In the upcoming elections, the DP must know very well that if it uses force, force will be the response... Interview with the president of AD, Mr. Neritan Ceka Read on page 5

—“We are being sentenced by order. They want to make us scapegoats.” A defendant declares —“We are being sentenced by order. They want to make us scapegoats.” A defendant declares After more than a year of uproar over the breaking of the embargo by means of fuel tankers, after the arrests and releases of

1993: Tirana — 10,000 abortions; Elbasan — 1,300; What about Albania as a whole? Read on page 4

Albania–Greece . The state border teaches politics a lesson. Read on page 3 by F. ÇUPI

. Kadare asks: What are the reasons for Albania’s isolation? Read on page 2

After a year and more of commotion over the breaking of the embargo using fuel tankers, after the repeated arrests and releases of smugglers, after the accusations made by a Croatian newspaper against people in positions of power, right up to the president, and after the uproar over an ecological disaster in Lake Shkodër, this trial has now begun on charges of fuel smuggling. Five people were arrested on May 3 of this year after being caught in a pool in the village of Pulaj, in Velipojë, a border area, with a tanker truck carrying diesel fuel. After a six-hour trial held on Monday, 18.7.1994, at 11 o’clock, the panel of judges was compelled to send the case back for investigation. The defendants Osman Kurti, Nikolin Prenga, Arben Preçi, Ded Simoni, and Viktor Nikolla are accused of fuel smuggling in collaboration, according to the indictment read by the prosecutor in the case, Hajdar Çakoli. The panel was presided over by Mr. Gjovalin Përndocaj, president of the Shkodër court. The defendants denied the charges, putting forward their own claims. The complete discrepancy between the defendants’ statements and what was recorded in the minutes should be noted. There were particular complications with the record of their being caught in the act: the defendants said, “We were astonished by what we heard in the minutes,” even though they themselves had signed them. They said, “We signed without reading, but they told us to sign because the tanker was stuck in the mud.” Yet now it turns out that the document stated that the tanker had discharged diesel fuel outside. The police took the tanker away sealed. Although Ded Simoni raised the question of where the fuel had gone, no one at the hearing answered him, at a time when

. Novel by N. Tozaj. Pages 11–12

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