractors or American military personnel in Iraq. Many of them proved that they were on duty and had received authorization for leave, but none... On pages 2-3

“Every 5 minutes they were going out of the field to go to the bathroom” “It was terrible, you could see the players running off every now and then to throw up. Maybe we would have been defeated again, but their condition also had a big impact” The national football team poisoned, with diarrhea in the match against Macedonia In the photo: The national team during training “It was terrible, the players you could see them running off every now and then to throw up. Maybe we would have been defeated again, but their condition also had a big impact” In the friendly against Macedonia, our national youth football team lost 2 - 0. Poisoning is suspected to have occurred after a lunch at a hotel in Durrës Officials of the Albanian Football Association are reluctant to say it was poisoning, although this has been admitted by many of the players. According to them, the footballers have been struck by some kind of epidemic On page 29

MURAT BASHA: '91, ILLEGAL IN ALBANIA TO SHARE THE KING'S TRACTS Supplement

REGULATORY AUTHORITY DECISION Electricity bills, late payment penalty reduced five times On page 6

Yesterday in "The Wall Street Journal" By HASHIM THAÇI More than 20 years ago tensions erupted that had been held under the pressure of the former Yugoslav Republic. Since then they have... Continues on page 26 A better future for the Balkans

Opinion of the Day Opinion of the Day By ORGEN HASANBEGA Day after day we follow under the miners' mine in Bulqiza, who were on a hunger strike for 27 consecutive days, 1400 meters underground... Continues on page 27 The Bulqiza strikers and the Serbian tourist

THERE WERE 300 PEOPLE Mayor Basha hosts iftar, promises the Great Mosque On page 12

THE EVENT IN KORÇË The family of Odise Paskali: Removing the monument was an attack on him On pages 24-25

DOSSIER Colonel Fiçorri: In Vietnam we found: “The whole people were soldiers” On pages 10-11

GAZETA SHQIPTARE wishes Muslim believers happy Eid al-Fitr and many more years

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