IN THE TIRANA BRANCH OF THE DP, ELECTIONS HAVE SO FAR BEEN HELD IN 48 SECTIONS. THESE DAYS, 400 NEW MEMBERSHIPS HAVE BEEN COMPLETED, 200 OF THEM BY INTELLECTUALS.

More than 25,000 families in the capital have members employed by private businesses One year ago: 321 million lekë; in September 1993: 1.6 billion lekë The opposition’s main newspaper, «ZP», and its sister publications «KJ», «Lajmëtari», «Shqip», «24 orë», the communist newspapers «Jehona», «Kombi», etc., see today’s Albanian reality almost issue after issue only through dark glasses. One might think that, since 22 March 1992, life in Albania has stopped—and, indeed, in their view even the sun no longer shines as brightly as it used to. On the one hand, this way of assessing reality does nothing to serve progress or the desire for development, as the sponsors of these owls, which sing only of the night, so often claim. Thus, in an article entitled «Are the Government’s Successes Also the People’s?», «ZP» insists from beginning to end that no success whatsoever has been achieved in this country. The ships of work, from which the future growth of the economy and the everyday well-being of Albanians are drawn. How do people experience the privatization of the economy?—asks the ZP writer. And answers: «A dream cut short—the dream that one day every Albanian would become an owner.» Well, the truth speaks for itself; it does not need your praise. I ask: is the privatization of more than 90 percent of the land in the countryside—not to say nearly 100 percent—not a reality? Is the privatization of homes, which is nearing full completion in every city in the country, not a tremendous success—one that many other Eastern European countries would envy? Ask the citizens. —How much did you pay for the home you privatized? —You could say they practically gave it to me, the answer goes. Some paid 50,000 old lekë, another 70,000, 150,000 in the city, and thousands more for a three-room home with a kitchen, and so on. Some others get them free, and so, day after day, citizens are becoming owners of their own homes, each of whom, according to their means, can rent it out, sell it, or give it to someone. It is now their property. Is this not another reality, another success of democratic governance? (Continued on page 2) An assessment of at all, as the sponsors of these owls—who sing only for the ravë—often Also the People’s?”, «ZP» asserts achieved during these two years of democratic government. According to the article’s author, the successes listed visible or words, the hack during this month of work and toil by his peers. figures, because

