The hunger strikers’ health is deteriorating. Former persecuted people warn the government Reconciliation, the preferred solution for Albanians and for the International Community, is currently only a written and forgotten notion. Albanians have gone back at least eight years, to a time when different strata of the population were antagonistic as a result of the class struggle waged by the communists. Reconciliation, the preferred solution for Albanians and for the International Community, is currently only a written and forgotten notion. Albanians have gone back at least eight years, to a time when different strata of the population were antagonistic as a result of the class struggle waged by the communists ON PAGE 2

The Prime Minister takes revenge for the insult Shkodrans directed at him and the President when the latter sneaked into the city of the April 2 massacre last month ON PAGE 4 The state of primitive revenge The government installed by Fatos Nano is trying to re-establish the rule that was removed in Shkodra, in revenge for the city’s unwavering anti-communist resistance and the insulting reception Shkodrans gave the Prime Minister last month. Tension has reached high levels in the stronghold of democracy, following the disgraceful game played by Fatos Nano and Nertan Ceka, which began with the appointment to head the city’s security forces of a discredited figure such as Mithat Havari. According to information from Shkodra, the problems began after the irresponsible statements of Nano’s newly appointed police chief, who, as soon as he arrived in Shkodra, began to swagger, provoking the city’s relative calm. A few weeks earlier, he had made himself ridiculous in front of Albanians when, in Berat, several civilians, including women, attacked the police station he ran, leaving his men to be arrested. The incident took place only 28 hours after Police Chief Havari had declared on television that, since his arrival, he had brought Berat under control, and that not only were there no longer any murders there, but thefts had also become rare. Meanwhile, the situation became much more tense with the arrival in Shkodra of special forces from Tirana and the appointment of the Director General of Police himself, Sokol Barë, as the city’s acting police chief. Known as a State Security specialist, he has tried to impose a measure of order, while reports from Shkodra indicate that Havari has gone into hiding in the city. The Ministry of the Interior insisted that Havari remain director of Shkodra police, even though the latter does not dare go to his office. All these manoeuvres, which have created a climate of conflict in Shkodra, show that Prime Minister Nano is taking the most primitive form of revenge against the city, which spat at him and the President during their visit last month, when they sneaked into the Albanian national city. After seven months in power, Fatos Nano is trying to take revenge also for the roughly seven years during which he did not dare go to Shkodra because of the hostility he and his party faced there after the April 2 massacre. In parallel with Shkodra, which, according to a government plan, risks being plunged into a situation beyond control, Fatos Nano’s political revenge is spreading through every level of today’s administration. Blerim Çela, the former head of the State Audit, is being threatened with imprisonment on the banal charge of an alleged absence of some documents in his department. Çela, known as the first person to expose the Italian oil scandal, in which Prime Minister Fatos Nano was also implicated, risks ending up in jail because he had sent to the prosecutor’s office the file on Fatos Nano’s crime: he had abused the hunger of Albanians by stealing aid together with Luanen Kompanin. The same thing happened to Prëlë Martina and Ganim Gjonaj, whose careers were cut short by the Prime Minister’s court of primitive revenge because, as judges, they had applied the law to punish Dukët. It seems that now it is Avni Shehu’s turn, the only senior judge who has not yet been touched by Nano’s personal and primitive revenge.

High-level Council of Europe delegation meets with DP leaders. A technical government and new elections are called for Regarding the drafting of the constitution, the DP supports it and we are ready to offer our consensus on the principles, while asking for their consensus on the procedures, Berisha told the high-ranking representatives of the Council of Europe. Regarding the drafting of the constitution, the DP supports it and we are ready to offer our consensus on the principles, while asking for their consensus on the procedures, Berisha told the high-ranking representatives of the Council of Europe Cooperation between Albania and the Council of Europe has been and remains crucial, DP Chairman Sali Berisha declared yesterday during a meeting with a high-level Council of Europe delegation. Berisha was accompanied by the Secretary General. Mr. Berisha also acquainted those present with the extremely serious economic situation and the massive smuggling in which even the highest-ranking government officials are involved. Regarding law and order and the state of security in the country, Berisha stressed that since 29 June 1997 to date, more than 680 citizens have been killed in our country. Armed gangs and masked people roam freely and commit criminal acts everywhere; the former State Security has returned to the police and the Intelligence Service, and the police commissioners are people with criminal backgrounds. The Council of Europe delegation was headed by Ambassador Johanes Dohmes, chair of the Committee of Ministers’ Deputies. Its members included Mr. Gronberk, chairman of GREL, Mr. Furrer, Political Director of the Council of Europe, and Mr. Masse, representative of the CDM. Ambassador Dohmes said: “We are here to examine ways for Albania to cooperate with the Council of Europe and to learn about the situation in the country.” Mr. Berisha briefed the European dignitaries on the grave and confrontational situation in our country and highlighted the major efforts being made by the current government majority to usurp the independence of the justice system and bring other important state institutions under its control. Through snap parliamentary sessions, the majority has systematically violated constitutional and institutional laws. To defend them, a group of lawyers is now on the sixteenth day of a hunger strike, seriously risking their lives. To politically intimidate the opposition, today’s rulers have created the Ngjela parliamentary commission, which has assumed judicial powers. Albania and its citizens are in danger and, under these circumstances, the Democratic Party believes and has called for the formation of a technical government and for new elections to be held as soon as possible. Regarding the drafting of the constitution, Mr. Berisha continued, we support it and asking for their consensus on the procedures; to unblock the process, we have invited the political forces to a round table to decide how the Constitution should be drafted and approved. The Council of Europe representatives listened with interest to the Democratic Party chairman’s assessment and confirmed that they were in Albania to hear all sides, since the Council of Europe has the goodwill to help and lead the country out of the crisis. In this context, a high-level delegation from the Council of Europe and the European Parliament will visit Albania this week.

Minarolli: The governing coalition is a collection of clubs The governing coalition is a collection of clubs gathered around the PS that have no electorate at all. This is what the PD’s Secretary for Public Relations said last night in response to a statement by PSD Chairman Skënder Gjinushi, made in Gjirokastër, in which he said that if the coalition falls, anarchy will engulf the country. Gjinushi’s statement is intended to revive a sense of fear, Minarolli said, and to do so among citizens who were held hostage and terrorized during the months of rebellion. People now understand clearly who caused this rebellion and that it was carried out. Minarolli said that the PD distances itself from these blackmailing threats, which encourage the activities of criminal gangs and destabilize the situation in the south. Talking about the destabilization of Albanians, the PD secretary said, is a trick, a misunderstanding and an effort that can only be carried out when their entire country is broken apart. The only path that cannot cause any destabilization is a technical government that enjoys the confidence of all the country’s main political forces and that leads to new elections. This is what the Albanian people will choose; anything else leads the country to destabilization. On the contrary, the course currently being pursued by the incumbent government—holding on to power by force and through organized crime—keeps the country destabilized, Minarolli said.

Berisha meets with the EC delegation. Photo: Albes Fusha

On Thursday, the troika of European parliaments arrives in Tirana

“Union for Democracy” publishes an alternative for an independent justice system Union for Democracy invites the governing majority to engage in concrete cooperation. The opposition is calling for an independent justice system ON PAGE 3

Strong accusations by the chairman of the Verification Commission: Nano is forcing me to resign Specialists were not consulted at all about the amendments to the law on vetting public figures ON PAGE 3