The mother of the Vlora gang leader is received with honors in the office of the Prosecutor General “ Nano and Malaj sold Zani” “If they do not release my son, I will bring out the other tapes my daughter has kept, which also feature the government leaders who have now turned their backs on us” ON PAGE 4

The jurists’ hunger strike enters its 12th day. Yesterday, former persecuted people also went on strike Representatives of the British Helsinki Group meet with the judges on hunger strike

Around 1,000 employees of State Security—officials and collaborators of the terrifying weapon of the communist dictatorship—have been installed in the state administration. The repeal by the Parliament elected in the irregular elections of 29 June of two clauses of Article 2, which legally opens the way for installing the most criminalized contingent of Albanian society in the state administration at every level, constitutes the most serious threat to the fate of Albanian democracy. The complete purge of the state administration, expected to be carried out partly through the elimination of 15,000 jobs, while every day former State Security agents, formerly criminal individuals, former prosecutors and judges in political trials, former personnel chiefs, former Party secretaries, former heads of cooperatives, smugglers and criminals from these past five years take over the administration, is a real tragedy for the future of the Albanian state. A cursory look today at the “meritocratic” people in the Socialist Government’s administration reveals eight police station chiefs with criminal investigations under way who are wanted by the police! Dozens of Guard employees wanted as common criminals, thousands of other swindlers who have taken over the ministries, and people who built pyramid schemes who have taken over Albanian finance. This kind of primitive barbarian meritocracy has set a deeply distressing example for Albanian and foreign public opinion: when the police take you from the hospital and execute you after publicly beating you, when a police station chief kills a police officer in a government office, when a police station chief gets into a fistfight with his subordinates at work, or when a minister’s driver insults, curses and threatens another government minister. This kind of meritocracy, fit for 1945, when the mountain governments occupied the capital bringing their cows along with them, is the clearest illustration of what has been installed in the country. Albania is a member country of the Council of Europe, whose documents clearly state that people who were criminally involved during the communist dictatorship, and secret-police personnel who directed policies aimed at violating civil rights, cannot work in democratic institutions, especially in law enforcement, the army and the secret services. But unfortunately, Nano’s Government has long since excluded the country from the Council of Europe and the Western community. The repeal of two clauses of Article 2 of the law on the Verification of Officials and the Purity of Figures merely confirms this. The return of State Security personnel to law enforcement, the police, the army and the secret service; people involved in deportations and internments to the civil administration; unscrupulous lawyers and swindlers to the heads of courts and prosecutors’ offices; and pyramid-scheme builders to the top of the financial system completes the picture of the state administration of the years of the communist dictatorship. Meanwhile, while legal obstacles to people from the communist dictatorship are being removed on one front, legal obstacles to purging the administration of people from the dictatorship years are being erected on another. One coincidence after another in the justice system—the law is only the beginning. Poverty and economic tyranny have returned to Albania. The laws and people of the dictatorship have now returned to Albania. Only its implementation remains, if the Albanians allow it for the rest of their lives.

Shvimer: Political killings in Albania must stop. Statement by the Austrian People’s Party ON PAGE 3

SHIK agents have been sent to all the recent DP meetings. Klosi himself was in Kavajë one day before the DP meeting in that city ON PAGE 3

The Socialist Prime Minister deceives the victims of the pyramid schemes once again. The government’s decision to “clean up” brings back into effect the orders of the Manush Myftiu Commission If they want to survive, they will have to take a long-term state loan at low interest; they will be obliged to buy homes in the former centers of the working class and cooperative peasantry, in the dictatorship’s former internment camps ON PAGE 5

The grave situation in the country alarms Europe The high-level Council of Europe delegation will also meet with the main leaders of the DP ON PAGE 3

Unstable conditions in the foreign-exchange market For six months now, the lek has been losing and regaining its value, thereby destroying the domestic economy and driving prices up ON PAGE 5

Judges defend the independence of the judiciary ON PAGE 3

Tomorrow, a spectacular show at the Durrës Sports Palace After the match, on stage: Projekti Jon, Aurela Gaçe, Ledina Çelo and Elsa Lila, arriving exclusively from Italy. Ticket proceeds will go to the city’s children’s home Representatives of Albanian artists and journalists will face off on Sunday at the Durrës Sports Palace in a volleyball match accompanied by a spectacular show featuring the country’s best-known singers. The match will take place at 17:00 at the Durrës Sports Palace, while players from both teams have been training for two days. According to preliminary information, the artists’ team includes Ardit Gjebrea, Aleksandër Çojka, Agron Lakaj, Mirus Kabaši and Përrall Mazaj, while among the journalists are Blendi Fejzi and Bushat, Marlin Leka, Meri Baza and Gëzim Sinemati. The artists’ team will be coached by Kreshnik Tarjani, while Leonard Tase will lead the journalists. Two of Albania’s volleyball stars, Ela Tase and Mimoza Ibrahim, will also be on hand to assist the teams. The contest is expected to be highly competitive and will be accompanied by songs performed by the well-known Projekti Jon, Aurela, Çeço, Ledina Çelo and Sprit Voice, as well as Elsa Lila, the star of the two children’s song festivals on Radio-Television, who will come from Italy especially for this event. The organizers of the show told the newspaper “Rilindja Demokratike” yesterday that all ticket proceeds will go to the Durrës city children’s home, as they conceive of the show as an act of charity. T.GJ.

Explosions shake the city. Police powerless to respond

On Sunday, 18 January, at 11:00, a meeting of the National Council of the Youth Forum of the DP of Albania will be held at the DP of Albania headquarters in Tirana. The district chairs and secretaries of the Youth Forum of the DP of Albania and members of its National Council are invited to attend. Agenda: 1) Convening the 5th National Congress of the Youth Forum of the DP of Albania. The Executive Board of the Youth Forum of the DP of Albania