Student leaders from Shkodër and other universities visit the hunger strikers. Thousands of Albanians with the students The students' demands have not even been reduced by 10% by the government. The strikers hold the prime minister responsible for dialogue. The Ministry of Health is against the students. The students' demands have not even been reduced by 10% by the government. The strikers hold the prime minister responsible for dialogue. The Ministry of Health is against the students The opposition party supports the hunger strike Yesterday, they sang the anthem in protest ON PAGE 3 Cont. opposition page in defense of the hunger strike Yesterday, citizens and the opposition with the hunger strikers

The decision to summon PD chairman Sali Berisha as a defendant was taken after an order from Chief Prosecutor Arben Rakipi ON PAGE 4

The trial against Berisha or playing with fire By Edi KAPRIQI In the early hours of this week, the coalition government met in a session after which the Prime Minister of Albania declared to the media that “soon in Albania the leader of the opposition will be arrested.” That was all. That is enough for everything afterward to follow its own course. As soon as he said this, the police chiefs, the head of SHIK, the chief prosecutor and even the judges were forced not to sit still in finding a convincing accusation against the chairman of the Democratic Party, Sali Berisha. For this, the entire machinery of the state was set in motion. Prosecutors, police officers, SHIK agents and everyone else were made available to the prosecutor's office and especially to the chief prosecutor. Why? Because an accusation had to be found at all costs. After trying to accuse Berisha first of attempting a coup d'état during the events of 14 September, then of abuse of office and finally of armed incitement, it seems that the prosecutor's office, on government orders, is trying to carry out its final scenario: the political elimination of the leader of the opposition. That is the essence of the matter. If Berisha is brought before a politically engineered criminal trial, then Albania will enter a dangerous spiral of confrontations. In a country where institutions are weak, where the rule of law is absent and where the government uses the justice bodies for political purposes, such an act is not justice, but political revenge. The accusations against Berisha have been raised in a heated political climate, created not to uncover the truth, but to strike at the government's main opponent. This is an extremely dangerous precedent for democracy. Today it is Berisha; tomorrow it could be anyone else who raises their voice against power. In a democratic society, the leader of the opposition is not imprisoned by political order. If he bears responsibility, it must be proven by law and independent justice, not by prime ministerial statements and prearranged scenarios. Otherwise, the process is nothing more than playing with fire. ON PAGE 7

Instead of dialogue, the government offers violence to the strikers It is the regime that attacks and crushes the hunger strike. Yesterday around 6:30 p.m., the regime's police stormed the dormitory where the striking students were staying. Sali Berisha, protesting at the protest center, the students showed the police violence. Yesterday, by parliamentary decision, the police also searched all the rooms in Qyteti Studenti. Yesterday around 6:30 p.m., the regime's police stormed the dormitory where the striking students were staying. Sali Berisha, protesting at the protest center, the students showed the police violence. Yesterday, by parliamentary decision, the police also searched all the rooms in Qyteti Studenti. ON PAGE 5

Vlora high schools show solidarity with the students and the hunger strike ON PAGE 2

of the hunger strike in Tirana The head of the Education Union, Vokshti[?], dismissed from work ON PAGE 7

The regime's political prosecutor accuses the police of the Tropojë police station and former Democratic MP Azem Hajdari. Sali Berisha, in a statement on behalf of the Presidency of PDSH, said that the politically engineered case against the late Azem Hajdari and his family means that the Albanian prosecution is the executor of the political order of the country's prime minister, Pandeli Majko, in full accordance with the style and practices followed by Milošević's Serbian regime against the opposition leader Ibrahim Rugova. According to Sali Berisha, “today Chief Prosecutor Rakipi, on the orders of Nano and Majko, is proceeding in absentia against Azem Hajdari and his brother for the events in Tropojë.”

Tomorrow, 17 December, at 12:00, all of Tirana in Skënderbej Square CITIZENS OF TIRANA! The neo-dictatorship established by the nano-bandits of the anti-Albanian government and by a gang of savage, fascist-like criminals is increasingly seizing the democratic freedoms and rights of each of us every day. The killing of the leader of democratic resistance Azem Hajdari and the violence against democrats have reached a climax where any indifference or tolerance means looking at evil, hatred toward ourselves and our children, hatred toward the future. Only by confronting the government of the neo-blockmen and bandits in these protests will we be able to defend our freedoms and interests. CITIZENS OF TIRANA! The Democratic Party “Union for Democracy,” sensing the danger of the country being governed by the neo-blockmen and the killers of the December leader, invites you to take part in the grand protest that will take place tomorrow, 17 December 1998, at 12:00, in Skënderbej Square.

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