Socialists seek a motion of no confidence in the Minister of Defence In December, Zhulali was brought down by DP MPs. Now it is the opposition’s turn The left, too, steps onto the shooting range page 3

Following the Court of Cassation’s ruling, assessments and accusations Speaking to “Koha Jonë”: Neritan Ceka, Luan Hajdaraga, Bashkim Zeneli, Petrit Kalakulla page 2 Following the Court of Cassation’s ruling, assessments and accusations The release of the “five”: a bridge from Tirana to Athens? Speaking to “Koha Jonë”: Neritan Ceka, Luan Hajdaraga, Bashkim Zeneli, Petrit Kalakulla page 2

The referee is assaulted in Peqin by footballers, law-enforcement forces and army forces page 4

The Court of Cassation’s decision to release the four members of the minority seemed to bring an old conflict to a close, but in fact it opened a new one. The judicial decision, articulated as a way to ease relations between Albania and Greece, strained relations between the Court and the Prosecutor’s Office. When five members of the minority were taken hostage ten months ago, Greece, enraged, tore its hair out over the Albanian refugees. Now, with their release, the Albanian Prosecutor’s Office tore its own hair out and for ten hours demanded that the four “hostages” be kept captive. Why? For the sake of the Law, Albania, Greece, the Court or the Prosecutor’s Office? Whatever the case, for God’s sake, it must be acknowledged that the conflict was transformed into a conflict, with only its dimensions changing. From Athens to Tirana, it contracted in space; from the Court to the Prosecutor’s Office. So what was gained? In trying to close one wound, another was hurt. Because the Court and the Prosecutor’s Office had long been attacking one another, inflicting wounds not only on the institutions but, it seems, also on the people who lead them. The people heading these institutions have had, and continue to have, a decisive role in the whole game. If this is so, there are several questions whose answers explain why the conflict was transformed into a conflict. First. Would the Court of Cassation’s decision have been different if Judge Brozi had not been at its head, after concluding a quarrel with the government a week earlier? Second. Would this have been the Court’s decision if Brozi had been removed by the votes of the Albanian MPs and replaced by someone else? Third. Would the General Prosecutor’s Office have reacted in the same way if the decision had been made not by Zef Brozi but, let us say, by Zef Bronzi? Fourth. way if it had not been headed by Abush Dragoshi, who asked Parliament to lift Brozi’s immunity? Perhaps the Court’s decision would have been what it was regardless of Brozi’s conflict with the government and the Prosecutor’s Office over another Greek. That is, if the decision was not influenced by the events preceding the trial, then we must accept that we have institutions. But if all these quarrels would not have happened had the characters’ surnames not been Brozi or Dragoshi, then the wounds belong not to the institutions but to the people who lead them. And people’s illnesses are easier to cure than those of the state.

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Interview with the Deputy Prosecutor General Mr. Fatos Dervishi page 5