The Vlorë committee’s gangs grow more ferocious ON PAGE 6 The Vlorë committee’s gangs grow more ferocious A shower of bullets on citizens ON PAGE 6

Nano’s gangs disarm Fino’s escorts ON PAGE 6 Nano’s gangs disarm Fino’s escorts You need permission to go to Kuçovë ON PAGE 6

White terror, an electoral tool of the Socialist Party ON PAGE 3 White terror, an electoral tool of the Socialist Party Rumors of panic ON PAGE 3

. The chairman of the Socialist Party’s armed committees, Fatos Nano, has once again returned to the super-swindle of the blank cheque, declaring that his party will return the money to those who lost it in the pyramid schemes by taking it from others who won at the pyramid-game gamble. At an election rally in Kuçovë, the head of the Socialist Party declared that the money from the pyramid schemes would be returned through a redistribution of funds, meaning that those who won would have to pay for those who lost. The Socialist leader’s irresponsible statement in Kuçovë was repeated in an interview with a foreign radio station, showing that this is now a clear policy of Albania’s former communists. Nano’s assertion, which has shaken many thousands of creditors who were lucky in the usury gamble, brings to mind the nationalizations, extraordinary taxes and agrarian reform of Hoxha’s dictatorial regime, which oppressed Albanians for 50 years. The Socialist Party is thus revealing to Albanians what awaits the citizens of this country if the former communists come to power. After promising to overturn the current administration and dismiss from their jobs all those who are not with the Socialist Party and its allies, the Socialists are demanding that they be robbed—those who, according to Nano, stole other people’s money in Albania’s pyramid schemes, in which the Socialist Party’s pyramid-scheme minister, Arben Malaj, also played a special role. Albanians now have before them a super-swindler, but also a communist like those who promised that after 1944 Albania would have nothing but golden spoons. First he said he would return 100 percent of the usury deposits, then the very next day he personally and institutionally repented on behalf of the party, saying he had not said any such thing. Now the swindler Fatos Nano appears before Albanians with his new theory of nationalizing the property of Albanians who made money in the pyramid schemes. Completely disregarding the fact that many of them may no longer have the money they made from the usury epidemic in their hands because they may have improved their lives somewhat by spending it on furniture or other things, Nano is telling these people—who are just as guilty as those who lost money in the usury schemes—that their property or monetary assets will be seized. This is Nano’s new version of keeping the blank-cheque super-swindle alive until June 29, choosing Kuçovë as barren ground in which to revive the great hope of getting the money back, after Vlorë, which he insulted in the most unscrupulous manner. Albanians now face several variations of the blank-cheque super-swindle, one of which directly targets those fortunate enough to win something in the usury epidemic that swept Albania at the end of last year, through neither fault nor merit of their own. Albanians have before them the super-swindler Nano, the man from the Italian aid commission who mocks the misfortune of millions of Albanians who lost their money in the pyramid schemes by promising them the return of more than 1 billion dollars, while still not having repaid the 7 million dollars stolen in 1991. Italy’s State Audit Office is conducting an investigation into the Italian aid scandal, bringing forward new evidence concerning the theft of money intended to relieve the hunger of Albanians in 1991. The very man who directed the theft of that aid is now promising that he can bring back to Albania the remnants of Enver Hoxha’s mass nationalizations in the early years after the dictatorship was established on June 16 in Europe. Now embodied by a galla of Europe. Now embodied by a galla of the President of the Republic, he may once again find himself in the dock, perhaps for abuses greater than those found by the court in 1994, when he was sentenced to just 12 years in prison.

New evidence about the corrupt people who exploited the hunger of Albanians. Nano’s partner, Xhani de Mikelis, under accusation again. 90,000 dollars were stolen just for transporting the aid Italy. The State Audit Office reopens the investigation into the theft of food aid for Albania

Thousands of capital city residents demonstrate the guarantees of the DP’s victory ON PAGE 3 President Berisha suggests a new party agreement to favor the small parties The small parties

Numerous meetings of President Berisha

Criminal cynicism of the PS leader

Whoever seeks to keep the pyramid schemes captive becomes their slave Nano postpones transparency to a “Greek calendar,” promising a blank check—the grave of the Albanian economy ON PAGE 5

President Berisha suggests a new party agreement to favor the small parties small parties The small parties deserve favorable treatment President Berisha receives a promise to ask the DP to sign and respect the agreement on which the other forces will reach agreement ON PAGE 3

ON PAGE 3 Numerous meetings of President Berisha The DP is determined

Shehu in Lezhë and Malësi e Madhe ON PAGE 2

Pukë Mejdani finds an alibi for the failed meeting Nobody was expecting Mejdani, and nobody fired at the car in which he was travelling The PS Secretary General was unable to hold the election meeting in the town of Pukë, since he had been warned along the way that nobody would be waiting for him to “confer.” But Mejdani found an alibi for the failure of the election meeting when he told a foreign radio station that the car in which he was travelling had been hit by a burst of gunfire from unidentified individuals. Sources at the northern town’s police station have not confirmed that the PS leader was stopped as a result of gunfire by unknown individuals. Meanwhile, sources in the town of Pukë say that very few people had been prepared to receive Mejdani. According to Mejdani, in his interview with VOA, he and the people accompanying him were forcibly stopped on the road to Pukë, and, according to Mejdani, he was blocked at a place called Qafa Çelës. The only source that cannot be considered reliable and that confirms this news is Mejdani himself, whose account is echoed by the radio station to which he gives the interview, just as he wishes. Meanwhile, the competent law-enforcement authorities do not confirm the PS leader’s statement. The aforementioned radio station appears not to refer to any other sources; it accepts the news as true and immediately draws parallels with the threats and assassination attempts being made against Democratic leaders by terrorist elements directed by the PS. If the real purpose of these PS “assassination attempts” is to show the public that “we too are under attack,” these are “claims” that nobody can believe.

PD leaders received the EDU delegation Europe cannot accept revolutionary methods of seizing power today, EDU representative Mr. Groscuck said yesterday. The leader of the European right clarified Europe’s position regarding the communist rebellion in Albania during a meeting yesterday at the PD headquarters in Tirana. Received by the Secretary for International Relations, Leonard Demi, and the Organizational Secretary, Ylli Vjeshio, Groscuck asked about the election campaign, seeking information on the areas in which it was operating. He asked about the PD’s political activity, including whether the committees were still operating, the activities of the Democratic candidates, the violence committed against PD leaders on the previous day, communication with the OSCE office in Tirana, the media, and the distribution of the press throughout the country. Mr. Demi and Vjeshio informed Mr. Groscuck about the difficult situation in which the Democratic Party was conducting its election campaign in several southern cities. They said that, despite the difficulties it faced and the pressure being exerted on the opposition, which was also dealing with criminal gangs, the PD was fully committed to a fair campaign. Mr. Groscuck said that the EDU’s People’s Party accepted the outcome of the elections in Albania, in order to resume cooperation at a new pace on projects interrupted by the communist rebellion. We are interested in Albania’s positive development, and those who think they can come to power through methods and forms of violence are mistaken, he said, adding that the European mindset cannot accept revolutionary methods of seizing power today. Another meeting was also to be held between Mr. Groscuck and the parties of the Union for Democracy.