The parties of the “Union for Democracy,” to honor the memory of the young men Avdyl Matoshi, Naim Dizdari, Gjin Kolbucaj and Agron Pasha, and as a sign of protest against state terrorism, declare Thursday, January 8, 1998, a day of mourning. At all their headquarters, the national flag and their party flag are to be raised at half-mast. The parties of the “Union for Democracy” invite all districts, municipalities and communes in Albania governed by them, as well as those governed by others, to raise the national flag at half-mast at their headquarters on Thursday, January 8. The parties of the “Union for Democracy” invite all vehicle drivers, on Thursday, January 8, at 12:00, to sound their horns for one minute in Kolbucaj and Agron Pasha. The “Union for Democracy” invites all citizens, regardless of their convictions, to gather at 12:00 in “Skënderbej” Square for the funeral ceremony of the young Avdyl Matoshi, a founder of the Democratic Party. Let us all gather today and protest with our funeral silence against crime and state terrorism, which in two days took the lives of at least four young people: the prominent Democratic Party activists Avdyl Matoshi, Gjin Kolbucaj and Naim Dizdari, and the businessman from Patos, Agron Pasha. Today, at 12:00, all together in “Skënderbej” Square, with flowers in our hands if possible. The parties of the “Union for Democracy” invite all Albanian families, on Thursday, January 8, at 19:00, to light a candle in their homes in remembrance of the young men struck down by state terrorism, to pray together that their souls find eternal peace, thus also protesting in silence against state terrorism. The government’s murderous hand must be stopped. Flags at half-mast, flowers, lit candles and car horns to honor the memory of Avdyl Matoshi, Naim Dizdari, Gjin Kolbucaj and Agron Pasha

Albanians will honor today the latest victims of state crime, three of whom were among the most prominent activists of the Democratic Party since its founding. Flags at half-mast, flowers, car horns and lit candles throughout Albania to commemorate the Democratic activists Avdyl Matoshi, Naim Dizdari and Gjin Kolbucaj, killed in the police ambush in Cërrnajë, Tropojë, as well as the businessman from Patos, Agron Pasha, who was abducted while wounded from the hospital and brutally massacred by a gang of police officers under Neritan Ceka in Cakran, Fier district. Albanians will demonstrate today, tears in their eyes, their hatred for the state of bandits, which is killing and massacring political opponents and innocent citizens in broad daylight. This is the only state in the world that has put criminals in police uniforms and promoted them to police-station chiefs, or even higher. There is no other precedent in history of police abducting a wounded man from a hospital and then publicly lynching him, after which the Interior Minister appears on television and declares that law and order are under control. Before the blood of the state-backed masked gunmen in Tropojë and Patos had even dried, one of Prime Minister Nano’s strongmen attacked the home of Besim Sula, one of the Democratic Party activists in the city of Fier, with his armed gang, wounding Sula’s four-year-old nephew. The incident happened just hours after Mr. Sula had attended an expanded meeting of the Democratic Party in Fier, where he had spoken, using harsh language about the government. The gang of criminals accompanied Fatos Nano during the June 29 election campaign, so there is absolutely no doubt that the only place to look for the motive behind this crime is the Albanian prime minister. The jackals of Fatos Nano, Skënder Gjinushi, Sabit Brokaj, Neritan Ceka and others, who are plunging Albania into rivers of blood, are themselves the perpetrators of the blind violence that is shaking the life of every Albanian. Their barbaric offensive at the start of this year, in many cities across the country, should be seen as a response by the government leadership to the ever-wider support Albanians are giving the opposition, while citizens’ dissatisfaction with Fatos Nano’s entrenched rule is growing geometrically. The red-eyed thugs from the gangs that burned and destroyed Albania during the rebellion have now been ordered to kill again, because their masters’ seats are beginning to wobble. Albanians should expect nothing else from a prime minister whose bodyguards and escorts have committed some of the most monstrous crimes in just the past month. Nor should they be surprised by the tons of ordinary criminals used by Skënder Gjinushi or Sabit Brokaj’s sentimentality at Haxhi Leshi’s funeral, since both of them, along with other government leaders and Frrrok Çupi, were close friends of Zani Çaushi and drank raki with him while Vlora and all Albania were experiencing violence and arson. Along with the four latest victims of Albanian state crime, Albanians will today honor the memory of all those citizens and police officers who lost their lives because of the criminalization, rise to power and retention of power by today’s rulers. Meanwhile, today’s protest will be a powerful warning of the imminent end of the state of bandits and the country’s return to democracy, public order and the normality it has been denied.

Nano’s escort Dhimo Kumanaku’s gang attacks the home of a Democratic Party leader in Fier The situation in the city appears to have spiraled out of control, and ordinary criminals who have joined the police command have taken over Nano’s escort Dhimo Kumanaku’s gang attacks the home of a Democratic Party leader in Fier Terror in the city. Four-year-old wounded The situation in the city appears to have spiraled out of control, and ordinary criminals who have joined the police command have taken over

France: We are following developments in Albania closely Nano’s neo-dictatorship has alarmed Europe’s political salons. Signals of disapproval of his government’s policies are coming from France, while support and interest for the opposition are being expressed. The “Union for Democracy” parties received a letter from the Presidency of the French Republic. Among other things, the letter informs the leaders of these parties that the President of the Republic, Zhak Shirak, has taken very careful note of their letter dated December 16, 1997, concerning the Albanian Parliament’s constitutional amendments of November 15. President Shirak and France believe that a solution must be reached in accordance with the principles of democracy and the rule of law, while respecting constitutional provisions, dialogue and the separation of powers.

The situation in the city appears to have spiraled out of control, and ordinary criminals who joined the police and SHIK structures after the communists came to power have taken command of the police spiraled out of control, and ordinary criminals who joined the police and SHIK structures after the communists came to power have taken command of the police ON PAGE 3

The health condition of judges and prosecutors worsens on the fourth day of the strike For the jurists, the Law on the Organization of Justice is intended to bring about mass political dismissals of judges, replacing them with the most deeply compromised prosecutors of the communist system ON PAGE 4

The executioners reveal the ties between today’s people in power and criminals in the seizure of power “You are the gang leader,” Festimi said in the Speaker’s office, saying that you had come home yourself together with six other members of parliament during the March unrest in order to return to power ON PAGE 4