Interview by RD editor-in-chief Lorenc Ligori, given to the Austrian news agency APA in Vienna Enver’s volunteers revived

Yesterday at the Presidency, President of the Republic Sali Berisha received the Chairman of Romania’s Parliamentary Defense Committee, Mr. Peter Roman. President Berisha and Mr. Peter Roman expressed their satisfaction that relations between the two countries are developing satisfactorily. As two countries that suffered under the harshest dictatorships, Romania and Albania are interested in cooperating with one another bilaterally and regionally. The discussion also focused on recent developments in the region, as well as the possibilities for our two countries to integrate into Europe.

Yesterday, the Chairman of the Presidium of the People’s Assembly, Pjetër Arbnori, received a delegation of members of parliament from the Party of Democratic Prosperity of the Albanians of Macedonia, led by Arber Xhaferri. The meeting addressed issues concerning Albanians in Macedonia and their efforts to secure human and national rights and freedoms within the current Balkan reality. Mr. Arbnori emphasized the support that the state (Continued on page 2)

Yesterday morning at the PDSH headquarters, Mr. Tritan Shehu held a meeting with the chairman of the PPD of the Albanians of Macedonia, Mr. Arber Xhaferri, as well as three other members of parliament from this party. Mr. Xhaferri and the MPs accompanying him presented the situation of the Albanians there, the efforts being made to secure their rights, and some issues concerning the PPD. The meeting also discussed the situation of the MPs from this party, who had boycotted parliament some time ago after submitting a motion there. (Continued on page 2)

. More than 60 tractors sold by the PS leadership — Luxury vehicles bought with the proceeds, including a “Peugeot” for Lenka Çuko — Witnesses state: “the transactions were carried out without documents” — The Gellçs and Dautllars did the trading; they shared the money with their bosses — At the PS headquarters they state: “Namiku knows everything” EDI PALOKA More and more new facts are exposing the embezzlement of the 400 thousand dollars allocated to buy a printing press for “ZP”. It has now been proven with documents that the money was used for the personal benefit of PS leaders. A recent announcement by the prosecution states that, in addition to goods such as oil, paper and flour, tractors, seed-drilling machines, vehicles, etc. were also bought with the printing-press funds through the company “Progresi”; these were then sent to be sold in Tirana, Fier, Korçë, Pogradec, Kavajë and Devoll. As many as 60 tractors were sold by the PS leadership. Large sums of money were appropriated from the sale of these goods and were never returned to the “ZP” account. Where did they go...? Reliable information indicates that luxury cars were bought with the money for PS leaders, including a “Peugeot” for Bureau member Lenka Çuko. According to witnesses, in most cases the goods were sold without documents: “We handed over the money, and that was it.” Pressure on the justice authorities “We have requested criminal proceedings against prosecutor Qeleshi,” declare from the PS headquarters the authors of the disappearance of 400 thousand dollars. This is a somewhat curious statement from people who have so many “lawyers” (“legal specialists” and former prosecutors of the dictatorship) at their disposal. Under the law, when a criminal case is at the stage the 400-thousand-dollar case has reached, no one can request criminal proceedings against the prosecutor. Prosecutor Genc Gjokutaj confirms this to “RD” as well. “Only the court, after the trial has taken place, if it finds that the defendants are innocent and that an injustice has been done to them, may request measures against the prosecutor,” Gjokutaj says. Could it be that the PS “specialists” do not know the law? The truth is that, as in many other cases, PS leaders threaten and put pressure on the justice system. They acted this way when Nano was on trial, and they are doing so now too. Nano’s statements, amplified by his followers, that they will take revenge on representatives of the justice system when they come to power are being repeated in more concrete forms. These attempts to obstruct the work of the justice authorities reveal the fear of corrupt leaders of justice. By acting this way, they show that they are no different at all from ordinary criminals; perhaps the only difference between them is that, if and when they come to power, they will once again make crime and revenge an institution, at the state level. But Socialist leaders should be careful, because criminals, whoever they may be, have only one end—and that end awaits them too. goods were sold without documents: “Money was handed over, and that was it.” It is easy to understand what abuses were committed with that money. money with their bosses. Meanwhile, PS leaders have engaged the “lawyers” of the dictatorship to prove their “innocence.” It is not impossible that these “lawyers” are being paid for their statements with the sums remaining from the 400 thousand dollars, although the latest one, published yesterday in “ZP,” says that he is making his opinions public simply “as a matter of profession, as a lawyer.” And this “lawyer’s” “profession,” as he himself acknowledges in “ZP,” was “30 years as an employee of the Prosecutor’s Office.” Today this dictatorship prosecutor, presented in “ZP” as the “lawyer” Xhemali Hasa, rises to defend the appropriators of the 400 thousand dollars—the PS leaders—while also speaking about the rights of the accused, and he does so purely “as a matter of profession.” But, unfortunately for the thieves and their beneficiaries, justice has the sack in its hands—the sack that caught them—and everyone can see the sack, even at the PS headquarters. While those deeply implicated in this scandal wander about spreading lies and declaring that the money belongs to “ZP,” other leaders continue to point the finger at Dokle. As the newspaper “KJ” also wrote yesterday, at the PS headquarters they direct you to Namiku: “Namiku knows everything.” It is true that Namiku knows everything, which is why he is trying to hide. That is why, while he was waving two photographs in front of the television screen and talking about a fictitious contract, Dokle was sending Edmond Bogdani to Canada. That is why PS Finance chief Farudin Arapi refuses to provide the justice authorities with the documents related to the scandal, on the absurd pretext that his regulations do not allow him to. But all these efforts will expose PS leaders as frauds, wherever they turn. Very soon, despite all the obstacles they are creating and the pressure they are exerting, they will find themselves in the dock. Justice is tightening its noose around those who have abused their positions.

