It can no longer be tolerated after what happened yesterday What happened yesterday to my colleague and one of the best-known Albanian journalists, Frrok Çupi, was truly shameful. Even when a deputy prime minister walks into a café for a coffee, he still [?] the state. So yesterday Dashamir Shehi, entrusted with the mantle? of a deputy prime minister, punched a JOURNALIST in the face right in the middle of a prestigious café in Tirana. And not just anyone, but Frrok Çupi himself. And not drunk, but completely sober. And not without companions, but with three men behind him. He hit him because Frrok Çupi had written an article in which he had also mentioned Mr. Shehi’s name. Could anything be more shameful than what our deputy prime minister has done?! Can you believe that at the head of the government we have a man with any sense of reason or logic, beyond President Berisha’s promise-filled words that “journalists must not be touched”? How can we believe the president when his man, the deputy prime minister, dares to raise his hand against a journalist, when he should not even dare to see such an act in a dream? And every day we write that journalists are beaten by the police or the SHIK. Now, it seems, government officials are starting too. All that remains is for Berisha’s powerful Tropoja clan to come and beat us under presidential protection. Not forgetting the muscleman Blerim Çela! There is no point in continuing to put out newspapers like this. The entire state is rising up against journalists. Someone may beat you; another, a certain Martin Miri (head of the Lezhë SHIK), files a criminal complaint; a policeman gives you a beating; a Tirana SHIK man beats Bardhok Lala, a journalist for “Dita Informacion,” to death; a telecommunications director cuts off journalists’ phone lines; an official can insult you however he pleases; a prosecutor can arrest you when you [?]; a judge either sentences you to prison or “lightly” fines you three thousand dollars. Anyone, anywhere, can do anything to a journalist. After what happened, there is no room for President Berisha’s hypocrisy about supposedly protecting journalists. After what Dashamir Shehi said, he is not a deputy prime minister, at least not in the moral sense of the word. NIKOLLË LESI

Died at midday on the brink of a tragedy Shehi takes responsibility for the crime: “If Çupi and his family are killed, I am the perpetrator” Statement by the Association of Professional Journalists “Forms of violence against journalists have reached an unimaginable level” page 2

Serious violations announced in electoral districts 17 and 18, Lezhë Lesi writes to the DP “winner,” Luigi Gjoka I will not go to that parliament appointed by Berisha. Nor will I go even if you resign your parliamentary mandate. I have different moral principles, which could converge with yours if you have a sense of civic courage. But the point of my short letter (to leave room for the facts about the stolen votes) is that you should not tarnish your good name with the bad name of the 26 May elections. Special report, pages 12–14

The appointee resigns He ended up isolated in a

Imami: “Today we expected a different ruling from the Supreme Court” Yesterday the Court rejected the request of the Centre Pole. Today, elections in 17 districts page 3

He remained isolated in a shelter on Kavaja Street page 2

We will no longer remain anonymous until I remove the shackles from my body and soul Rexhina Nano speaks: page 5

Boris Jelcin or Genadi Zhuganov? Today, presidential elections in Russia The election campaign for the Russian presidency ended with a poll that left the Russian giant frozen with anxiety over Sunday's results: the communist candidate G. Zhuganov once again emerged as the favorite. But it is not only Russian public opinion that awaits the June 16 results with apprehension; the international community does too. Meanwhile, President Jelcin concluded his election marathon by meeting the patriarch of the Orthodox Church, Aleksei II. Polling stations will be open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. throughout Russia, but, given the time difference in the Far Eastern regions, voting began as early as 9 p.m. yesterday. In the 1991 presidential election, voter turnout was 74 percent.

Once again yesterday, the editorial office of Koha Jonë was forced to work without a single telephone, and therefore today the newspaper Koha Jonë is not publishing its daily column of news from the districts. Yesterday, Telekom of Tirana disconnected even the last telephone number belonging to a KJ journalist, although it was a personal number. But Telekom and SHIK in Tirana ought to be a little smarter if they want to know what is going on at “Koha Jonë”; they are letting our telephone signal through, even though Telekom owes us 160 thousand new lekë.

England-Scotland 2-0 Spain-France 1-1 pages 22-23

Tomorrow at 11:00 (Monday), all journalists from the districts must report in. The monthly review will be held, as well as a discussion following the disconnection of the newsroom’s two telephone numbers and the blocking of these private phones belonging to “Koha Jonë” journalists. The new telephone numbers to be used secretly will be announced. In urgent cases, we will use Prime Minister Meksi’s private telephone number, 32245.