The Albanian Parliament forgets Shkodër and dissolves the Constitutional Court. Another disgrace by the deputies and the government of the Kalashnikovs The former Austrian Chancellor concerned about the distortions made by the Albanian prime minister Former Chancellor Vranicki yesterday refuted Nano over a shameless statement in which he fundamentally distorted a telephone conversation the Albanian prime minister had had with the senior Austrian official. It is strange for any European politician to have to verify all his remarks in a second statement the day after making a declaration about an event. This phenomenon has recurred after all the telephone conversations the Albanian prime minister has had with various politicians. In a letter to Berisha, the former Austrian chancellor says many things, but none of the things repeated by Nano’s heralds in the Albanian media and the left-wing press. The subtext of this letter is Vranicki’s human compassion for the Albanian prime minister, who has to lie so much because of his shortcomings. Immediately after the prime minister’s statement, in which he had put Neritan Ceka’s poor and shameless vocabulary into Vranicki’s mouth, the DP naturally sought clarification from his office in Vienna. This was not so much in the DP’s interest as out of respect that Albanians should have for people who, in their own way, are intellectuals—and, more importantly, for moral reasons. Since the DP had complained about the distortions, the prime minister’s press office had no right to make such a comment. Vranicki himself would have had no reason to write the letter to Berisha the day after his telephone call with Nano if the latter had not lied. The lie was so great and damaging that the former Austrian chancellor considered it very appropriate to write a very long letter to Berisha, several times longer in words than the conversation with Nano itself. Vranicki begins his letter to Berisha with the words that he has no right to blame anyone specifically for what happened in Shkodër. There is, therefore, a fundamental difference from what Nano declared the previous evening. In several other paragraphs, too, Vranicki completely refutes Nano’s statements, expressing his regard for both Berisha and the DP. Meanwhile, he repeats his request to be admitted to Parliament, something that once again does not ... The security-service men burned Shkodër

Today at the Appeals Court, the trial of 6 prisoners held for political reasons Yesterday, the police did not allow the lawyers of 6 people detained for political reasons to meet their clients in Durrës. The lawyers went to Durrës yesterday to meet their clients, but the police authorities did not allow them to contact the people they are defending. Six of those detained for political reasons will appear today before the Court of Appeal for a reassessment of their security measures, following the General Prosecutor’s Office’s appeal against the decision of the Court of First Instance. One of the lawyers defending the political detainees expressed great concern yesterday about this flagrant violation of the law by the police. He said: “This is a flagrant violation of the law, all the more so because the security measure is also to be reassessed in the Court of Appeal on Wednesday.” The lawyer said that, on the day before the trial, being prevented from meeting his clients shows that the fabricated and unfounded charges in their clients’ case files have been prepared in advance for a predetermined ruling, reached without a legal basis but under other influences. Meanwhile, prosecution sources say that the charges in the files of all 14 detainees have been expanded. They are now also accused in connection with the events in Shkodër and all the events that have taken place in the north of the country. It is also reported that the group of fourteen will be joined by Azem Hajdari’s 13-year-old [sic], under the same charges. It is not known whether a search notice and arrest warrant have been issued for the 13-year-old. The police justify the absurd prevention of yesterday’s meeting between the lawyers and their clients by saying that they are on high alert, thereby showing how irresponsible and political the Albanian police institution is, having become the political police of Fatos Nano and Neritan Ceka. The fate of those detained for political reasons is unknown, while their lawyers’ persistence has been in vain. Today at 9:00, the political judicial farce against 6 of those detained for political reasons, members and activists of the DP, begins at the Court of Appeal.

“I am astonished that a police station with 800 officers surrendered to 30 armed men” “There can be no question of any participation by people from Malësia in the events in Shkodër,” Deputy Minister and Police Director Sokol Bare told reporters in Shkodër, denying the statement made by Minister Ceka on Sunday evening. “The gang that attacked the police station was no larger than 80 people, including the released prisoners, most of whom had been arrested for crimes,” Mr Bare said, expressing his astonishment that a police station with a force of 800 officers, on Alert Level No. 1, could surrender in less than 10 minutes. After declaring that everything was under control following the arrival of the special forces in Shkodër, Bare did not answer a question about the fighting at 22:00 on Monday in the “Parrucë” and “Perash” neighborhoods. He refused to comment on Prefect Laçaj’s statements on local radio, where Laçaj said he had twice asked the Republic’s Defense Council for help but had received no answer, prompting him to ask the people of Shkodër themselves to protect their city. The Deputy Minister ended his meeting with reporters by saying that he would also detain the police officers who had abandoned the police station without resistance, calling them responsible for these events as well for abandoning their duty.

The chairman of the DP, on the Troika’s statement in their own way, have shown concern for Albania. As happens with genuine Europeans, Vranicki was astonished by the rebel prime minister’s pronouncements and was compelled to write a long letter, trusting that Fatos Nano would be unable to construct further sentences based on this abuse. But last night TV broadcast a comment before the letter was read, a letter that had finally also been translated correctly by Nano’s advisers. The people who wrote the letters of the foreigners in Shkodër and last night once again repeated that evil, blaming someone fundamental difference from what Nano declared in a previous interview. he repeats his request to enter Parliament, something very familiar to the DP and never kept secret by Berisha or by either the state or independent media. Ultimately, it is difficult to trust a telephone conversation with the Albanian prime minister. He has been refuted several times. We cannot be so sure that such a voice comes to the prime minister from circles of the most serious kind, which he has had occasion to frequent. S.N.

