3 years after the massacre with 26 victims, the court releases everyone THE YOUNGEST VICTIM WAS 6 YEARS OLD, THE PERSON INJURED BY THE EXPLOSION DIED WHEN ALBANIA JOINED NATO Erison Durda’s mother, Zamira, speaks: As if they had killed him today, we would take the law into our own hands. The prosecution insists on an incorrect calculation of the time limits. The court: We applied the law. The lawyers’ ‘game’ proved successful. PD: Delijorgji was released, Rama’s friend. PS leader: Saliu went too far, he blamed the 26 Gërdec victims on the opposition

(In the photo): Erison Durda, the 6-year-old boy who lost his life in the Gërdec tragedy

EDITORIAL “Forgive me, mother, for leaving home without your permission.” Wounded, burned over 60 percent of his body, little 6-year-old Erison found the courage to ask his mother, Zamira Durda, for forgiveness precisely on the afternoon of 15 March 2008, just hours after the explosion had occurred at the death factory in Gërdec... A tragedy without justice “Forgive me, mother, for leaving home without your permission.” Wounded, burned over 60 percent of his body, little 6-year-old Erison found the courage to ask his mother, Zamira Durda, for forgiveness precisely on the afternoon of 15 March 2008, just hours after the explosion had occurred at the death factory in Gërdec, where 26 workers of that factory lost their lives. Erison said these words on the afternoon of 15 March, before being taken to the Italian hospital in Brindisi, from where he never returned alive. As if by irony of the fate of Albania and Albanians, he closed his eyes on 4 April 2008, exactly the day the country joined NATO. And the joy of the country could not be spoiled by Erison closing his eyes. Even less so the events and serious details of those days, when journalists, while searching through the life of every victim who died in Gërdec, also found one of Erison’s school notebooks, a notebook in which the homework had been left half done. Zamira Durda, who in this tragedy lost not only her little son, but also her father and her sister-in-law, three years after this tragedy, after going from one prosecutor’s office and court to another, making daily trips from Vora to Tirana, now says there is no longer room for justice, it is time for self-justice. Today Zamira speaks of self-justice. But society? Erison did not work in that factory. His bad luck that day was that he had left home without permission to play. But today, he and 25 other people are no longer alive. And all those suspected and accused as the cause of this tragedy have today left the cells in prison 313 in Tirana, to be tried while free. For 26 lives lost in Gërdec, it seems there is no more justice. And just as much, hopes fade day by day as we watch the prosecution trying to find the truth also for the 4 victims of the demonstration of 21 January this year in the capital. Because in Albania, justice is not simply worn by power. The crime of justice is blindly protected by power. Today we dedicate the front page of Gazeta to the 6-year-old Erison, to remind everyone — lawyers, prosecutors, judges and state officials — that they cannot extinguish children’s dreams and Albanians’ lives like this. On pages 2-3

THE 21 JANUARY DEMONSTRATION REXHEP QOSJA: WHY THE EU PROTECTS SALI BERISHA On pages 8-11

Yesterday in “The Guardian” Yesterday in “The Guardian” By AFUA HIRSCH Sweden’s attempt to extradite Julian Assange has brought back into focus the extradition procedure between European states - the European arrest warrant. ... Assange, the extradition debate Continued on page 28

Opinion of the Day Opinion of the Day By ERL MURATI Two political events shook public opinion yesterday: the release from prison of the protagonists of the Gërdec trial before 3 years had even passed since the explosion... It goes and comes from Rubicon Continued on page 29