As Albanian TV also reported, the very Arsidi who had given it as a gift was arrested. What will President Berisha do with this medal now? Will he return it or leave it to Kolec Topalli to archive? Some say that the President accepted this medal in order to discover later who had collaborated with Arsidi to obtain the money. 15 March 1993 As Albanian TV also reported, Frenchman Nicolas Arsidi was arrested in France because he had swindled the Albanian state out of 1.5 million dollars, supposedly as an intermediary for the foreign debt. So Arsidi was arrested, but our esteemed President was left with the medal awarded by the Albanian side to Arsidi for obtaining the money. So far, nothing has been clarified. But in any case, whatever happens to the medal, we have this, and nobody can deny it. Long live the medal, since the millions are gone! When he played the truth As reported in recent days by the French media, Nikolas Arsidi, implicated in the scandal involving the Albanian state’s debt together with several figures from Albania’s political and financial circles, was arrested. As is known, the first report about this scandal was published by the newspaper «Koha Jonë». Our newspaper presents an accurate portrait of this French citizen implicated in the scandal: the man who came and went here for a long time, the man who sought to buy a plane or one of the two most important hotels, «Dajti» or «Tirana», the man who managed to become an intermediary in the debt deal, taking around 1 million and 500 thousand dollars, the man who gave our country the only reward: the decoration for the President of the Republic, Mr Berisha, the man who will surely reveal many threads that are invisible today. Many state bodies, including the highest authorities such as the Presidency and Parliament, were compelled to get involved in the scandal, but nobody mentions that this information was first and accurately reported by «Koha Jonë», at a time when RD wrote about it a month later and without a single fact. It would be not only our wish, but also the duty of others who relied on our reports to acknowledge this, especially since they vaguely state that «the information was obtained from several press outlets».

The national association of the persecuted, «Pronësi», signed an agreement in Tirana the previous day with its collaborators, the Association of Albanian-American Citizens, based in New York, USA. The ultimate aim of this agreement is to bring a joint lawsuit against the Albanian state before the International Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Both associations regard this lawsuit as the last democratic means of recovering properties seized by communism, should the Albanian Government and Parliament continue to turn a deaf ear to the fair and reasonable demands of the rightful owners. It was agreed that the associations would not accept compensation in cash or so-called «valuable» papers, but only the return— (continued on page 3)

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Albanian television announced this shocking news on Wednesday during a news bulletin. A quantity of drugs, relatively large for Albania, was seized by law enforcement officers. These were the hardest and most expensive drugs: heroin and cocaine. The smugglers were arrested, and a pistol without a permit was also found along with the drugs. Naturally, the police officers who carried out the operation to seize the drugs deserve congratulations. But the fact is that drugs have entered Albania. According to our sources, this is not the first such case. Where is the drug coming in? Who buys it for consumption? The price is extremely high, but there are buyers in Albania nonetheless. Is drug trafficking taking place here, and if so, who is running it? The Ministry of Public Order must take action on this, rather than waiting until syringes cover Tirana’s large park.

Nearly two years later, students at the University of Kamza announce another strike. This strike, which began on 9 March 1993, was not covered in any TV-PD news bulletin. Once again, the students felt as they had in the past, when those in power turned a deaf ear and ignored them. Nevertheless, through this strike today’s rulers learned that they cannot do whatever they please. They cannot dismiss from work whomever they want; they are not all-powerful masters. Albania is not property bequeathed to them by the PPSH. The 21 lecturers who were unjustly dismissed are returning to work, and the dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Myzafer Cela, is being dismissed. This is solely the students’ achievement. This is the shame of the PD, which forced students to go on strike—precisely those students whom the people who are now parliamentarians, ministers or presidents exploited as a stepping-stone.