Just a few months later, the name of the ADA company and that of its Albanian representative, M. Skëndo, have appeared once again in the files of the justice authorities. This time the charge is document forgery. Skëndo’s sudden enrichment and his past as the “son of a merchant” at the former Ministry of Internal Affairs would undoubtedly prompt the justice authorities and financial auditors to investigate. “Easy money” is the main indicator that “attracts the attention” of anti-corruption institutions around the world. The “mystery of Skëndo’s enrichment” may also be hidden in the recesses of the former State Security’s activities. The disappearance of 220 [?] dollars taken out of Albania? The claim that they were for the purchase of tear-gas bombs in 1990 is part of this “mystery.” Where are those dollars today? Could they be only part of the hundreds of thousands of other dollars that left Albania, to be deposited who knows where? Are Skëndo’s hooks connected to the red families? And to the old and new leaders of the former communist party? There has often been talk of the disappearance of Albanian gold, of deposits— —Another undertaking against corruption. —Marsel Skëndo: from “merchant’s” son at the Ministry of Internal Affairs to “millionaire” and President of the ADA company’s Boards of Directors. —Who made M. Skëndo a millionaire? Are his hooks connected to the old and new red families? —Investments to launder money belonging to former communist leaders? —Contradictions in the figures in Skëndo’s documents dismissed as a “small mix-up,” etc. —The «Aleanca» prejudges the justice system and protects fraud. How true such a prediction is, is unknown. It is for the justice system to answer this and all the other questions. Let us return to the latest development. Marsel Skëndo is accused of document forgery. The matter concerns documents submitted to state institutions, in which Skëndo, acting as President of the Boards of Directors of the ADA company, declared that his warehouses contained 100 tonnes of tobacco. In fact, it turned out that the warehouses contained only 40 tonnes of tobacco. What does this “small contradiction” represent? In statements Skëndo gave to «KJ», he seeks to portray the latest accusation as a continuation of … Can it be dealt with under the article of Albanian law concerning forgery of state documents, since “a private individual and a foreign investor” cannot be considered in the same way as “a state director”?—could a private individual and a foreign investor conduct their business without being inspected? Of course not. Every private business is required to declare its activities and income to the state authorities, and to be assessed and taxed accordingly. It usually happens that various businesses report less income than they actually earn, so their taxes are lower. M. Skëndo’s case is “auditorily” the opposite. He declares that he has 100 tonnes of tobacco in storage. Money laundering. There are various companies, restaurants and banks around the world that deal mainly in what is called “laundering dirty money”—that is, money originating from drugs, arms smuggling, etc. How does this happen? For the sake of simplicity, and without wishing to accuse anyone or make insinuations, let us take the case in question. A company declares that it has 100 tonnes of tobacco in stock and, at the end of the year, submits to the state an invoice for income from processing 100 tonnes of tobacco. In reality, the company has processed only 40 tonnes, while the sum of money presented as if it came from the 40 tonnes of tobacco that do not exist actually comes from illegal channels. In this way, the tax paid to the state will indeed be higher, but the tax is nothing compared with the profit derived from arms dealings and from disguising illegal proceeds as tobacco income at another point. This way, it is not difficult. I emphasize once again that this is only a theoretical discussion, not an insinuation, since everything is in the hands of the justice system to clarify. Meanwhile, in this case we have only a “mix-up” of figures which in fact constitutes forgery; but this is not enough for the «Aleanca» newspaper, which, by prejudging the justice system (only because it thinks that it depends on its government), protects fraud. Could it be that the «Aleanca» newspapers have received orders from their bosses to defend the son of a former State Security officer? Or has Skëndo invested in them too for publicity? It is known that he has spared no expense in investing in his “popularity” on foreign TV channels. EDI PALOKA they are that came from ADA, has stated that his warehouses contain 100 tons of tobacco. In reality, it turned out that the warehouses contained only 40 tons of tobacco. What does this “small contradiction” represent? In the statements Skëndo gave to «KJ», he seeks to present this latest accusation as a continuation of the persecution he claims the state is subjecting him to, and lists the accusations made against him for “theft, profiteering”, etc. Apparently, Mr. Skëndo does not know that, in the practice of justice around the world, accusations—even when they cannot be fully substantiated—are included among a defendant’s previous record. This is not done to prove that some criminal is being persecuted by a particular state because he has been in prison several times, but to establish the person’s record in the course of their criminal activity. Likewise, in his statements, Mr. Skëndo claims that he did not ...his activity and income to the state authorities, in the event that this was done for the purpose of income tax. Usually, various businesspeople declare less income than they actually have, and thus their taxes are lower. M. Skëndo’s case is «curiously» the opposite. He declares that he has 100 tons of tobacco when he has only 40. Why? To «KJ», he tries to present this as a simple confusion over the timing of the documents. But this “confusion” means that, in the end, M. Skëndo will be taxed by the state for handling 100 tons of tobacco and not the 40 he actually has. So the false declaration «curiously» harms the firm itself—and, moreover, why would anyone do such a thing? To avoid unfounded accusations, I would like to discuss theoretically a phenomenon that is very well known in the practice of the ...

