. A third party is being sought to guarantee the two great opponents in Albanian politics. Page 3

. When he returned from Italy after a visit, the head of Albania’s Prosecutor’s Office, Arben Rakipi, recounted almost naively how the group of prosecutors he led had been escorted during their meetings. “Dozens of police cars and motorcycles, extreme security measures at the places where we were staying…” Thus, perhaps for the first time, Albania’s chief prosecutor seemed to have felt like the country’s top prosecutor and remembered that he was a person of no small importance. After returning to Tirana, he once again got into his usual BMW and went to his usual apartment, without being accompanied by armored cars and a police escort. Others, meanwhile, do not even have cars. To go to court, they tuck the case file under their arm and take the city bus. This is how the people who investigate and punish serious crimes, drug trafficking, smuggling, and other offenses of this kind go about their work. They are constantly distracted by the police sirens blocking intersections to clear the way for black cars carrying ministers or members of parliament, who can hardly have done anything dangerous enough to require such heavy protection. Others stroll casually into the journalists’ club, have a drink, exchange a joke or two, while at the door bodyguards with radios in their hands watch closely everyone who comes in. These are the people who run the government and the state, and it is only natural that they should be protected. But there seem to be others who are even more exposed to danger than they are—and perhaps even more important. They are the people in the justice system, those who confront crime, which may even include the people receiving all this protection. They are the ones who uphold the law, the ones who summon even the president to account. “If you don’t care about your own life, think of my children,” one of the Prosecutor’s Office’s highest-ranking officials said, almost angrily, to the crime reporters, who had quoted him in a “spicy” article. In this situation, when everyone fears a bullet, it is the people in the justice system who are most afraid—apart from those who make deals with criminals. And they are right. Those who have now taken the reins of this weapon do not have villas surrounded by railings and surveillance cameras—at least not the younger ones—nor armored cars or a guard at their apartment door. They simply get up in the morning, go to the office, work, and return home in the evening. Just like someone who works in a shoe factory or a sausage factory. And consider that one of these prosecutors is handling the file on a mafia organization involved in trafficking undocumented migrants and drugs. Another is investigating a criminal gang, or other cases of this kind. And it is the politicians—the ones who have been accused and linked like links in a chain—who shout loudest about freedom… against crime and the mafia. Now, a career? … works? … Although … Falkanë, the state should not have to wait to understand until he has been killed.

Handcuffs for two traffickers from Vlora. Investigation begins P. 8

P. 9

Bureaucracy holds up aid P. 13 Parliament criticizes security chiefs over delays in passing laws Socialist MPs against the Government P. 5 Patrols by the Albanian police and the “Guardia di Finanza” After the tragedy, a coastal cordon P. 7 Dairy products alert: “It is unhygienic” Food: 50 people in hospital P. 11

One year ago, the funeral of the young man Artur Rustemi Photo ARMANDO BABANI

Anonymous phone calls to prosecutor’s offices: Release the detainees “The release of those accused of serious crimes and smuggling is being demanded.” Frightened investigators: It is impossible to work under these conditions Terror against Albanian justice. Dozens of prosecutors and investigators throughout Albania have experienced in recent days the power of threats and pressure, even threats to their lives, from people very close to those currently under investigation for extremely serious crimes. Calls such as “release the prisoners, or we’ll make you disappear” have for days been the refrain of anonymous tough guys in investigation offices. Precisely when the law is now speaking through its representatives, psychological violence and open threats have become the order of the day. P. 2

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