In the court ruling from two days ago, which bears no signature from him, he is quoted as having stated : Kulla: “I killed policeman Neziri” If found guilty, Nehat Kulla risks the death penalty

That something like this would happen was beyond question. It is impossible for our typically harsh and shameless provincialism not to rear its head even when there is no need. It is impossible for those in the administration not to make Albanians pay dearly even for a pleasure or an event that delights them. Not one, but several organizers and mid-level officials have declared these days that, after all, the Misses are merely a pretext, something incidental, compared with the opportunity that has arisen to improve the damaged image of Berisha’s Albania. It is an old logic, as old as the strong regimes of every hue: white, black, red, green or yellow. Let us set aside the Olympics on the eve of the Second World War and recall how the Soviet regime treated the 1980 Olympics, or Seoul the 1988 Games. It is a fixed idea of every strong regime that publishing illustrated magazines, organizing events with international resonance and appearing on CNN make it possible for sins to be forgotten and opinions to be changed. Of course, organizing Miss Europe may not be the same as organizing the European Football Championship or the Olympic Games. Nevertheless, this spectacle, organized as it was, is something that gives you a sense of pleasure, creates an experience, brings a cultural massage, makes you feel closer to the civilized world, and so on. But, of course, the parade of European beauties cannot make you forget the boorishness, the thuggery, the corruption, the rubbish and the monotony of everyday life on one channel. After two hours of colour, the news comes on and everything starts all over again. It is even more painful to observe that the violent, stifled bigwigs of our administration and state operate with such schemes. It is painful for us to have rulers and politicians who think that Albania’s image can now be filled to the brim with ships crowded with people; the image of poor, miserable Albania; the image of a country where people are manipulated at will with their speedboats, where they are left free to manipulate as they please, where the policeman’s baton is used to police the borders as a form of protest; the image of crime and prostitution among so many Albanians and others, making them disappear by the thousands, those who “apparently” cost less. This makes it even more … [?] to them. That is what you call believing those who say that this Albania is beginning to come into its own.

Miss England Marie-Claire Harrison, named Miss Europe (page 17)

page 2 “Amnesty for Fatos Nano” page 5 “Sigurimi files” in court page 2 152 years in prison for genocide page 10 Albanians kill in Corfu page 7 Islam: Çeka did not ask us about the municipality page 5 Meksi: Everyone must pay taxes! page 13 Murphi: Prison for the undemocratic “boycott” page 4

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