The work program for the period 16 January–30 March 1995 is discussed and approved Yesterday at the People’s Assembly — The work program for the period 16 January–30 March 1995 was discussed and approved NDREKE GJINI Yesterday, the People’s Assembly of the Republic of Albania began the proceedings of the seventh session of the 13th Legislature by discussing and approving After the opening address by the Chairman of the Presidium of the People’s Assembly, Mr. Pjeter Arbnori, many deputies took the floor and put forward proposals to include a number of draft laws in the work program for this period, as well as raising their concerns about the implementation of laws. Deputy Shamata said that the economics committee on the Çekini issue had the material ready to present to Parliament. Deputies Dokle, Baleta, Teta, Lalaj, Apostoli, Vukaj, Makaridhai, Perpali, Kalakula, Alimehilli, and others then took the floor, expressing their objections to the work program for this period and making proposals for various additions to it. Deputy U. Butka requested that the draft law on the status of the media be included in the program, an issue involving the participation of deputies from all parliamentary groups. Deputy E. Dakli stressed the need for Parliament to discuss and approve the Labour Code as soon as possible. At this session, deputies Ferizaj, Gjinushi, Agasi, Imami, Marku, Ulqini, Pulaha, Cela, Çeliku, and others also expressed their views and positions concerning the work program for this three-month period. Then the chairman of the PD parliamentary group, Mr. Ali Spahia, said, among other things: “Our main duty is to draft a good constitutional draft, while regarding the press law—a concern raised by several speakers before me—after the Criminal Code has been reviewed and approved, those articles that conflict with this code should be repealed. “The fight against corruption,” Mr. Spahia said, “is one of our main problems, and therefore I believe that a parliamentary commission against corruption should be established, but on the basis of Article 30 of the Main Constitutional Provisions.” At the end, the Chairman of the Commission During the period, and made proposals for various additions to this program, were the deputies Dokle, Baleta, Teta, Lalaj, Apostoli, Vukaj, Makaraiadhi, Perpali, Kalakula, Alimehilli, etc. Deputy U. Butka requested that the bill program, which, he said, had been discussed both in the committee he chairs and in the legislation committee. Many other deputies who spoke expressed the need for an anti-corruption law and the creation of a special committee for this…

Opening address at Assembly, delivered by the Chairman of the Presidium, Mr. Pjeter Arbnori Honourable deputies, Assembly continues the important work this Assembly has carried out over the past three years. It is no coincidence that we are beginning the session by approving the Criminal Code, the discussion of its principles having begun at the final session of last year. The approved Civil Code, the Criminal Code, the Code of Civil Procedure, the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Labour Code and the other codes that await us place great responsibilities on us, because codes are not like acts that can be amended every year in keeping with the pace of the economy. They are fundamental laws that we must consider, discuss and approve together, with full responsibility and the goodwill that we bring to all our work for the people. Ideally, they should be prepared so well that consensus underpins our work on most of their articles. Our work program also includes the draft law “On Pastures and Meadows,” “On Food,” “On Supplementary Pensions in the Non-Budgetary Sector,” as well as other draft laws making partial amendments to the laws in the financial package: “On Prices and Tariffs,” “On the Tax System,” “On the Documentation and Keeping of Tax Accounts,” “On Personal Income Tax” and “On Excise Duties.” The work program also provides for the ratification of a loan agreement and a guarantee agreement. A number of interpellations have been requested and will be held with the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, the Minister of Defence, the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, and the Minister of Finance. Question sessions have also been requested with the Chairman of the State Audit Service and the Minister of Finance, primarily by opposition deputies, but also by deputies of the governing side. Finally, I would ask the parliamentary groups, as well as the deputies representing other political forces in Parliament, to hold serious discussions among themselves concerning the new draft Constitution. The essential thing is agreement on the content and spirit of the Constitution. This can be achieved by a parliamentary commission made up of all parliamentary groups and all political forces that have deputies. The commission could also be expanded to include political forces with representatives in local government. Parliament could also establish a commission of non-partisan specialists. The main thing is that no party should dominate the commission, while reasonable proportions are maintained. The commission should work by consensus or, if that is not possible, decide by a two-thirds majority. Everything else is secondary. The Constitution is not a propaganda tool; it is a new home in which we all need shelter. Thank you.

