Law, civil engineering and philology students continue the strike Meanwhile, Union members say that if their demands are not taken into consideration after the meeting with Majko, the strike will escalate further... ON PAGE 5

Cooperation with the prosecutor’s office is pointless To help uncover the truth about the murder of deputy Hajdari, it would not be enough merely to verify the political use of the justice system against the opposition in Albania; an impartial investigative team must be established. ON PAGE 3

Surprising testimony by the leader of the Legalists from Tirana prison We met Daan Everts on the first floor of his residence and, after explaining the reason for our visit, he replied, “I am in contact with the center (OSCE), and you two should go to the television station and try to calm the crowd,” Spahiu recounts. ON PAGE 2

By Astrit PATOZI For two days, the government and the press close to it have been boasting about capturing the gang that killed a police officer and robbed all the passengers on a bus running the Athens–Tirana route. The Ministry of Public Order and the enthusiastic propaganda newspapers have even counted the hours between the crime and the arrest of the bandits, who were stopped in a village in Mallakastër following cooperation between the district police and special forces brought in from Tirana. Clearly, stopping any gang and bringing it to justice is good news for all the citizens of this country, terrorized for two years by criminals’ unchecked activities and by the police’s inaction in the face of crime. The police should therefore be congratulated, first because they showed the criminals who raised their hands and took the life of their colleague on duty that they would be held to account, and also because they “removed from circulation” a terrorist group that would have continued to pose a potential danger to other police officers or citizens. At the same time, however, the efficiency shown by the blue uniforms in arresting the Mallakastër gang in such a short time cannot help but remind us that almost three months have passed since the murder of the December Leader, the symbol of Albanian pluralism, Azem Hajdari. If the government and its pro-government press call the 36 hours it took to handcuff the criminals who killed the police officer on the Gjirokastër–Tirana road a record, we would point out to them that a great deal of time has passed, and the killers of the symbolic politician of post-communist Albania have not only not been arrested, but the government has not even identified them. All Albanians would be inclined to believe in their government and police if a similar crime, as reported on Albania’s roads, could be solved. The Ministry of Public Order, together with the press that applauds the government in every instance, has given us such an example by reminding us of the arrest of the gang that killed the police officer on the Tirana–Athens bus route. While always congratulating the good work of the police officers who risked their lives to catch their colleague’s killers, we are ready to believe that the saying “the government can catch a hare with a cart” still holds true today, when the blue uniforms are headed by a man who burned Fier last year, Petro Koçi. The contrast between these two stories further reinforces the opposition’s accusations that the government was implicated in the murder that shook not only Albania but the entire Albanian world. A government capable of swiftly uncovering and striking at crime should have done so first and foremost in the case of Azem Hajdari’s assassins, since his life was worth far more than the lives of all the ministers and other officials combined. If it has not done so by now and has no intention of doing so in the future, the hundreds of thousands of Albanians who loved and respected Azem Hajdari have every right to despair over the fact that the killers of the December Leader are among those who hold power today. Before making statements about the failure of 1990, when he was not even an extra, let alone a protagonist, Prime Minister Majko must clarify why the killers of the symbol of the historic December Movement have not been found. Albanians do not need to read a “curriculum vitae” of December in order to believe in the government’s seriousness. If a Norwegian prosecutor’s office is to believe in the seriousness of the Albanian government, after its mission sent the killers back to their country, without being able to secure their arrest. [The source text becomes severely garbled here and is reproduced in translation as closely as possible:] The investigation and the evidence of the government’s duties concerning Azem Hajdari. If he had his own choices, to carry out his duty more zealously, the Scandinavian investigator may have received all his information through his government. All those who read this do not have their lives in Tirana, but he will find them, and [they] fabricated the politician’s death precisely by those who loved and plotted the death of the Democratic politician. A few days ago, former parliament speaker Pjetër Arbnori said that the Democratic Party had no intention of testifying before the killers of Azem Hajdari. His statement sounds more relevant than ever today, as the government is trying to convince us that it has the situation under control. Taking as their cue the official and propaganda-driven enthusiasm surrounding the arrest of a gang, Albanians have reason to remember the opposition’s associates, police officers, businesspeople and citizens, as well as the many politicians and journalists who have been wounded and robbed, and those who have been killed, massacred, wounded and arrested by various gangs. [The source text is garbled here:] In these [cases?], or criminals, who never themselves [bring about?] the final outcome as soon as possible; if there is a condition, they may reach the conclusion as soon as possible if there is responsibility on the part of the police for restoring order. It is nothing more than a selective battle against gangs that have no connection to the government or its people—not to fight them, since their [members?] have often lost their lives, but to bring them into the government’s framework. Albanians cannot live, but [the text is garbled] their superiors in ties, who are capable of raising “criminals on the gallows” on other days, unlike those who called it the “people’s army” in 1946, since armies have done so as in every other country, but [it is] the authorities who run the state and the police.

