“The friendship and sympathy of the FRG will not be lacking for Albania. We also appreciate the sympathy our country enjoys in Albania. Germany is very committed to humanitarian aid and is present at all times in your country.” “The friendship and sympathy of the FRG will not be lacking for Albania. We also appreciate the sympathy our country enjoys in Albania. Germany is very committed to humanitarian aid and is present at all times in your country”—with these words German Minister of State Bernd Shmidbauer addressed Foreign Minister Alfred Serreqi at their meeting. According to the spokesperson of our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Minister Serreqi expressed appreciation for the substantial assistance Germany is providing, particularly in the current situation, and for the respect and sympathy the German people show toward Albania. Giving an overview of the past, he emphasized that 50 years of isolation under the dictatorship had caused the country great harm, harm which the Albanian government had undertaken to repair by guaranteeing stability, a democratic parliament, and a better future for its hardworking people. Then, speaking about the international situation, Minister Serreqi added that Albania, a unique case, divided in two for reasons that are already known, has no territorial claims and does not seek to change borders by force. Turning to the situation in the former Yugoslavia, he stressed that nothing there can be resolved without resolving the Albanian question. For his part, Mr. Shmidbauer expressed concern about what is happening in the former Yugoslavia and Germany’s commitment to resolving the issue for the benefit of peace in the Balkans.

The first 300 members of the DP, of whom 200 were students and more than 80 were well-known figures in economics, culture, medicine, and the arts, were and remain the matchmakers of knowledge for this nation. In the psychological and political arena, the DP managed, within four months, to wrest one third of absolute power from communism. Then, a year later, on 22 March, the DP triumphed. The communist pyramid collapsed. And anyone who recalls the days of that great victory will undoubtedly remember the appeal of the 182 intellectuals, who signed the victory memorandum. The communist press branded them “barbarians,” whereas in truth their mission was progress. And thousands of foreigners—diplomats and journalists, politicians and specialists, artists and well-known cultural figures—have converged on two points in their impressions of Albania. First, that a highly trained generation of intellectuals, freed from Bolshevism, grew up and emerged from the ruins of communism. And second, that the new state in Albania, established after 22 March, is the fruit of profoundly contemporary intellectual and political thought. The DP promised people of knowledge progress and freedom, dignity and respect, and fulfilled its promises. Democracy opened the archives of art and culture—Konica, Poradeci, Koliqi and Ha-xhiademi... With them, Albanian culture, once denied, was reborn, and the greatest national treasure came into being. The DP was and remains a platform for European, profoundly progressive and scientific thought. In implementing its program, it won all the branches of the new Albanian state, which were staffed by hundreds of well-known intellectuals who, wherever they worked, contributed to establishing democracy and the personality of freedom. All the more so because one of the most honored names in the Albanian intellectual generation is the reformist president himself, Sali Berisha, who embraced the most progressive thought of the intelligentsia and led the Albanian opposition to democracy’s triumph, and now leads the comprehensive reforms in democratic Albania. The DP never felt alone. Together with the Albanian intelligentsia, it secured opportunities for expression and action and opened the way to the nation’s moral modernization. They played an extraordinary role in creating a higher moral standard, shaping Albania’s image before the world, and safeguarding the highest cultural and national values. During the transition, crowds of mediocrities, previously invited to the black market, published prepared gazettes or feuilletons; the communist press of certain opposition forces gravely insulted, slandered, and subjected the Albanian intelligentsia to psychological terror—at the same time committing a national moral crime. Unfortunately, these ranks of hirelings, destined to condemn themselves, were also supported by “opposition poets” who “would not allow” anyone from science or culture to join the DP. When dozens of intellectuals published their thoughts on democracy or culture in RD, they were dishonestly and immorally branded “programmatists” and a “national disgrace” by the bilingual press of the opposition’s agents. But those days have now long since passed. The press law and the disciplined penal code have put an end to the series of anti-intellectual precedents. The DP opened its politics and program to everyone who voted for it. Democratic reforms have their place, and will continue to have their place, in the DP. The very fact that dozens of intellectuals, especially those from universities and important scientific centers, joined the DP this month shows that the DP has and will have their support, because they have—and will continue to have—respect for democracy and progress; their commitment has been clear, and they will be grateful and show respect for the democracy and progress guaranteed by the DP program, a program born from the student fervor of December 1990. A. KRASNIQI