The prime minister seeks to imprison free speech The government is taking “Kontakt” radio journalist Vjollca Vokshi to court. Sources close to the prime minister told “RD” that Nano ordered the lawsuit against the well-known journalist and that the request has now reached the prosecutor’s office. According to the source, the journalist is accused of inaccuracies in her broadcast coverage of the events in Shkodër. The government’s lawsuit against Vokshi, ordered by Fatos Nano, comes after “Kontakt” radio was raided last Sunday night by a group of police officers and associates who sought to arrest its director, Alfons Zeneli. The “Kontakt” newsroom was subjected to violence on the most absurd pretext in the world: that it had broadcast the news about the unrest in Shkodër. This whole affair looks like the prime minister’s primitive retaliation against freedom of speech, with a well-known female journalist chosen as the target. At a time when government officials and the government press are still celebrating the repeal of the old press law, describing it as a great victory for freedom of speech, many opposition journalists have been killed, wounded, assaulted, and taken to court. The current government has adopted for newspapers the same strategy of eliminating its political opponent that it has also applied to the leaders and activists of the Democratic Party.

The government makes history in its campaign against the opposition. In addition to violence, terror, arrests and threats against many Democratic Party leaders and activists, Prime Minister Nano has also ordered the opposition’s cars to be blocked. Over the past four days, Ceka’s police forces have blocked and impounded five cars belonging to leading Democratic Party figures, on the most absurd of charges. The vehicles of Ridsan Bode, Azem Hajdari, Leonard Demi, Fatos Beja and Rexhep Karapici are now in police hands, following an order from above intended to cripple the opposition’s activities as much as possible. In addition to the numerous police checks, which are mostly provocations, Democratic Party leaders are also forced to brace for their cars to be blocked—something that could happen only on another order from Nano, who would have to revoke the first one.

Kondi shuts down creditors’ associations VEFA board on hunger strike They demand the return of their money but are driven outside the law. 15 creditors and members of the new board barricade themselves inside the company headquarters ON PAGE 6

The former Austrian chancellor did not speak either of a connection between the DP and the events in Shkodra, or of revenge by the DP and Berisha Office of Vranicki: “Nano falsified the words of the former Austrian chancellor” Former Austrian Chancellor Franc Vranicki yesterday refuted, in an official statement, the disinformation issued by Prime Minister Nano’s office. In a letter dated 24 February, written on behalf of Dr. Prof. Vranicki, Dr. Aurel Saupe, chief of the office of former Chancellor Vranicki, writes to the chairman of the PDSH, Mr. Genc Pollo, that the words attributed to former Chancellor Vranicki in a press release from Prime Minister Nano’s office dated 23 February—that “the DP and Berisha will not be given any opportunity for revenge”—are entirely false. This kind of misrepresentation is inconsistent with Dr. Vranicki’s manner of expression and style. “We categorically reject the phrase ‘opportunity for revenge’ as a falsifying interpretation,” the letter from the chief of former Chancellor Vranicki’s office states. “Furthermore, former Chancellor Vranicki has in no way insinuated any connection between the Democratic Party and the acts of criminal violence in Shkodra or elsewhere in Albania,” his chief of office, Dr. Saupe, makes clear. Although this letter was delivered to the Prime Minister’s office, it was not made public last night by state television. Nano’s office remained silent, swallowing yet another humiliation as Nano was denounced before domestic and international public opinion as an ordinary fraudster. Democratic Party chairman Sali Berisha, commenting on Vranicki’s latest statement, called the former Austrian chancellor a man who considers the current prime minister an ordinary fraudster from whom one can expect nothing else. Berisha recalled that Nano’s chancellor had, as he put it, been exposed at every level of the Albanian justice system as a fraudster over graffiti and international aid. Nano’s latest deceptions were of an entirely different kind; “The Austrian chancellor, Vranicki, refutes [the claims] of the DP, demonstrating that Nano remains an incorrigible fraudster.” “What can one expect from such a prime minister, other than deception?” Berisha said. The document of the letter from the office of the former Austrian chancellor: Dr. Aurel Saupe, Büro Bundeskanzler a.D., Dr. Franz Vranitzky. Vienna, 24.2.1998. Dear Mr. Secretary General! With many thanks for your letter ... Kind regards, Aurel Saupe. To Mr. Secretary General Genc Pollo.

Today, 25.02.1998, at 12:00, in “Skënderbej” Square, the Union for Democracy, the anti-communist association of former political prisoners, the Youth Forums, the Democratic Women’s League, and the Independent Miners’ Union are organizing a peaceful protest rally: Against the terror and political imprisonment being inflicted on the opposition Against the deception and extreme poverty being brought about by the coalition government Against the government’s failure to index the salaries of all budget-sector employees and pensioners. Against the censorship and great deception the government is perpetrating against the Albanian people through the “telepur”. Citizens of Tirana Everyone to “Skënderbej” Square in defense of democracy and against the restoration of neocommunism. UNION FOR DEMOCRACY