Bode condemns violence against DP commissioner Lorenc Bega Bega: “After they put me in one of the cells at the police station, they began hitting me with the butt of their pistols, ”

Gangs strike Albanian businesses again Petrit Gazheli, one of the businessmen in the city of Tirana, was taken hostage yesterday. An armed gang caused an incident in the village of Ibë, along the road leading to Elbasan. After ramming him with a car, the gang took Gazheli, put him in their car, and since that moment nothing has been known about his whereabouts. The abduction of Gazheli is a blow

The state is preparing to put free speech in handcuffs Isa Kreka: “The search was not authorized by the prosecutor’s office.” Yesterday, police surrounded the private television station “Dardan,” the television station of the national cause. They could just as well have been surrounded by the Serbs, Macedonians, and Greeks, because at the beginning of its news broadcast it shows the map of the real Albania, and its signature tune is Ilir Shaqiri’s song, in which Europe is asked to repay its debt for Albanian lands... ON PAGE 2

at the police station, they began hitting me on the head with pistol butts, police radios, iron knuckles, and other hard objects. I lost consciousness and came to much later. I remember that, besides the masked police officers, there was also a judicial police officer belonging to the prosecutor’s office, who questioned me at 1 a.m.” ON PAGE 3

Resolution on Albania by the Youth of the European People’s Parties Council ON PAGE 3

Students are waiting for the rectorate to meet the nine demands Yesterday, the strike by students of the Faculty of Education at “Aleksandër Xhuvani” University in Elbasan continued. Awaiting the demands... ON PAGE 3

The government refuses to negotiate with the workers, announces the factory’s sale The workers of the “Birra Tirana” factory are continuing the sixth day of their socioeconomic strike today, a strike which they have declared that this time, ... ON PAGE 5

Today, 88 days since the murder of the December Leader Every day that passes since the murder of Azem Hajdari, the symbol of democracy and pluralism, proves the involvement of Fatos Nano’s government and its complicity in the crime that shook the entire Albanian world. The government of the former communists, which leaves free and unpunished the criminals who took the life of the December Leader, shows Albanians that they are still on the side of the killers, in this camp that chooses whom to target but does not touch the powerful. Democrats and all Albanians who loved and honored Azem Hajdari can in no way tolerate this fact. The government must either capture the criminals and bring them to justice, or publicly declare that it itself committed the murder of Azem Hajdari.

Dhimiter Rafti and the story of a corrupt director “Everywhere in Western countries, if the Telecom company does not value who the caller has spoken to, then, besides having the charge waived, the caller is punished. In addition, on Saturdays and Sundays, when offices are not busy, calls are three times cheaper (at least in Switzerland). For five francs, you can talk for more than a quarter of an hour. But in Albania, on days off, you get ripped off even more. Telecom kills you on Saturday, roasts you on Sunday, and eats you on Monday! ON PAGE 7

Today at 16:55, the RETE 4 television network will broadcast the vision of Albania by Forza Italia MP Bergamo. The Italian television program will show the main moments of MP Bergamo’s visit to Albania, the meetings held, as well as the events he attended during the December 8 celebrations and the inauguration of the Azem Hajdari memorial in “Skënderbej” Square.

ZEMI HAJDARI

What the Rector of the University of Tirana ordered at the height of the protest ON PAGE 5