Keeping Fatos Nano in prison, even for one more day after the elections, creates the possibility of a serious political crisis I returned to Albania because here I have my name and my honor I believe I should stand before the people who once held me in their arms, trusted me and gave me honor, to judge me again as the same man I was before, and to give me the strength to cleanse the mud that Berisha and his mercenaries tried to throw on me over these four years There is a lot of speculation that if people do not vote for Berisha, the world will not help Albania. This is nonsense. Europe and America are not Berisha’s monopoly. And this is not the first time Berisha has misused the words of foreigners about Albania as if they were sleeping with him. I am completely convinced that Europe and America want free, calm and fair elections. Not only that. Europe and America want peace and stability in the region and will help us secure peace and calm in our region. Which political force Albania will vote for, whom Albanians choose to lead their country, is a matter for Albanians themselves. Interview with Dr. Gramoz Pashko page 9

Lezhë, not all voter lists have been published The chairman of the district commission, driver of the PD candidate page 3

Rubatis: The Socialists are going to the elections with their chairman in prison Gjirokastër, press conference by the Greek MEP page 3

Burial of medicines from the German fund is decided Alarm at the Ministry of Health page 6 Thousands of dollars worth of expired medicine. The Memorandum “On the administration and distribution of medicines from the German crisis aid” — which was fully disbursed during 1992 — was found to be the reason behind bringing in medicines worth 18,030,707 lekë. The hospital in the city of Kukës would be supplied with 26,263,217 lekë, while the remaining 11,767,490 lekë would be made available to the state pharmacies of Kukës.

More than 1,000 Kombinat residents at a meeting with Pëllumbi and Dokle Socialist meeting in Kombinat in Tirana “Berisha is surprised by where the socialists will find the money to build the social state, and I am telling him that it is enough to take it from the thieves of the PD,” said socialist deputy chairman Namik Dokle at an election rally with the Kombinat neighborhood of Tirana. Over 1,000 participants greeted the PS leaders, Pëllumbi and Dokle, with cheers. page 3

Yesterday at the Tirana court, the “Arkon” fraud Thousands of identified citizens have demanded their release

Violence against Socialists continues The writers of PS slogans end up in the police page 2

On the same day as today, 5 years ago, the first materials that would be typeset in lead and then distributed in about 500 copies, once a week, under the title “Koha Jonë”, were sent to the “Mihal Duri” printing house in Tirana. Those were the modest four pages that added a new newspaper to the small city of Lezhë, at a time when free press had been born in Albania 4 months earlier, after 50 years of communist rule. Today is the same day again. The newspaper pages have gone to press and from there 25,000 copies of the country’s largest newspaper, the 24-page independent daily “Koha Jonë”, have been distributed throughout Albania. Over 5 years, “Koha Jonë” has changed a great deal, arriving precisely at the stage where it can be called a newspaper. A large, serious newspaper, a worthy representative of the entire Albanian independent and free press. And amid all these colossal changes, the newspaper “Koha Jonë” has kept unchanged its character, its backbone. During these years, among the most difficult for post-dictatorial Albania, “Koha Jonë” has tried and managed to keep the same face it has always had, despite pressure, checks, attacks, or imprisonment. Today “Koha Jonë” is a large newspaper, a whole enterprise where more than 120 people work. It comes out every day in 24 pages, has the most optimal working conditions for journalists and a circulation that places it first in the Albanian press. “Koha Jonë” turns over more than 2 million dollars a year, has the highest salaries and fees for journalists, its marketing sector ranks first for published advertisements, it has its own distribution agency, “Press Transport”, and publishes twice a week “Sport Ekspres”, the country’s largest sports newspaper... None of this has been easy to achieve in 5 years, but today, leaving everything else aside, we are pleased with our work, with what we have achieved. “Koha Jonë” has also managed to be the voice of the Albanian press in the world, thanks to professionalism, impartiality and accurate information. As in these 5 years, we guarantee our readers that even after 10, 20 or 30 years we will appear before them with the same face, the face of “Koha Jonë”. We will strive to be continuously not only a source of information, but also a voice for our readers’ opinions.

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