For 60 hours tied hand and foot, but not mistreated Erion Nushi tells of the terror of those three days “They would only open my mouth when I ate bread” -Erion, a lot has been said about your kidnapping on Tuesday morning. But in fact, how did it happen? -Two men grabbed me, dragged me until they forced me into a car where another person was also inside. And there they threw two blankets over my head, tied my hands with rope and took me to a one-story private house, about 5 minutes from my school. -And in that house you stayed these three days? -Yes. When they took me to the house they untied my hands, then tied them again with rope. In fact, not only my hands, but also my feet. -But you didn’t make any attempt to escape. Didn’t you shout at all? -I did, but I couldn’t because they were big. Then I couldn’t shout because they had tied my mouth and eyes, sometimes with a pillowcase and sometimes with a sheet. My mouth was free only during the minutes when they gave me something to eat. -And during those two nights in the morning did you learn anything about what was happening in the family? -No. How could I have known? I was isolated. -If you saw your kidnappers, would you recognize them? -No. -Did they mistreat you? -No, not at all. They had only tied my hands, feet, mouth and eyes. -And in what way did they abandon you? -They took me from the house where they were keeping me locked up, covered my head with a sheet and left me in an alley near the “Arbana” hotel. -After what happened, what would you most like to do? -To go back to school as before. Last night Erion brings joy back to his mother, father and little brother photo A. BABANI The kidnappers had locked him in a house near the place of the kidnapping TIRANA - Erion Nushi’s kidnappers have finally given in. After 60 hours of desperate attempts to sell, in cash, 200 thousand dollars in exchange for the life of the 11-year-old, last night they abandoned their little hostage in the street and now they have focused all their efforts on one point only: to save their own skin, which without the hostage seems to be worth little. A great whistle of joy erupted last night, at 8:00 p.m., in Erion’s house, when the 11-year-old hostage knocked on the door of his apartment. And if during these three days the door of his apartment had been opened with so much hope, last night it was as if a miracle had fallen from the sky. It was Erion, who after walking several kilometers from Hotel Arbana, near which the kidnappers had thrown him onto the asphalt, filled the house with light again, a house that had been plunged into mourning since Tuesday morning when the little boy had been violently kidnapped very near his school “Dora D’Istria”. And what Erion tells, in whose voice and face the traces of terror have still not faded, is truly a shocking story. He had spent 60 hours always under the “uncompromising” supervision of ropes and a pillowcase, with which the bandits had tied not only his hands and feet, but also his mouth and eyes. But he could not make out in detail the features of the kidnappers because, the moment they forced him into the car, they covered his eyes and his entire head with a blanket. “What happened to my son I would not wish to happen even to the children of the kidnappers,” his mother, Vilma, said a few hours after the little hostage returned home. Nevertheless, the bandits did not touch a single hair on Erion’s head. On the contrary, they fed him well. They had even provided him with a “comfortable bed” in a separate room in a private house inside the capital where they kept him locked up for three days in a row. Apparently they had decided to hand the child over to his parents whole and unharmed, but only after having taken (continued on page 2) ZAMIR DULE

One year after the failure of the referendum - The Constitution is still being played with If they really want to make a Constitution, let them respect that package of laws we have, let them respect the chapter on freedoms and human rights. As long as a law remains in force that undermines the right to elections, which is the foundation of a state, equivalent in importance to the Constitution, then there is no reason for us to cooperate with an anti-constitutional party, with an anti-constitutional President, in a session where the Constitution is being violated. If they want democracy in Albania, then let them repeal article 3 of the genocide law, accept consensus on the electoral law and consensus on the Constitution. Either there is consensus and cooperation, or political games. If there is consensus, let us carry out what we say. If it is political games, then everyone should do their own. PD, PS, PSD, AD deputies speak, pages 3, 7

Yesterday afternoon in parliament, President Berisha’s decree “On compensation for former owners of agricultural and forest land and occupied plots, with guards in tourist areas and populated centers” was approved. According to the government, this decree makes technical adjustments to the law and amendments to the law on compensation for the value of former owners of agricultural land. After this decree, which enters into force immediately, compensation for former owners will not be made only in land but also in kind, with guards in tourist areas and populated centers. The decree also makes a change to the law “On pastures and meadows.” If pastures and meadows are located within boundary lines of interest for the development of tourism, former owners or their heirs will be given compensation in money, or in other areas as uninhabited land. The President’s decree was approved by the Socialist Party without any objection, although most of the group and chairman Dokle had not yet seen it. Meanwhile, the parliamentary group of the PD proposed and approved several amendments, authored by Mr. Kopliku. The PD group removed from the decree the form of compensation in money, for special cases. The decree provides that compensation in kind is to be made with the same value as that foreseen in money. This point of the law “On compensation for former owners...” was the most contested by the former owners themselves. Their association had not agreed with the value proposed by parliament. This change may cause more objections. E.A

SHIK officer Ylber Meraja has filed a criminal complaint against the director of the newspaper “Koha Jonë” for defamation made publicly. The lawsuit concerns an article published in the newspaper “Koha Jonë” on 8 July of last year, authored by the well-known journalist Arian Çani. Throughout all this time, the SHIK officer has not even bothered to deny it or to file a complaint, but when the political moment arrives, the Tirana прокуратoria immediately takes the complaint into consideration and opens a criminal case over this issue. The case will be transferred to the Tirana Court.