Immersed in a deep moral crisis stemming from his distant past as an adolescent persecutor with a pistol; discredited by the major public lies concerning the money for the “ZP” printing press (“the money is untouched in the bank”); a failure with his theory of alliances and hopeless as a shadow president, the former head of the notorious Institute of Marxism-Leninism, Servet Pellumbi, proves with his latest reactions that there is no hope of recovery. Clenching his jaws and gritting his teeth, S. Pellumbi does nothing but remind us of your distant—and not so distant—past, when, as a Chekist and later as one of Ruçi’s soldiers, you wandered like a shadow to eliminate some “enemy within the Party.” But your career is coming to an end, because when the files are opened, your former student’s name will surely appear there—the student you handed over to the Security criminals in the lecture hall. Awaiting the opening of the files, your politically persecuted former student, AGIMI (Continued on page 2)

— From the speech to the National Council by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Mr. Dylber Vrioni Over the last three years Albania has changed a great deal. After 47 years in which Albanians were forced, willingly or unwillingly, by force or choice, to live under that political and economic system called socialism, everyone understood that the system had to change. Albanians organized a powerful movement, from which emerged a political party that gathered and harnessed the energy of Albanians to establish democracy in Albania. Today we must bear in mind that we need to orient ourselves correctly in the processes taking place and undertake a system. A system has three components: a political component, a legal component and an economic component. Even before it took office, the DP managed to establish the political scene in Albania by installing a pluralist system, thus fulfilling the first condition for establishing a different system in Albania. Once we took power, we began changing the second component, the legal component. The third component is the economic component, which constitutes the economic foundation of the old system. It seems to me that in this way, to some extent, the energies accumulated by Albanians began to be expended—energies which the PDSH put to very pragmatic use. At this moment, when (Continued on page 3)

Speech by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Construction and Tourism Dashamir Shehi to the National Council Organization and propaganda are undoubtedly the two main pillars on which we will rely during this year in order to reach the 1996 parliamentary elections. Propaganda, without giving it the negative meaning it used to have, should be understood as a relationship with the truth—that is, amplifying the reality that exists, or, more precisely, amplifying the successes that have been achieved, explaining the path taken to achieve them, and also acknowledging mistakes and weaknesses. On the one hand, this means that; on the other, it means offering an alternative for choosing those things that we have not been able to accomplish up to now. If we examine the problem from this point of view, I would say that during these three years of DP governance, the achievements have been more than sufficient to be publicized as such; they are easy to explain and entirely clear to everyone who takes it upon themselves to explain them. Let us begin, first of all, with what is the greatest and most visible success during this period in which the DP has been in power. A success that is not only great and visible, but also more stable and of greater service to Albania: the macroeconomic plan. (Continued on page 3)

— The fourth anniversary of the hunger strike by the miners of the Tirana, Verdova and Mborje-Drenovë coalfields On the occasion of of the Tirana, Verdova and Mborje-Drenovë coalfields, which lasted 11 days and 6 hours in the shafts of these mines, yesterday afternoon the Independent Miners’ Union of Albania organized a commemorative gathering in the odeon of the International Center of Culture in Tirana. Welcoming those present—the former participants in the strike, trade unionists, representatives of political parties and other guests—the chairman of the Independent Miners’ Union of Albania, Gezim Kalaja, said, among other things, that at the time when Albania’s fate and future were at stake, when the trade union movement had erupted with all its strength and the general strike of our people had entered its ninth day, a group of miners from the coalfield (Continued on page 2)

In an interview given to the newspaper “Dita informacion,” our well-known writer Ismail Kadare was asked about his earlier statement concerning the Socialists and reaffirmed: “I stand by my earlier opinion that the time has not come for the Socialists, although I hear the opposite here and there. There are many proverbs about those who rush and suffer because of their haste.”