- THE CHARTER OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS — A HISTORIC VICTORY FOR DEMOCRATIC ALBANIA THE APPROVAL OF THE LAW ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS PLACES ALBANIA AMONG THE COUNTRIES WITH THE MOST ADVANCED LEGISLATION - THE COMMUNIST-SOCIALIST “AGAINST” VOTE — FULL CONFIRMATION OF THE PS-PAD ALLIANCE, OF THE FACT THAT THEY ARE THE BASTARD AND ANTI-NATIONAL OFFSPRING OF THE PPSH, OF ITS IDEOLOGY AND RED DICTATORSHIP

The PS and its allies are fighting to destabilize the country and seize power at any cost—

. After a delay of around twenty years, Albania recognizes and adopts the most humane act of human legal thought: the law on fundamental human rights and freedoms. This now places Albania among the nations with the most developed legislation, establishing contemporary relations between its citizens and the democratic state, while inviolably respecting their most essential rights. In this way Albania makes a [text unclear] human rights and fundamental freedoms; these have cost Albanians more, and brought them greater hardship, than any other people in Europe, since during the years of communist dictatorship they endured physical, moral, spiritual and political terror, and the years-long denial of freedom of religion, movement, property and free existence. To achieve this historic victory for Albania, the democratic parliament, the democratic state and society [text unclear] within the contours of the conservative communist ideology, whose offspring they are. Secondly, this vote against demonstrated the historical inspiration of the social-motionists against the PD, against the democratic state, against President Berisha. This showed their political and legal illiteracy and primitive Bolshevik, conservative, Enverist mindset, placing them on the shameful side of the new history of minorities, with a pronounced spirit of democratic humanism and contemporary European values in the treatment of that article. Professor Berisha’s legislative initiative, with the presentation of this draft law to the Albanian parliament, will remain in the history of national law as the foundation stone of the national democratic state. As a turning point toward the existence of a state governed by the rule of law, built on the principles of freedom and humanism, it showed—despite the primitive stance of the conservative opposition and the democratic majority that supported it—that there will be no turning back on the path of democratic development, and there will never again be a deterioration of human dignity. … the law on fundamental human rights and freedoms, in line with human legal thought. This means that Albania is now ranked among the nations with the most advanced legislation, placing its citizens in contemporary relations with the democratic state while inviolably respecting their fundamental rights. In this way, Albania takes a qualitative step toward joining the peoples of the European family, respecting the human dimensions of its society and marking an advance in affirming the spirit of national spiritual values such as tolerance, humanism, and respect for the freedom and rights of human beings. To achieve this historic victory for Albania, namely the adoption of the law on … state and Albanian democratic society had to overcome the psychology of dictatorship, the thinking of dictatorship, and the absurd terror of neo-communism, which was manifested in a tragicomic manner by the PS parliamentary group. The social-communists’ vote against showed, first of all, the political misery of that anachronistic group and their failure to fit within the rule-of-law state, specifically … what the other peoples of Europe hold most dear, since during the years of dictatorship they experienced the hysterical incitement of the social-communists This reveals their political illiteracy and primitive legal illiteracy, their Bolshevik, conservative, Enverist mindset, which places them among the disgraced figures of Albania’s recent history. By contrast, the Albanian parliament’s approval of this law affirmed the democratic values of the new Albanian state and affirmed our state’s tolerance and humanism, expressed in all the articles of this law and, in particular, in the article on minority rights. This enables Albania to set a special example in the Balkans in terms of the treatment

… and its allies are fighting to destabilize the country and seize power at any cost—the adoption of this law shows that we are consistently and seriously committed to implementing and respecting human rights and freedoms— ACCEPT, IN ALBANIA … seize power at any cost—the adoption of this law shows that we are consistently and seriously committed to implementing and respecting human rights and freedoms— Speech by the chairman of the PDSH, Mr. Edard Selami, in the debate on the draft law on human rights and freedoms I think such a resolution of this debate would be useful if it were intended to defend the law, but not in this way. We regret that the discussion has gone beyond that, and we believe we did what was in our hands to do. In short, the President’s invitation to the opposition to seek consensus among different political forces on such an important draft law, besides the value of the draft law itself, had another purpose: for the main political forces, the parliamentary opposition, which have expressed their position on human rights, to find an opportunity to rehabilitate themselves and draw closer. To be honest, unfortunately, the PS and the other forces did not take the opportunity they were given, and we did not intend to teach them how to behave in this matter. “Here they are, whoever they may be!”—and then tell people abroad that they are reformed, as they presented themselves to you. They are a force that has nothing to do with human rights; they do not want this law to pass! Many arguments can be found, but none stand up to the facts and the urgency of the matter. The argument is that it is political. We think that, by slowing down the progress of the draft law, they want to maintain the political fiction that they have been and are committed to human rights. And besides, in Albania, they say, once this law passes, [unclear] these matters. They know very well, because they are in Europe and know this, that it is impossible—even in European countries, and they have been there. They also know very well that Albania cannot be admitted to the Council of Europe without the law being passed, and they want to slow it down. So what is the issue here? The process of Albania’s integration into Europe is being slowed, as is the process of democratic steps within Albania. This stability that Albania has—something to be envied, and a good thing for everyone—is put at risk once again. And there are dangers, and we know these things. We are sorry, but it is not up to the President. You also ask and say: “Why does the PD maintain this hard line?” It is to get it passed; not because we are being harsh, but because you do not want to cooperate in Albania’s service. Say it plainly: today, when political stability has been achieved and all the major forces in Albania [unclear]—it is among the foremost countries in terms of political stability—you are acting against it, trying to destroy it. You want new solutions when all the indicators speak against that. In this case, that is why the Socialist Party is maintaining this line. Whether the Socialists and their allies want this law or not, it will pass. This is an opportunity for them. It is to their detriment that they do not take this approach themselves. I would have liked us, as the PD, always to have the knowledge and ability to play a fair democratic game in Albania’s interest. We are doing that; it is not our fault that they do not respond.

