Protests continue to demand the fall of the Nano government and the release of political prisoners Today, at 11:00, in the center of the city of Lezhë, and tomorrow in the city of Fier, at 10:00, in the square in front of the tourist hotel, peaceful rallies will be held to protest political imprisonments, corruption, smuggling, mass layoffs, etc. Prof. Dr. Sali Berisha and other leaders of “Union for Democracy” will honor us with their presence. Everyone, with their families, to the square to protest against the dictatorship. Tomorrow will be too late. Permission has been obtained from the police. The DP branches of Lezhë and Fier

Kavaja back on the streets against Nano ON PAGE 3

The Prime Minister has pressured the Deputy Prosecutor General to resign. Dizdari informed the President about the investigations, but he remained silent The Deputy Prosecutor General denounces serious legal violations in the arrest and imprisonment of all six. According to him, the “freezing of the investigations” is a violent interference in the justice system ON PAGE 2

Deputy Prosecutor General Gani Dizdari yesterday made absolutely clear Nano’s and his clan’s involvement in the arrests of 22 August, leaving the Prime Minister no way to keep lying to some embassy in Albania, or to some Western official who has not yet recognized the new communists of Tirana. In an interview with “Voice of America,” the senior Albanian justice official denounced as wholly illegal the arrest and subsequent imprisonment of all six, which he called a badly rigged process. Besides presenting the legal arguments that expose Nano and all those who agreed to obey his blind order to bring political prisons back to Albania, the Deputy Prosecutor General rejected as unacceptable the Prime Minister’s request to “freeze” the investigation into the case of the six. Mr. Dizardi says that Nano’s new move, which has prompted protests to intensify throughout the country, is a violent interference in the judiciary. But perhaps the most important part of the Deputy Prosecutor General’s statement is the fact that he was deliberately kept out of the investigation and that Nano himself pressured him to force him to resign. This is a new scandal involving the Prime Minister, completing the framework of the mega-scandal of the 22 August arrests and all the consequences that have followed since that day. Meanwhile, the prosecutor says he informed Meidani of all the legal violations in the case of the six, but the latter did not lift a finger. The fact that Meidani did not want to, or was unable to, do anything to change Nano’s sinister plan after the arrests had taken place does not change anything significant in this story, where the finger points only at the Prime Minister. Fatos Nano can no longer lie to anyone, nor can he invent false alibis to exempt himself from the reckoning that has begun. He has now been exposed before Albanians as directly responsible for the arrest and imprisonment of six young members of the Democratic Party, and then for the forced retreat, right up to the humiliating initiative to “freeze the investigations.” The fact that he threatened and pressured the Deputy Prosecutor General in order to have him dismissed, solely because the latter opposed the case against the six young people, clearly shows that Nano’s role in all the events he has brought before Albanian justice has been established. This evidence alone should be enough for Nano to be held to account, along with the others, and for the institutions he calls to account to be brought into the light. A Prime Minister who seeks to interfere in a case involving political prisoners, after having put his foot on the throats of the prosecutor and judges, then tries to intervene at the end and asks them to “freeze” the investigations because he sees himself cornered, must be removed as soon as possible and by every means. A Prime Minister who seeks to destroy the Deputy Prosecutor General, who presents a responsible account of events in Albania, in order to prevent Fatos Nano from playing games with justice and using his schemes to attack the opposition—or using it to attack the opposition. What is also dangerous for the police and other people in the state who have no connection with his clan is that Nano is faced with independent institutions, wholly independent of one man and one government, and of an innocent Prime Minister. Deputy Prosecutor Dizardi’s statement is also testimony from Prosecutor Dizardi, and a signal to all Albanians that resistance to Nano is beginning within the institutions too; they cannot simply be taken over by imposing “the rule of law,” at home and abroad. Asllan PATOZI

FREE THE POLITICAL PRISONERS THE GOVERNMENT OF THE LEFT-WING KUJACIOV? [?] … JUSTICE …

Nano’s police attempt to kill “Kontakt” radio journalist Only luck saved the “Kontakt” radio journalist from a car attack organized by the ruling clique yesterday in the early hours of the morning. ON PAGE 4

Elbasan: His fellow villagers shouted, “Down with communism” Yesterday, at around 15:00, in Lumas of Klos Commune, Klos police beat the head of Klos Commune, Agustin Çala, nearly to death. According to those present, the incident took place in a car driven by . ON PAGE 4

The Democrats’ protest cannot stop until this government is removed and the prisoners of conscience are released, regardless of the infiltrators whom Lubonja tries to point out to Nano at the PD headquarters, in Lazarat, at the US embassy, at the OSCE office, or on the “Voice of America” radio service ON PAGE 3

The new school year: Tirana’s teachers decide to strike! Tirana’s teachers will start the strike and, if the government continues to remain silent, teachers throughout the country will protest in the same way ON PAGE 3

The Prime Minister and his clan fear Westerners more than ever Swiss MPs Rufi and Myleman told the Albanian prime minister not to make himself look ridiculous by saying he had not ordered the arrest of all six Prime Minister Nano is blocking the visit of MEPs Bezostri and Kolumberg, who have been appointed special rapporteurs for the Legal Affairs Committee of the Council of Europe to examine firsthand the violation of the independence of the judiciary in Albania, and then the destruction of the Constitutional Court. Sources close to the Albanian parliament, also confirmed by the Strasbourg headquarters, said yesterday that Nano had ordered hundreds to devise every possible obstacle to block the MEPs’ visit, whose mission would discredit his government. Nano and his lackey, the speaker of parliament, do not want the presence of the Representation and international institutions at this time, when the country is gripped by a major popular revolt following the politically motivated imprisonment of six former senior officials of the PD government. Western representatives in Tirana, as well as many international institutions, have described the revenge as politically motivated. Meanwhile, it is reported that directly by telephone, when they visited Tirana, not ordered the arrest of all six. Bezostri Kolumberg, A.K.

Yesterday, the rally in “Skënderbej” Square Photo: Albes FUSHA Yesterday, the rally in “Skënderbej” Square. Photo: Albes FUSHA