— The assembly of the DP branch of the Mirditë district was held On Wednesday, 17 November, at 10 a.m., the assembly of the DP branch for the Mirditë district was held in one of the halls of the District Council in the city of Rrëshen. In addition to the delegates from the DP of Albania Presidency, Tomor Malasi and Azem Hajdari, and the Women’s League, Ms. Shqipe Nebia, the district’s MP Ndue Gjika and the District Council chairman, Mr. Pashk Gjoka, also took part. Mr. Zef Bardhi, chairman of the DP branch for the district, read the draft report prepared by the working group, which would be submitted to the conference for approval. Messrs. Nikolin Marena, Petrit Pičaku, Ndue Frrok Prenga, Pjetër Lleshi, Ndue Kacori and Ndue Gjeta spoke and pointed out that the report should more clearly identify shortcomings in restructuring the DP branch, the inadequate functioning of the Youth Forum, relations between party and government, the recruitment of capable intellectuals into the DP and into leadership positions, the distribution of aid, the auditing of funds allocated for last November’s floods, as well as many other issues. In his remarks, Ndue Gjika addressed the provision of social assistance to several poor farming families with little land, so that they too would feel the hardship and difficulty of the reform as little as possible. The district MP, Mr. Ndue Gjika, stressed that the Democratic Government had provided the Mirditë district with very substantial assistance and funds; therefore, it is our duty, as the DP and the district, to administer these funds and aid as well as possible. Mr. Pashko Gjoka, chairman of the District Council, addressed issues relating to administrative reform. “In many enterprises there are managers who are obstructing reform through their incompetence, but the selection of capable people to replace them is still being delayed,” he emphasized. Mr. Zef Simoni, a specialist in the DP branch in Fushë, raised as the main issue the implementation and completion of political and administrative reform in the district, where almost most of the directors of economic enterprises are former communists who are obstructing reform. “The ideal of our association has contributed to deepening democracy,” said Mr. Gjon Mark Ndolaj, chairman of the district association of the Politically Persecuted, in his remarks. “We,” he continued, “unreservedly support the DP because it was the party that fought and continues to fight for the realization of our aspirations. One of the key problems in Mirditë is deepening the reform. We ask that our stratum, which has suffered the most, be given greater priority so that it too can be integrated into a normal life.” After the participants’ discussions, the floor was given to the delegate of the DP of Albania Presidency, Mr. Tomor Malasi, who, after making several remarks about the report presented on behalf of the governing council, said: Mirdita

108 vehicles: purpose and use of $1,182,370. The results of the inspection carried out by the State Control Service concerning the purchase and donation of vehicles by ministries or other state institutions are presented below: A total of 108 vehicles of various types were purchased by: 1. Ministry of Finance 2. Ministry of Education 3. Ministry of Agriculture 4. Ministry of Labor and Emigration 5. Ministry of Health 6. Ministry of Public Order 7. Ministry of Tourism 8. General Prosecutor’s Office 9. People’s Assembly 10. Committee of the Politically Persecuted 11. Committee of Sciences 12. Court of Cassation 13. Constitutional Court 14. Presidency 15. Presidency 16. Council of Ministers 17. Durrës Municipality 18. Berat Municipality 19. Elbasan Municipality 20. Kavajë Municipality 21. Tirana District Council 22. Shkodër District Council The following: a) With the World Bank loan, a total of 55 passenger cars were purchased, at a value of US$1,182,370. The World Bank loan has a repayment term of 40 years, interest of 0.75 percent, and repayment of the first installment begins after 10 years. The ministries, central institutions, and other entities that benefited from purchases made with this loan, as well as the vehicle types and purchase prices, are shown in the following table (Table 1): units 1 Toyota, value 23,150 USD 1 Kroma 17,800 $ 2 Toyota 46,300 $ 1 Kroma 17,800 $ 3 Jeeps 63,900 $ 1 Tipo 12,150 $ 3 Toyota 69,450 $ 1 Kroma 17,800 $ 1 Toyota 23,150 $ 1 Kroma 17,800 $ 1 Tipo 12,150 $ 1 Kroma 17,800 $ 2 Tipo 24,300 $ 1 Toyota 23,150 $ 8 Tipo 97,200 $ 1 Kroma 17,800 $ 1 Tipo 12,150 $ 1 Kroma 17,800 $ 1 Toyota 23,150 $ 1 Fiat Tipo 12,150 $ 1 Toyota 23,150 $ The purchase of these passenger cars was carried out by the World Bank agencies operating in our country, based on the criteria for selecting the best offer. Nine (9) bids were requested for the purchase of these vehicles; in fact, only five (5) were submitted. The request to the World Bank to purchase vehicles was made by the Ministry of Finance and Economy, which also distributed the vehicles to the relevant institutions that benefited from this loan. Of the 55 vehicles purchased with the World Bank loan, 11 passenger cars were purchased for the implementation needs of 8 projects to be financed by the World Bank loan. Consequently, the vehicles purchased with this loan and used by ministries and state institutions total 44, with a value of $836,270. (continued on page 4)