Albania has now entered the post-dictatorial phase, the phase that in everyday language we have become accustomed to calling the “transition phase,” in which society, through pain, sacrifice, hardship and great effort, seeks to free itself completely from its cursed and shameful past, making way for a new society founded on the highest values developed by humanity throughout its millennia-long history, values that serve as the basis for building a free and just society, potentially beneficial to all its members. Thus, we are living through the phase in which democracy, as a universal value of social organization, seeks to consolidate itself, to become a norm and a reality of life, while, on the other hand, dictatorship and its ruling ideology, its shadows, mentalities and violent practices, fade, die out and disappear one after another. At first glance, then, it is a phase in which social processes seem to develop normally and positively toward their conclusion, toward a final reality, as if in a regular, interlinked flow unfolding in a bright and peaceful atmosphere. In fact, the processes are so different from how they appear at first glance; there are antithetical processes that cannot be overcome in a physico-chemical way: they move in a complex and turbulent manner. The greater burden and the equation of the precedence of “yes” and the logic of the truth of all the factors envisaged in establishing democracy. The reality of all Eastern countries is much more ... and more of a patchwork ...[?] emerging from dictatorships and entering the phase of an evaluated reality does not serve progress or the desire for development at all, as the sponsors of these owls—which sing only of ravens—often Also the People’s?», «ZP» stresses achieved during these two years of democratic government. For the article’s author, the successes counted by the mass media and the pro-government press are not visible, tangible successes, but “fairy tales.” Through a stale play on words, the pen-pusher Alqi Kadesani, repeating the word “success” more than 25 times, has the negative audacity to deny all the successes achieved through these months of work and toil by his contemporaries. He is very afraid to refer to official or unofficial figures, because ... It must be said at the outset that Albania’s true democrats—those who never reconciled themselves to the dictatorship, its ideology, or its inhuman and insane ruling practices—or those others who, gradually, thanks to their intellectual development and inner mental potential, managed to distance themselves from and free themselves of poisonous ideological dogmas, and to understand clearly and deeply the whole monstrous mechanism of dictatorship: these two groups, which keep alive the sense of freedom and hope, imagined the historical processes somewhat differently. First, they imagined the fall of the dictatorship would be more difficult; second, they imagined the era after its fall would be easier, simpler, less complicated and beset by fewer real problems. Why did this happen? Let us analyze the first aspect: why people thought that the collapse of the dictatorship would be much more difficult than it really was, and how it came about that, after all, it is now deteriorating and facing …, when it should have disappeared ...[?] To explain this, we must carefully examine the whole period from when the communists ...[?] came to power until the moment when the formation of the first opposition party against the communist one was decreed—the party that had been the spirit and mainspring of the dictatorship. There were three most powerful elements that shaped the dictatorship’s will: violence, expenditure and the effort to suppress movements. (Continued on page 3)

Tomorrow, 1 November, Leon Brittan, Vice-President of the Commission of the European Community, will arrive in Albania on an official visit. Mr Brittan, born on 25 September 1930, attended the Aske’s School and Trinity College, University of Cambridge. From 1974 to 1983 he was a Member of Parliament for the Conservative Party for Cleveland and Whitby. During the twelve-year period 1974–1976, he was Deputy Secretary of the Conservative Party Parliamentary Employment Committee; from 1981 to 1983, he was Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Since 1989 Leon Brittan has been Vice-President of the Commission of the European Communities. He has also been active in the academic sphere, serving, from 1960, as chairman of the Cambridge University Conservative Association; as vice-chairman of the National Association of School Governors and Managers from 1970 to 1978; and as Chancellor of Trinity University in 1993, etc. Mr Brittan will stay in Albania for two days.

— Ramiz Alia, Hekuran Isai, Gramoz Ruçi and others — people with blood on their hands — “Violation of guard duty, responsible for the deaths of 6 people and the wounding of 3 others during the incidents of 21 April–20 December 1990.” This is the stated reason for the decision of the Shkodër court, which sentenced Engjëll Toma, 30, former commander of the border post at Rrushkull, to 10 years’ imprisonment. Engjëll Toma, then, becomes—according to a process intended as legal punishment for all the crimes against humanity committed during the dictatorship—a “victim” in his own right. Engjëll Toma is the first “victim” among the victims of the orders issued by Ramiz Alia, Hekuran Isai, Gramoz Ruçi and others to guard the border fanatically, sacrificing anyone who tried to cross the barbed-wire barrier. Men like Engjëll Toma are blind enforcers of sentences and death orders signed “up above.” And, considering his crime and punishment, it is absurd to think that those who issued the order “shoot” should remain outside the legal process of punishment. Those who filled Mali me Gropa with corpses as if they wanted to create a point of reference for the future victims of Vukovar; those who, in the name of psychological terror, paraded corpses through the towns, as if they wanted to leave them as examples that their actions were not unique. It is absurd to think that those who killed the elderly should remain beyond legal punishment, blaming an alleged attack against them and thereby continuing the path of dictatorship. Those who, with …, implemented the principle of total isolation, even forbidding the swallows from going outside. All of this is classified as the crime of political genocide against the Albanian people. And recalling these events, etched firmly in the people’s memory precisely because of their tragic and dramatic character, one must cry out against Ramiz Alia’s plea, since he prefers a political trial. His preference should be taken into account, since Ramiz Alia may have considered the verdict of such a trial a chance to atone for his sins, even though they cannot be expiated. He wants to condemn himself. The justice system, meanwhile, should make him feel what he has done: that he committed crimes, dehumanized people so that they …, and regardless of when it happened. The legal punishment of all the perpetrators of political crimes will be the final act of a many-year tragedy. It would mark the vindication of a people who were victims for a long period.