PD group boycotts the vote for the head of the Constitutional Court Last night, in a closed-door vote. MPs dismiss Rustem Gjata Page 3

BY FRROK ÇUPI A year ago, when the nationwide uprising was pushing the governing “cart” toward new elections, people in Vlora were calling for the state to begin its work with a Court and Parliament in Flag Square. This did not happen. Then came the day before yesterday, when a group of people who had shaken the peace of the state in Milot were released from prison and sent home by the Court of Cassation. All this is caught between two historic Albanian events: one took place in Rozafa in that very ancient century that could not even be recorded, while the other found shelter in Vlora in this century. Both share the efforts of the inhabitants of this country to organize themselves; nothing else. But the Albanian state administration established after July 1997 was slow to install at least the symbol of a Court and Parliament in Flag Square, while someone else sought to install the “justice” of Rozafa. Only in this way can what happened the day before yesterday at the Court of Cassation be explained in the fewest words. 1. While the Albanian state is trying to establish an investigative institution to distinguish major offenders from ordinary peace-loving people, the Court of Cassation releases a group of offenders. The State Prosecutor General, seeing that a pillar of a state building had been struck, sounded the alarm that it had been “seriously damaged.” Without an investigation, there can be no justice, no real state. It is just as with Rozafa: someone built by day, another tore down by night. 2. Just as public order was being established, the Court released the accused. The citizen is told to have faith, the police officer becomes afraid, and the law is broken before it can even be enforced. “The Court of Cassation judges are collaborating with criminals,” says the Minister of the Interior. Parliament has just approved the package on the police and public order. In other words, the state is once again struck at one of its most important pillars. What is being built is being targeted for destruction. 3. “If we come to power, we will repeal the privatization law,” said the ousted president, who dared to call on the world not to invest in Albania. This destructive audacity is naturally connected to the Court’s ruling. Without real justice, the state’s economy cannot get moving either, because it is brought down timidly “at night.” This is clear from these acts. 4. The political faction that was not tried in Flag Square because of the machinery of the tragic crisis is now waiting for the conflict in Kosovo to spread. On the day Kosovo erupted, they almost shouted: “Land… Land.” If a wider tragedy occurs, they will turn the state upside down once again. There will no longer be a court to punish crime, but one to support destruction. If the court had been established in Flag Square, things would be different today. In other words, if there had been greater courage in establishing justice—

Page 9 Safet Zhulali, former Minister of Defense, will be summoned to the prosecutor’s office. Photo: BLEND ÇOTA

Foreign firm prepares list of the “tainted” Prosecution launches “Clean Hands” operation. Justice officials have been involved in the dirty dealings of pyramid companies The “clean hands” operation targeting people in Albanian courts is beginning. After completing its transparency review of investment companies, another inspection will begin in court offices, mainly in Tirana. Thus “Deloitte & Touche,” having “buried” the investment companies, has taken it upon itself to do the same to the judges who were involved in setting up financial pyramids in Albania. P. 7

Deadlines violated; detainees released late P. 6

Servet Pëllumbi accuses the Prime Minister P. 2

Suspicions about refugees arriving from Kosovo P. 11

Savings Bank: the money stays within the state P. 2

By the end of March, 225 people will be laid off P. 17