On Sunday, 15 January 1995, at 22:45, 20 convicted persons escaped from Tirana prison. Among them are dangerous criminals convicted of murder. According to information from the Prisons Directorate, they broke through an interior door leading from the canteen to the prisoners’ food warehouse. In this way, the door of the prisoners’ food warehouse was opened, and the bars on the warehouse window were broken. They got out onto the kitchen roof, where they cut through two wire fences. After this, they reached Tirana Unit 88, and then open ground, where they dispersed in different directions. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and the district police stations are searching for the escapees from Tirana prison. So far, two escapees have been captured; several prison employees, the duty police officers, have also been detained. Since some of them are dangerous criminals convicted of murder, citizens are asked to cooperate by providing information about these individuals. Anyone who provides information about them will receive a reward of 100,000 new lekë, and the confidentiality of the information will be maintained. The list of escapees is as follows: Shkelqim Myr Isufi, Agron Kadara, Fahri Zyber Kuka, Arben Gafur Karasani, Astrit Dode Bisha, Ilirian Halil Arapi, Viktor Xhemali Qerhami, Arben Petraq Nasko, Nevr uz Faslli Qeleshi, Ylli Raqi Zavalani, Artur Syrja Xhemali, Spartak Myftar Merdani, Kastriot Etem Vretaj, Gezim Asim Kelmenti, Tomor Qerim Haxhia, Kujtim Xhelal Mura, Mustafa Shemi Shemi, Nusret Ramiz Daga, Speti Hasim Merkaj, Gezim Sulejman Suka.

After the conference organized by the White House on investment in Eastern Europe, which was also attended by an Albanian delegation headed by Deputy Prime Minister Dylber Vrioni. Mr. Vrioni gave this interview to Elez Biberaj for “Voice of America” radio. -Mr. Vrioni, how do you assess the results of the conference, which also included talks between the Albanian delegation and the other delegations? -The conference was interesting, bearing in mind that it had been conceived by President Clinton himself and was under the auspices of the White House. The balance of the meetings was very important. The high point was the meeting with President Clinton himself yesterday. I conveyed a message to the congressmen about the support the United States was offering Albania during the period of democratic processes. I personally thanked him and his administration for the constructive role they play in the region’s processes, and expressed that the Albanian government would continue working ever harder for peace and stability in the region. We had important meetings, such as yesterday morning’s meeting with the Secretary of Commerce, Mr. Ronald Braun, which was also attended by Assistant Secretary of State Mr. Holbruk, Dana Marshall, who is an aide to Vice President Al Gor, Xhozef Genmesher, executive director of the Trade Development Department, and Kristofer Fin. We discussed how this initiative would proceed, and ways to intensify economic ties and economic cooperation between the former communist countries and the United States. Also important was the meeting between the Albanian, Macedonian, and Bulgarian delegations and the Trade Development Department at the State Department, where the East-West corridor issue was discussed, and the Trade Development Department undertook to finance the business plan for this project. They also discussed important matters during the days… important matters during the days. (Continued on page 2)

ATHENS/AFP/- Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreu reiterated that dialogue with Greece was conditional on holding dialogue with Albania only after the release of four Greek minority activists convicted of espionage. “A Greek-Albanian dialogue would be presented by Tirana as the first proven step for the four minority prisoners sentenced to prison for two months in September,” Papandreu told the daily “Kathimerini” on Sunday. The same newspaper published an interview with President Clinton. In his statements to “Kathimerini” on Sunday, American President Bill Clinton called on Athens “to open dialogue without conditions” with Tirana. Berisha welcomed this appeal, expressing hope that Athens would heed it.

-The Eurosocialists are merely a cosmetic box intended to put makeup on the face of an old woman- At the National Meeting of the Eurosocialist Forum, its chairman, Mr. Pandeli Majko, said that if the SP won the next elections, there would be no going back. Naturally, Majko needs to formulate such a statement, first to convey messages of loyalty to the leaders of the SP and second to serve to strengthen the idea that the SP is a “moderate” party… But whether there will be any going back or not is not in your hands, Mr. Majko! Because the Eurosocialists do not play a dominant role in SP politics. They are merely a cosmetic box intended to be used on the face of an old woman. Influential leaders within the SP include communists such as Servet Pellumbi, known as an ideologue of Marxism-Leninism, and Gramoz Ruçi, your secretary-general and former interior minister at the time of that terrible December 4, one of those who initiated the December events, Arben Broci. The SP leadership also includes people like Bashkim Zeneli, who, besides being individually indoctrinated, also present themselves as people who list the monstrous crimes committed by their own associates. Among the SP leadership are privileged people who lived through the 50-year period; the positions and missions they held make them, quite rightly, nostalgic fighters seeking a return to that bygone era.

We spoke about the extraordinary incident at Tirana Prison on the night of January 15, ’95, with the director of the Prison Directorate, Mr. Bedri Çoku, who gave us the following answers: On Sunday evening, January 15, ’95, between about 22:30 and 23:00, 20 people escaped from Tirana Prison. Among them are criminals convicted of murder, rapists, and robbers. Question: Under what circumstances did this escape take place? Answer: The inmates, after breaking down the door of the room where the prisoners’ personal food supplies were kept, sawed through the bars of this storeroom and went out onto the roof of the prison kitchen. After cutting through two rows of wire, they jumped into the yard of military unit 88 and then into the yard of the State Archives. Question: Do you think they dispersed in different directions, or…? Answer: Based on the investigation and statements about the escape, I believe they left in a vehicle that was waiting somewhere near the place where they got out. somewhere near the place where they got out. Question: What operational measures have been taken so far? Answer: Seven officers on duty have been detained and subjected to expedited questioning. The investigations are continuing. I would like to add that among them are dangerous criminals. Urgent measures have been taken to search for the others. Question: Have there been any results in capturing them so far? Answer: Two escapees were captured in Elbasan just 8 hours after the escape. MENTOR SHEHU