“...HOW THE OPPOSITION HAS GROWN!!...” “...You have reservations about the government, but I have more...” -“...We want to move toward Europe, but Europe itself is moving toward radicalism...” -“...He remembered, and did not forget, the years you stole even from the people of Polçan...” SADEDIN BALLA What are the arguments for explaining a vote against or an abstention? They have been presented as depending on how this or that article of the draft law will be implemented. This practice runs counter to the very nature of our work, because it is not up to us, the deputies, to prejudge the laws we must approve, and in every way this is a trivialization of the work of parliament itself. The other argument, that this draft law should come together with the draft constitution, does not hold. These arguments, expressed in the language of our people, can perhaps be summed up in the people’s own vivid phrase: “Did it get wet or not?” I think this trivialization would be particularly advantageous to the opposition, which complains that its rights and freedoms are being violated day by day. A wise man, traveling by car from Kruja to Tirana, said to his fellow passengers: “Democracy has narrowed our roads.” His fellow passengers protested, and he had to explain: how many cars used to travel on this road, belonging to the first secretary, the committee chairman and the head of the internal affairs branch? Wasn’t this road very wide for those three cars? Whereas today, in the city of Kruja alone, there are more than a thousand cars narrowing our road! So can these opposition members agree to walk side by side with ordinary citizens who have cars more beautiful than theirs? Can they agree to leave their offices and villas, can they agree to see shortages and queues, can they accept that they are equal to others? I am very concerned by the excessive Christian pity of some, as if we had all supposedly been slaves. No, gentlemen, here there were slave owners and their guests (those on the left), and slaves: us and most of the people. With democracy, we slaves attained the standard of free citizens in a free state, and also rose from the standard of slaves to that of free citizens. Is it now clear that they have lost a great deal of their “rights and freedoms”? We pray to and thank democracy for restoring our dignity, while they curse it and hate it because they have lost their “dignity.” And so the enemies of humankind must be removed from democracy, because it belongs to people. But how? By hanging them, shooting them, deporting them, punishing them, (Continued on page 4)

Let us give the people a law that the dictatorship turned into a forbidden fruit As a public figure, I hoped that one of these spring days at the end of March 1993 would be twinned with March 22, thus marking in history the date on which the fundamental rights and freedoms of Albanians were established according to the world’s most modern standards. I hoped that this parliament would rise to the challenge of taking a position on a law that the centuries had denied Albania, while the dictatorship had turned it into a forbidden fruit, openly acknowledging to one another the need for tolerance and consensus on such key points in our lives. I hoped that the era of political chameleons of the Joseph Fouché type had now passed. Exactly 200 years ago, he drafted the “Instructions of Lyon,” the first communist manifesto, and then served for nearly 20 years as France’s police minister. Finally, I hoped that Fouché’s lookalikes at the end of this century would not want to remind people of the horrors of killings and maimings, the rotting away in prison, depersonalization and inhuman torture—things these people do not know about through newspapers or other people’s accounts, but have experienced themselves. Nevertheless, I hope this parliament will not continue to fall prey to political scheming, but will remain what it truly ought to be: a lawmaking institution, not a political institution. Politicizing parliament seems, in fact, to serve the interests of those who want to present it to the people as a forum for empty debates, where there is opposition and dialogue for political reasons, where discussion does not boil over the country’s concerns, but bargaining takes place over the seats of leadership. It is entirely dishonest to encourage, by every means, the transformation of the parliamentary chamber and Albanian television cameras into an arena for partisan clashes. Sometimes television becomes a cause and tempts us to showcase our oratory more to say who we are than to show what we can do. I say this because there are many arguments, indeed legally grounded ones, that strongly favor the approval of this law. So why should the draft law on fundamental human rights and freedoms be debated and approved? First: Because we live in a time when freedom and rights are already present. From those days onward, the hundreds of thousands of demonstrators established in Albania freedom of speech, thought, belief, movement, education, property, free enterprise, and so on. So we will make law out of what the people have achieved and brought into being as reality. Second: We are preparing to approve the Constitution, the fundamental law of the state. The chapter on fundamental rights and freedoms in this constitution is one of its most important parts. In anticipation of the Constitution, we are making

Finally, the night before last at 02:21: - Article 1: THE DEATH PENALTY was approved as submitted, with the intention that, after public opinion has been canvassed and broad discussion held, a decision be made on retaining or abolishing the death penalty. - The social-communist-motionist coalition demonstrates its destructiveness in spectacular fashion. - In the vote in principle: 95 votes “for” (PD+PSD+RR+PBDNJ), 27 “abstentions” (the Socialists), 3 “against” (the motionists), and 1 deputy (Teodor Keko) declined to vote. The figures speak for themselves! - The Albanian conservative coalition simultaneously proved its unparalleled ferocity and its failure in the face of the historical tide; it tore up its moral-historical “passport” to citizenship. - Unlike any other country in the world, Albania enshrines in its constitution the full rights and freedoms of minorities. - The article on the right to employment and freedom to choose one’s workplace was approved on condition that Article 24/11 of the Labour Code be reviewed. - The PD and the democratic coalition, in support of the law, have the attribute of a progressive historical mission: to lead Albania toward Europe.

INTERVIEW WITH THE AMBASSADOR OF THE REPUBLIC OF ITALY IN TIRANA, MR. PAOLO FORESTI