- Ledi Hoxha in the dock. - Kino Buxheli facing a factual accusation. - The Tirana court tells journalists: - STOP -. - Ledi Hoxha in the dock. - Kino Buxheli facing a factual accusation. - The Tirana court tells journalists: - STOP -. The official notice stated that the trial of defendants Ledi Hoxha and K. Buxheli would begin on January 8 at 9:00. Everyone believed this would be the case, but the prologue to the trial was something else, ungrateful as it was: half an hour before the hearing, dozens of journalists from the main press outlets, RTV, foreign agencies, Kinostudio, ATSH, etc., were blocked by the police because the courtroom was full and could hold no more. But what had filled the courtroom when the journalists were left outside? Nobody answered this question; indeed, instead of answering, the senior head of the Tirana police, Tonin Vuçaj, threatened the journalists with evident indifference. The journalists were forced to go all the way to the Ministry of Justice, and only the minister’s order allowed them to enter the courtroom, by which time the reading of the indictment was nearly over! All this happened because, with the signature of the chairman of the Tirana court, Agim Bendo, dozens of invitations had been issued—exceeding the courtroom’s capacity and bypassing the journalists from the press and information media. Most of the misappropriations attributed to defendant Kino Buxheli were unlawful appropriations to fund the Blokmen’s luxurious personal lives, giving foreign currency in cash to the Blokmen when they set off on trips abroad, failing to pay rents in collusion, to the detriment of state property, failing to pay the proper share of expenses and food, etc. The principle guiding the defendant was “unlimited gratification of the whims of the leaders,” beyond all legal and human morality. Defendant N. Hoxha, meanwhile, was accused of abuses and misappropriations, in collusion, of large sums of money for excessive luxury, without any legal justification. All the information in the case concerning the two defendants was recorded only after 1985, that is, from 1986 until the Reception Directorate was dissolved in 1991. What struck the journalists most was not only the calmness but also the incomprehensible enthusiasm of the two defendants, as though they were about to receive decorations from Enver Hoxha rather than stand in the dock. Ledi Hoxha, although advanced in age, seemed extremely calm. Hoxha, although advanced in age, seemed extremely calm, as she had during her time in power, so to speak. The panel of judges, headed by Muharrem Kushi, gave the floor to the prosecutor in the case, Teodor Mosko, to present the indictment drawn up by the case investigator, Bedir Kokoshi. After the indictment was read, the presiding judge announced the panel’s decision not to broadcast the trial on RTV until the case had concluded. He also asked journalists not to publish the statements of the defendants and witnesses during the trial until its conclusion, and ordered photojournalists and cameramen from non-state channels to leave. The questioning of the defendants then began. The first to speak was defendant Kino Buxheli, who presented his defense against the accusations. The hearing continued with his testimony and that of defendant Nexhmije Hoxha. A 47-year-long political [reign] over our people; in the end, Aranit Çela was arrested as well. He is undoubtedly one of the most ruthless inquisitors of free democratic thought, one of the most merciless executioners of human lives, one of the most zealous, most blind, and most worthy collaborators of the chief executioner, Enver Hoxha. For many years, as if bestowed by Zeus, he wielded the medieval scales of communist justice, without form or accountability. With this wholly undiplomatic act, it fully reveals itself as a spokesperson for the PPSH operating underground, and tells us what it is: a communist newspaper. This raises a question and a conjecture: Could the PS really be so naive or foolish as not to understand this self-exposure? I don’t think so. I would say that something else, more powerful, is acting on this newspaper, which is being forced to remain silent. There is a force that still calls the shots in the PS. It is Enver Hoxha’s clan. It is the communist security mafia. Even behind bars, Nexhmije Hoxha terrifies the disguised whelps. That is why “ZP” is silent today, while tomorrow, after the trial ends, it will take her under its protection, just as it protected the criminals in the Shkodra trial. with conspicuous allowed them to enter the courtroom, while the reading of the indictment was almost over! All this was Court, Agim Bendo, dozens of invitations had been issued—more than the courtroom could accommodate and outside the allocation for press and information journalists. Indictment against the defendants Nexhmije Tafik Hoxha, Kina Dalan Buxheli: 1. The defendant Nexhmije Hoxha committed the crime of embezzling state property in the amount of 764,192 lekë, of which 712,232 lekë in collaboration with the defendant Kino Buxheli, and the crime of abuse of office in the amount of 121,738 lekë, of which 89,822 lekë in collaboration with the defendant Kino Buxheli—criminal offenses provided for under Articles 62-12 and 106-13 of the Criminal Code. 2. The defendant Kino Buxheli, in collaboration with other persons, of 3,216,288 lekë, of which 712,132 lekë in collaboration with the defendant Nexhmije Hoxha, and the crime of abuse of office in collaboration with others in the amount of 2,133,628 Nexhmije—criminal offenses provided for under Articles 62-12 and 106-12 of the Criminal Code. The trial panel, presided over by Muharrem Kushi, gave the floor on the indictment to the prosecutor in the case, Teodor Mosko, which had been not to broadcast the court proceedings on RTV until after publish the statements made by the defendants and witnesses in court until the trial was over, The proceedings then moved on to questioning the defendants. The first to speak was the defendant Kino Buxheli, who presented his defense against the charges. The hearing continues with his and the defendant Nexhmije Hoxha’s statements.

