Greek army troops are stationed in Vau i Dejës ON PAGE 2

27 Kurdish clandestine migrants caught at Kakavijë ON PAGE 2

Conflicts in the Ministry, at the patients’ expense ON PAGE 5

. In Shkodër and elsewhere, staunch anti-communists are being targeted. Police raid the home of the man who defended Tirana in March last year. The Nano government is opening the prisons to its direct political opponents, as well as to everyone it considers to be one. Those detained in the Milot ambush, who were arrested on the most absurd charges simply because they were with Azem Hajdari, were not even allowed to return to their homes, although the Court of Cassation had ruled that they should be placed under house arrest only. The government’s chief prison warden, Mithat Havari, has not allowed the Court of Cassation’s decision to be implemented, carrying through to the end the shameful Milot plot, which put the life of Democratic Party MP Azem Hajdari at its centre. Although the Court of Cassation’s decision was once again absurd, the detainees are almost all Catholic, known throughout Albania for their unwavering anti-communist convictions. Zef Gjoni was also among the first people arrested in Shkodër: one of the most steadfast anti-communists, a participant in the first rallies against the dictatorship and one of the figures who helped topple Stalin’s bust in 1990. But state terror has not stopped there; it has continued inside prison cells, where detainees have been subjected to the most inhumane torture. Fran Voci, arrested about two weeks ago, had his skull fractured and was left in such a state that his wife could barely recognize him. The same has happened to the other people detained in recent days. Meanwhile, the capital’s police raided the home of Sali Shehu on Thursday night. He is the former chief of Tirana’s Police Station No. 2, known as the city’s most determined defender during the difficult days of March last year. The police had an arrest warrant for Mr Shehu, but it was not carried out because he was not at home. It is not yet known what charge was used to justify the arrest warrant for Sali Shehu, but it must surely be something similar to the charges against those detained in Milot and Shkodër. What all these grave events have in common is that the aim is to target people whose anti-communist convictions are most resolute. Sources at the Prime Minister’s Office say that this was decided recently by Nano himself, who ordered harsh measures as warning examples, to put pressure on the Democrats and the opposition in general. It is becoming clearer by the day that this state, with the full force of its repressive apparatus, is being directed not against crime, but against political opponents, who are being arrested, subjected to raids and tortured in Nano’s prisons. A.GJ. Havari does not implement the Court of Cassation’s ruling. The detainees from Milot are once again being kept in cells. The court had ordered house arrest for the innocent people of Milot. Since the Court of Cassation issued its decision changing the arrest measure for the political prisoners, the case prosecutor and the prosecutor of the Court of Cassation should now have sent the record containing the operative part of the decision to the Prisons Directorate and Prison Unit 313 for their release. Until late last night, they were still in the cells of the prisons in Tirana and Durrës, while their relatives waited in vain for the court ruling to be implemented. This shocking story follows the numerous raids and arrests in Shkodër, which targeted only people known for their anti-communist convictions. Ceka’s police operation in Shkodër took place just hours after Majko and Gjinushi called for legal action at the headquarters of the Democratic Party in the anti-communist city over what had happened earlier. The Democratic Party’s Shkodër MPs reacted immediately to the police violence in their city, calling it a stab in the back by Majko and Gjinushi. Tirana Prison

ATSH: Around 50 Kosovar refugees in Kukës In a report by the state news agency, the first refugees from Kosovo have been invented. The announcement says, citing the chief of the police station, that 50 people entered Kukës and were sent on to the interior of the country. The report by Çupi’s state news agency aims at all costs to create the impression that there are refugees from Kosovo who, despite Serbian terror, do not want and have no intention of abandoning their homes. The fact that there are no refugees from Kosovo in Kukës is also acknowledged by one of Çeka’s subordinates, the chief of the police station in Kukës, who confirms to the state agency that those who have arrived in recent days are not refugees, but Kosovars making normal movements from their country. The measures taken by the local authorities in the northern districts to receive Kosovars who might leave their homes because of Serbian terror are comprehensive and include all the elements of refugee camps. But, in the meantime, so far—and it is thought that this will remain the case in the future as well—Kosovars will not easily abandon their homes. The ethnic cleansing of Kosovo is one of the aims of Serbian state terror, but Kosovars have no intention of doing so. The events in Drenica have definitively proved this. L.M.

Al Gor: The military option may also be implemented ON PAGE 6

Rugova: Independence is the best solution

The government’s privatization strategy: a strategy of corruption and plunder of national wealth The privatization process in Albania cannot continue without recognizing and respecting property rights and the state’s debt to former owners, former persecuted people, former kulaks, former flood victims, religious institutions, and holders of securities. Any act that disregards this debt, that neither recognizes nor repays it, will not be deemed lawful by the PD, which will soon be in power. ON PAGE 3

Seven opposition parliamentary parties meet to resolve the pyramid-scheme problem. The governing coalition and officials in the Nano cabinet refuse to sit down for interparty dialogue Opposition parties unanimously: Repayment of the money is a promise that must be kept. The creditors are VEFA’s sole owners. Lawyer Ngjela: The company’s properties will be sold for next to nothing. Creditors must be parties to the transparency process ON PAGE 5

The Constitutional Drafting Commission meeting fails once again. Godo brings the governing coalition to its knees Bashkimi për Demokraci has called for the commission’s composition, its way of working, and other procedures related to preparing the draft constitution to be reconsidered Balli Kombëtar leaves Godo’s Commission Selfo: Janullatos does not represent the church ON PAGE 3

Violence against the free media continues Violence against Radio Kontakt’s phone lines continues. For three weeks now, none of this radio station’s phones have been working because they were blocked on the order of Prime Minister Nano. Although requests and contacts with the telecom executives have been made, the phones remain blocked. The state is exerting general pressure on this radio station, using official media and the pro-government press as well. A month ago, the government ordered a police squad to raid the station’s premises, while one of Kontakt’s best-known journalists was taken to court by the Prime Minister. Stories about the radio station have been fabricated by the offices of the secret services, which have tried to undermine its credibility, while left-wing journalists, known as government soldiers, have spread false reports about the station’s funding. The daily violence against this independent radio station is part of the strategy to eliminate freedom of speech, a practice of the current neocommunist government.

Tirana Prison

ON PAGE 5