— The PS is less afraid of trainees entering the justice system, whom “ZP” calls “pilots of death,” than it is afraid that its communist pilots of justice are leaving — Albanian justice is the field in which communism dominated completely; otherwise, it could not have imposed the dictatorship that Albanians experienced for almost 50 years. Accustomed to trials without: izan(e), the communist leaders who came to power began the physical, material, and intellectual massacre of thousands of people, disregarding every norm of justice and humanity. Communist trials were calculations modeled on Stalin’s Moscow trials, when party organization secretaries made decisions in the name of the people without asking the people. Thus, instead of state administrative reforms and the country’s recovery from the war, communist rulers worked for years to imprison the people of the country who were thought to be—along with those who might be—political opponents. Lincoln said, “You cannot tolerate the weak by condemning the strong.” In Albania, precisely the opposite was put into practice: the strong were weakened to strengthen the weak, all the biggest families were broken up, and Albanian small traders were impoverished. The confiscation of property is this regime’s most barbaric act. Hundreds were swept up in the wave of persecution, although the wave of persecution, despite ... and graduates of Western universities in law. But because of the boycott by the Communist Party regime, they were impoverished, imprisoned, exiled ... They were doing ... ... in a line against one another, [unclear], whom no one protected from either physical violence, psychological terror, or [unclear] and absurd punishment. It is precisely now, when Albanian justice is being reformed not on the basis of inflexible directives and orders, but on the basis of the law and international legal principles, when the Charter of Albanians’ Rights has been adopted and an almost complete legislative framework has been created, that former conservative communists, who have changed their clothes but not their blood, are trying under the Socialist umbrella to obstruct it at all costs. In fact, this practice is nothing new for us, because they are the ones who have opposed everything. Those who shout about human rights do not approve the Charter of Human Rights or other laws. We recalled at the beginning of this article some of the foundations on which so-called Albanian justice was built, not to draw a justifying parallel, but to show that a radical reform of this field, both in its structure and its personnel, is an imperative of the times; the longer it is delayed, the worse it will be. Those who have so far made decisions in the name of the people have been more than 90 percent the sons of bloc members, their nephews and nieces, and the children of party secretaries. Moreover, these cadres learned nothing legal at the law faculty except party directives and Comrade Enver’s pronouncements about the “decaying capitalist state where there is no justice, because true justice existed in Albania.” Those cadres, then, are nothing more or less than PPSH commissars in the justice system, and they have never defended the people or the victim. We need only recall one historical fact. Koçi Xoxe was not a lawyer when he headed this special power in Tirana in April 1945, yet he sentenced 17 people to death, 8 to life imprisonment, 30 to prison, 3 others to 20 years each, 5 to 5 years in prison, 5 to 10 years in prison, 5 to 6 years in prison, and so on. How many such sentences have been handed down? Yet even today the PPSH does not want corrupt people whom the communist regime placed in the justice system to be removed. It wants these corrupt people and former Sigurimi collaborators because it wants anarchy, non-enforcement of the law, and disregard for the people’s perception that (continued on page 4)

TODAY, MR. EDUARD SELAMI, CHAIRMAN OF THE DP OF ALBANIA, AND MR. HUBER, SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE CSU (CHRISTIAN SOCIAL UNION), WILL GIVE A PRESS CONFERENCE AT 12:00, AT THE CONGRESS PALACE.