Yesterday, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Albania began hearing the case brought by the parliamentary group of the Democratic Party, concerning the interpretation of the Main Constitutional Provisions relating to the immunity of the President of the Court of Cassation, Zef Brozi. Also present at the hearing were the chairman of the PD parliamentary group, Ali Spahia, and the chairman of the parliamentary committee on legislation, Halit Shamata. The interpretation of these Provisions concerns the request by Prosecutor General Alush Dragoshi to lift Zef Brozi, who has been accused of abuse of office in connection with the decision to release from prison the Greek citizen Kostandinos Kallafatos, accused of possessing narcotics. Consideration of this request was rejected at the end of last year by the People’s Assembly, on the grounds that it was not within its jurisdiction, but the parliamentary group of the Democratic Party submitted the matter to the Constitutional Court for interpretation. The decision on this matter will be issued later. ATSH

Prof. Dr. Selaudin Bekteshi Member of the Academy of Sciences Page 5

Page 5

As a parliamentary commission, we inform you that today we have summoned the Director General of Prisons to report to us on the duration of the sentences, the places where the individuals (who escaped from prison) were apprehended, the persons responsible, and especially the department tasked with guarding, maintaining and administering the prisons and ensuring the conditions the state requires for serving sentences in prisons, as well as, of course, the conditions the state requires for the continued detention of persons accused of various crimes. (Continued on page 2)

DUKAJGIN HATA In the wake of political acrobatics, disinformation, speculation, diversions and deceptions that in recent days have gone far beyond all expectations, the PS leadership, through its aggressive little paper “ZP,” is introducing another speculative version of the draft Constitution into its ideological rhetoric. Its card is being falsified so extensively by them that it is turning into a utopian, malicious and confrontational barrier to any kind of consensus that might lead to a satisfactory solution to this issue. Having initiated and then further pursued an illegal and unconstitutional round table, and having raised from the ashes of the past the ghost of “chief constitutionalist Omari,” architect of the infamous Constitution of ’76, whom it has “appointed” head of a “guerrilla project” whose legitimacy no one knows through which channels will be secured, the head of the PS has the audacity to generalize what just three days earlier he himself called “a planned meeting of the parliamentary parties on the draft Constitution,” a “lawful action by the political forces,” a “legislative initiative concerning constitutional laws,” and so on. Thus, in yesterday’s issue of “ZP,” the PS spokesperson hypocritically declares that “the Socialist Party, neither alone nor together with the grouping of political parties that opposed the referendum of 6 October last year, has appointed any commission to draft the Constitution, since under Article 44 of the law ‘On the Main Constitutional Provisions’ this is legally the right of the People’s Assembly.” The PS spokesperson is therefore forced to admit that the meeting of parliamentary party groups to draft the constitutional proposal conflicts with Article 44 of the Main Constitutional Provisions, according to which: “The provisions of this law shall remain in force until the Constitution of the Republic of Albania is adopted, the draft of which shall be prepared by a special parliamentary commission of the People’s Assembly.” This comes just two days after Dokle, at the PS press conference, acting like a “zealous knight,” called the parliamentary parties’ initiative to draft the constitutional proposal entirely lawful, and even accused the “RD” journalist, who rightly called this initiative illegal, of supposedly doing Berisha’s bidding, while claiming that the latter did not know the laws of the state he governs! So why is the PS leadership, through its spokesperson, forced to deny what it itself amplified just a few days ago in a sensational manner in “ZP,” and then again through Namik Dokle at the PS press conference? This is not merely a new ploy by the head of the PS; it is another deception designed to buy time amid their feverish thirst for political revenge, in their desperate efforts to return to power at any cost, even through serious provocations and the most monstrous deceptions against Albanian democracy. This blatant deception is taking place at a time when one of the most zealous protagonists of Hoxhaism, the face of Enverist constitutionalism, Omari, has been assigned by the Hoxhaists now installed in the PS leadership the task of drafting an Enverist constitutional proposal, and is being presented by the old hands as the “figure” who will resolve the “constitutional crisis” they themselves have created. Because they lack the courage to face the task of drafting a new constitution with new figures, untainted by the communist past and worthy of sitting at the political consensus table with all the parliamentary parties, they resort to political acrobatics, unconstitutional manoeuvres, crisis figures such as Omari, and unprecedented deceptions, through which the PS’s political cards emerge sullied by the exhausting fever of the struggle for power.

On Wednesday, January 18, 1995, at 12:00, a National Assembly of the FRPD will be held at the PDSh headquarters in Tirana, with the participation of the chairpersons, secretaries, and deputy chairpersons of FRPD branches in the districts. FRPD PRESIDIUM