The DP considers the progress of political, economic, and social reform in Albania following the victory of democracy to be successful, despite the difficult conditions of moral and economic ruin left behind by the communist dictatorship. The DP considers the progress of political, economic, and social reform in Albania following the victory of democracy to be successful, despite being carried out in the difficult conditions of moral and economic ruin left behind by the communist dictatorship. The end of 50 years of isolation and integration into today’s international currents, the establishment of public order and calm, the first positive signs of economic recovery, progress in privatization, political stability, and the understanding shown by the great majority of the population toward the temporary difficulties of the transition are concrete facts that testify to this success. The DP notes that the natural difficulties brought about by the change of systems are compounded by the fervent efforts of the unrepentant followers of the former communists and their open and hidden allies, who are playing the role of a destructive opposition. Those who brought about and sowed communist national calamities have now taken on the role of lamenting the people’s troubles, amplifying the difficulties they themselves created over 50 years. The DP believes that the tendencies toward destabilization, obstruction, and turning back from the path of democracy—this convulsion of communist forces—are inspired by the loss of their privileges as a result of reform, by the appearance before the courts of criminals and the red mafia, and by the victory of communism in Serbia and the victory and revival of conservatives in Russia. The efforts to destabilize at any cost, which began with the appointment of the first democratic government, have continued with a campaign of Enverist-style slander and nihilism against democracy, as well as with the manipulation of the strikers’ demands, turning them into political strikes intended to overthrow democracy. According to a well-prepared and carefully calculated plan, and in line with instructions received from the Communist International, Albanian communists, under the banner of human rights, want to create insecurity and a spirit of revenge and persecution in order to achieve their aims more easily. We support the existing coalition and remain committed to it, but we are also prepared, and have made the necessary preparations, to govern on our own. While supporting parliament and the democratic government, the Democratic Party asks them to make use of the confidence given by the people, to enforce the laws, and to oppose decisively every attempt to violate the law and obstruct democracy. The DP calls on the Albanian people, its members, supporters, and electorate to support and back the democratic government and reform as the only way out of the crisis and the only way to build democracy in Albania.

- Speak, comrade Nexhmije, speak, our “quail,” for justice is listening to you. As soon as the floor was given to defendant Nexhmije Hoxha, she protested energetically against the violation of human rights, because the police had handcuffed her for the first time. She said this was wrong, that she was a woman and elderly, 72 years old. But let us ask the defendant: when her party ruled, were women handcuffed? If Nexhmija does not know, let us explain that they were—and, indeed, the handcuffs were tightened to the limit. Let us remind her herself of her comrades from youth and in ideals: Drita Kosturin, Liri Gegën, who was shot while pregnant, and Figirete Shehun. I believe she has remembered them during her year in a cell. Nexhmije’s trial (Continued on page 2)

- A long-awaited, belated, and lawful act - Fulfilling the last wish of thousands of innocent victims who were killed, died, or were tortured for many years in Enverist prisons or internment camps, as well as a legitimate demand of democratic public opinion, which wants and awaits the monstrous punishment of the authors and actors behind the cruel script of 47 years of political genocide against our people, Aranit Çela was finally arrested too. human lives, devoid of any now-unknown human feeling. He played a major role in turning Albania into a huge prison for its people, into a hell more terrifying than Dante’s. In the savagery of his spirit, his blindness and readiness to carry out the macabre task entrusted to him, and the colossal number of victims caused by his signatures or orders, Aranit Çela is unique; he surpasses even the Hitlerian criminals. If he is so notorious despite having no pangs of conscience for the millions of Jews exterminated, he himself eliminated, killed, and tortured hundreds of thousands of fellow citizens, solely because they demanded more freedom, more justice, and more genuine democracy in Albania, European in every respect... He is the author of and a witness to thousands of crimes, right up to the time of the democratic government, and in words that alarm democratic public opinion around the world, he deserves all of it. Let us end our words with wax-sealed lips about this executioner who terrified even children in their mothers’ wombs, who made death all too familiar to thousands of innocents, whom he forced to admit even crimes they had not committed. XHEVAT MUSTAFA

