Zef Brozi confines himself in his office Brozi: "If I am physically eliminated, I will denounce the head of state" High-level politicians should enjoy tomorrow’s freedom by not implicating themselves in crimes today Last night, at 22:00, the chairman of the Court of Cassation, Mr. Zef Brozi, informed the press that throughout the day he had sought to reach the highest state officials by telephone, so that they would order the lifting of the unlawful police siege of the Court of Cassation. In the late hours of the night, when the chairman of the Court of Cassation, Brozi, was confined in his office as a sign of protest against the police siege of the Court of Cassation, he repeatedly tried to contact Prime Minister Meksi, Interior Minister Musaraj and his aides, and the chairman of the Parliamentary Commission for Defence, Public Order and SHIK, Hajdari. But everywhere the answer was complete silence. By the time the newspaper pages were ready for reproduction, however, there was still no response from the competent state authorities regarding the lifting of the Court of Cassation building’s police siege. pages 2-7 The police officers and civilians who surrounded the Court of Cassation yesterday

Tension and friction have engulfed the main institutions of the state in these days. Yesterday’s siege of the Court of Cassation by police forces, and the confinement there of Chairman Brozi, marked the climax and at the same time the most absurd manifestation of the conflict that is squeezing the highest levels of a country’s leadership. Precisely yesterday, the struggle that has broken out within the Albanian state was openly displayed before ordinary citizens, who should normally know when they think that one day they may have dealings with their own state. Whether Brozi, Meksi, Berisha or Frashëri is right matters little at present in the face of the shocking fact that the state has begun to destroy itself. Within a few days, the country’s most important institutions have been drawn into a story that seems destined to end badly: the Government, the Constitutional Court, the Court of Cassation, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of the Interior, SHIK, etc., and, most recently, the highest body of all, Parliament, which today will meet urgently ahead of the scheduled deadline. The parts of the state continue to accuse one another, leaving citizens with the bitter taste of fruit grown on a rotten tree. But beyond the fact that citizens are feeling the absence of the state, even more serious is the question of why this tension, this open escalation that yesterday thoroughly compromised the seriousness of state institutions, came about. Why did the government remember precisely at the beginning of September to bring charges against Brozi? Why were the links with the security service of three employees of the Court of Cassation uncovered these days? Why is Parliament meeting today in emergency session? Wittingly or not, all this uproar, which is cracking the structures of the state, is linked to the botched trial in the Court of Cassation of the “Nano” case. So the state has been put in motion in service of a single man, just as Parliament changed the law a month ago on the entry into force of the New Penal Code, which it had itself approved a short time earlier. The crisis of institutions in Albania, previously foreseen as well, reached its peak yesterday with the confinement within the walls of the highest court of the Chairman of the Court of Cassation, elected by Parliament for a seven-year term and representing the highest level of justice in Albania. The judicial system is one of the state’s fundamental structures, and the confinement of its head in order to be protected from other state segments is nothing other than evidence of the state’s self-destruction. Confinement, the centuries-old consequence that has accompanied Albanians growing up alongside one another, has seized and reached the pinnacle of the state. And when state officials “enter into blood feuds,” unfortunately for the citizen there is nothing left but to hope never to have dealings with their own state. A.SHKULLAKU

The Socialist Party demands the unblocking of the Nano case file Prelë Martini: "One member of the bench had forgotten to sign the minutes" pages 3

The aircraft, operated from the Gjadër base, was shot down by Bosnian Serbs A senior American defence official confirmed yesterday that a spy plane was hit by Bosnian Serb forces three days earlier. The American Undersecretary of Defense, Walters Slocombe, confirmed that the Bosnian Serbs claim the aircraft, which was operated from the Albanian base of Gjadër, was hit by them. "Yes. These are things that happen. That is one of the reasons why it was shot down" - said the American Undersecretary of Defense. The USA have so far lost three “Predator” surveillance aircraft over Bosnia, since flights from northern Albania began in mid-July. The last aircraft was shot down while flying over Bosnia, while the other two were destroyed by the Americans because they could not return to base due to technical problems. Only 10 “Predator” aircraft of this type have been produced in total, and each is worth USD 2 million. Washington denied the claims of Bosnian Serb forces in western Hercegovina that the “Predator” aircraft was shot down on Sunday from an area where NATO aircraft launch airstrikes. Slocombe was visiting Albania together with Gail Kruzel, the wife of Joseph J. Kruzel, one of the three American diplomats who died last month in a car collision on a mountain road near Sarajevo.

pages 13 photo Felix Bilani Duel between Strakosha and Stoichkov, scorer of the Bulgarian goal