Dokle: We know Berisha is involved in the “Arsidi affair,” but we want Genc Ruli to speak If the PD splits, only the PS can defend or imprison Ruli Does the PS’s position on Ruli differ from that of its chairman? FATOS NANO on the $1.6 million scandal and Genc Ruli I think Ruli’s resignation is a poker move, a game he plays quite well, even outside the rules set by the “owner of the casino.” With the $1.6 million pot from the “Arsidi Affair,” the decorated owner became furious in the face of the public bluff, but at precisely that moment Ruli, who has begun using a computer too, will have pulled an “ace from his sleeve,” and that hand ended with a “pass.” It happened by chance. Finally, the appointments of Shehu and Vrioni show that the PD is being left with the state apparatus, the fistful of loyalists who, like Berisha, are supposed to bring the party and the electorate to heel by means of state power. Therefore, instead of the rule of law advancing, party politics and propaganda are conducted in its institutions. Interview with F. Nano for KJ, Tirana Prison, dated 16/01/1994 Fatos Nano, Genc Ruli and Sali Berisha discussing the formation of the Government of Stability

Assassination at a café; Arian Hoxha is killed A teenager is arrested; a contract killer? An assassination at a café in the heart of the capital, but this time the victim is a very well-known figure: Arian Hoxha from Yzberisht. Just one pistol shot to Arian’s head was enough, on Sunday evening, to extinguish his 23 years of life instantly. Meanwhile, officers from Police Station No. 3 have detained a teenager accused of murder. The victim’s funeral, held on Monday afternoon, blocked the stretch of “Rruga e Kavajës” from the Beer Factory to the cemetery; the long procession of people walked along it for about an hour. At around 9 p.m. on Sunday, Arian Hoxha, a father of two, was leaving “Kolomboja,” a top-class café in central Tirana near the Ministry of Defense, when a teenager rushed toward him and shot him in the head with a pistol. The 23-year-old fell to the ground immediately, lifeless, amid the terrified screams of the customers who were in the café at that hour. The assailant fled. But swift action by officers of Police Station No. 3 made it possible to catch him. Nevertheless, at the police station and later during questioning, the teenager did not admit to killing Arian. It is possible that Sunday’s assassination was carried out for revenge, just as it is possible that the killer was a hired gun. However, whether the assailant committed the murder after being lured by a large sum of money offered for taking A. Hoxha’s life, or was driven by other motives, is something the Prosecutor’s Office will help establish. Among the few known details of Arian’s life, his record includes an incident in which he was wounded a few years ago. Arian had stabbed a young man from Selita with scissors, while the latter wounded him in the leg by shooting him with a pistol. The victim was laid to rest on Monday afternoon. A funeral that brought to mind that of Gazmend Muça. Thousands of people. At the head of the procession was the police, which “cleared” traffic on “Rruga e Kavajës,” the road leading to the capital’s cemetery. In an unusual sight, the procession was not made up of a line of cars, but of people who carried the coffin containing the victim’s body on their shoulders for about an hour, from Yzberisht to the cemetery. D. Z.

The “Arda” cigarette shipment put the deputy in the dock Proceedings began yesterday morning against Arben Lika and three other defendants, Dashnor Shemo, Hajredin Halili and Edmond Meçe. At yesterday’s hearing, before the indictment was read, Mr. Mark Pellumbi, counsel for the central figure in the trial against Arben Lika, requested that “Arben Lika’s letter to the President, in which he explains the mechanism of the affair that landed him in prison,” also be included in the court file. This request was accepted by the presiding judge, Mr. Artan Zeneli, on condition that the letter be presented to the court at the final stage of the judicial investigation, when the documentary evidence was to be admitted. The prosecutor, Dritan Ribaj, presented the route taken by the shipment of 633 packages of “Arda” cigarettes from Greece to Kakavijë, where they were seized. According to prosecutor Ribaj, Arben Lika, former PD deputy and chairman of the Youth Federation, and Dashnor Shemo, an activist in this Federation, were accused of smuggling and forging official documents, because under the guise of humanitarian aid they had brought smuggled goods worth around 3 million lekë into Albania. The other two defendants, Hajredin Halili and Edmond Meçe, were accused only of smuggling. The defendants denied the charges. The proceedings then continued with the questioning of witnesses. Z. D