- The April 2 massacre—the revival of Nazi terrors. - The end of the dictatorship begins with four martyrs and Nazi bloodshed. - April 2 in Albania’s history as the Night of St. Bartholomew - — THE CHOREOGRAPHY OF COMMUNIST TERROR — April 2, 1991, sought to shatter understanding among Albanians. Ramiz Alia’s police, which until that day had claimed to preserve complete neutrality, entirely “apolitical,” drunk on the communist triumph in the elections, lost everything human and recovered its 50-year-old ethic of crime and terror. April 2 was no accident from any point of view. The communists became excessively enthusiastic. Fear of defeat, the sudden thirst for the democratic opposition, the feeling of revenge for the dictator killed after his death, the thirst to retain political power at any cost, nostalgia for the dictator and the desire for revenge—all were more than evident. The communist press published [something] the following day about continuing the command under R. Alia, while in the districts communists threatened democrats, saying that if they won again they would kill them all. R. Alia himself, a member of the Presidential Council and a former senior official of the People’s Assembly, who for decades had [unclear] N. Hoxha and K. Alia in the war against the Germans and [unclear] would [unclear] against the democrats, swore two nights before March 31 to the PPSH dictatorship... Thus, the April 2 massacre had been tragically written as a day for dozens of innocent people. — Bartholomew — the legitimacy of power—the dictatorship of the communists. Shkodra was chosen as revenge for the statues of the dictators that this city had toppled. Arben Broci was chosen because he was a direct and very popular representative of the December students. In making this choice, the actors in the crime were undoubtedly also carefully selected; December 1992 accused them and sentenced them to long prison terms. — ROLE AND COUNTER-ROLE IN THE CRIME — Much is said about the first accused, but it is important that they are the first accused; there will therefore be others too. The communist press defends them, saying that they are not the actual executioners, not the direct killers. In parallel with the Albanian “La Piovra,” RAI is showing the sixth series of the Italian “La Piovra.” Silvin Konti and Dejv Likata do not target the mastermind and killer of Belini, but Espinoza, Tano, and the mafia’s top leader. In the massacre in Timișoara, Romania, the National Guard soldiers were not executed first; rather, it was the dictator couple, Çaushesku, and the heads of the guard, the army, the security service, the border forces... So in every massacre, those who give the orders— (Continued on page 4)

If the trial of the accused Nexhmije Hoxha were an ordinary event, it might be possible to ignore it, just as one may disregard trials held for ordinary thieves. There are plenty of such trials. This case is a very, very special event, far more than ordinary (as it is treated in the indictment). It is an Albanian trial, because the scale of the crime exceeds the bounds of the thinking of any professional criminal, because here we are dealing with crimes against the nation on a horrific scale. Starting from this perspective, let us now see how “ZP” or the PS is treating this event. But strangely, in all four pages of the newspaper, front and back, I cannot find even a single line about the trial of the Black Panther, as the people called her. How can we explain this silence by “ZP,” which follows its silence about the 10 bodies in the morgue, each with a bullet in the back of the head?! in the Shkodra trial.

- Interview with Mr. William E. Ryerson, U.S. Ambassador to Albania, by journalist Petro Dhimitri - - Please, Mr. Ambassador, could you tell us what relations between the United States and Albania will be like during 1993? - They will certainly be a continuation of our previous relations. Through its policy, the United States will continue to support democracy in your country. Humanitarian aid, which, unfortunately, is still necessary for Albania, will also continue, although it is envisaged that in the future it will be somewhat longer-term. In other words, it will focus less on meeting urgent food needs and more on developing the Albanian economy. - What areas will this aid be directed toward? - As you know, the United States has signed an agreement with Albania concerning agriculture and the Agricultural University. We expect the first concrete results to appear this year, because American experts will also arrive this year. We will also increase the number of Peace Corps volunteers. There are 20 volunteers in Albania today. I think 15 more will come. They will be specialists who will help in the field of business, especially in (Continued on page 4)