Who the devils were, again today in “RD” “RD” is again 12 pages today After the publication of the first part of the Black File on Vlora, thousands of requests have reached the newspaper from citizens who were unable to obtain Sunday’s issue. Feeling a duty toward its growing readership, the editorial office decided to reprint the first part of the Black File on Vlora, together with the second part.

Those responsible for the Otranto tragedy, as well as those responsible for the crimes in Vlora The history of the rebellion, from Fatos Nano to Zani Çausi This chilling photograph, depicting a shocking moment during last year’s unrest in Vlora, is being published for the first time and was obtained from the foreign press. A Special Forces police officer, brutally mutilated, in the hands of three rebels, who are preparing to throw him onto the flames and burn him alive. Who were these barbarians, and who was commanding them? SPECIAL FEATURE ON PAGES 6–7

Political murder. Here are the facts The series of crimes to eliminate the opposition continues ON PAGE 3 The PD National Council held its meeting. The PD is determined to come to power not through rebellion, but through new, free and fair elections We will win

. ON PAGE 2

By Lazër STANI Most Albanians today consider their account with the left-wing coalition government—or, more precisely, with the socialist government—closed. And the months of rule by the so-called left-wing coalition have been enough to show Albanians that they must finally break with the revolutionaries. They exploit the misfortune and suffering of Albanian citizens, shocked by the pyramid-scheme phenomenon; those who organized the armed rebellion, the destruction of the army; those who organized the burning and destruction of state institutions; those who organized the gangs and banditry; those who violated every human and humanitarian value could be nothing but a misfortune for Albanians. The months that followed June 29 proved this completely. During these ten months, Albanians were unable to mark a single bright day on their calendar. In just two months, the Socialists turned Albania into a country of its own [unclear], a country of crime, corruption, despair and insecurity. They have not kept a single promise they had made in the preceding months. The Socialists were unable to keep their promises. They promised to return one hundred percent of the money citizens had lost in the pyramid schemes, but during their months in government even the one hundred million dollars deposited by Albanian citizens vanished like salt in water. They promised law and order, but brought [unclear], crime and dreadful insecurity; they promised true democracy, but violated all the values of democracy and democratic institutions. Fatos Nano’s philosophy of governance was conceived and implemented as a philosophy of dismantling, a philosophy of ruin. During the months of socialist rule, the independence of institutions was eliminated, justice and its untouchable institutions were violated, and everything built through great effort and struggle during the first five years of free democratic society was destroyed. The Socialists made up for their promise to create two hundred thousand new jobs by dismissing and putting out on the street thousands of qualified employees and specialists who had carried out the reform and institutionalization of the democratic process in Albania. They replaced the promise of prosperity and abundance with the formula “Thanas, tighten your belt”; they replaced the promise of investment and integration with the slogan “Save, save, save” and a pitiful trip to Thessaloniki to plead with Greek businessmen over the “mercukun” of the Albanian economy. So, I say that the [unclear], ten months of socialist rule, were ten months of socialist reckoning, ten months of shattered hopes and despair. Meanwhile, these ten months were enough not only for the government to close its account with the Albanians, but also for the Albanians to close their account with their bad choice, to finally break with the precedent of the revolutionaries and with the revolutionaries themselves, for whom the Albanian nation has paid a heavy price in this century. The rapid growth of the Democratic Party in just ten months and its transformation into the country’s leading political force is the best proof of this. The other revolutionaries have no doubt about this [unclear] either; they have begun cursing Nano and his government in the newspapers, convinced that Albanian voters will never again experiment with their vote, because these ten months have at least made one thing clearer: irresponsibility, even by a single vote, means irresponsibility with families’ bread; it means irresponsibility with their lives and security. With this awareness, which has fortunately come quickly, the Socialists’ account with the Albanians will be definitively closed. And here begins the political responsibility of today’s opposition, in which Albanians have now placed their hope and trust. The moment and the responsibility are historic. The democratic opposition must prepare itself to the utmost for this, because the burden of history is heavy, but not impossible to bear. There is no other way.

Berisha congratulates His Holiness Pope John Paul II On the occasion of your 78th birthday, I have the honor and pleasure of sending you, a great friend of Albania and the Albanian nation, my very best wishes for good health and a long life. Your Holiness, The nations that suffered under communism, and among them the Albanians above all, are and will forever be grateful to you for your extremely important contribution to their liberation from one of the most totalitarian systems humanity has known in its history. I wish to take this opportunity to confirm once again that we will be forever grateful to you for the open and unequivocal support you gave to the democratic forces in overthrowing communism, and that you currently give them in defense of the values of democracy, which today are more threatened than ever in Albania.

Berisha meets European parliamentarian PD Chairman Berisha received Viktor Ruffy yesterday, together with the Swiss national councillor, a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and the Ambassador of the Swiss Confederation in Tirana, Thomas Feller. National Councillor Viktor Ruffy presented Mr Berisha with the contents of the “Political Workshop on Strengthening Democracy in Albania,” which is expected to be organized with Albanian representatives of the main political parties, civil society associations, and experts in constitutional affairs, economics and the media, in Lienberg, Switzerland, from 4–9 July 1998. Berisha welcomed National Councillor Ruffy’s initiative and stressed that, despite the polarization of Albanian politics, political values, the violation of institutions, government corruption, etc., such an initiative is of great interest, especially to young Albanian politicians. The meeting was also attended by PD deputy chairman Genc Pollo.

PS accuses the Ministry of the Interior A citizen must pay 30,000 new lekë for a passport for travel abroad. That is the price announced by the PS Group in parliament on behalf of the PS group. During an interpretation of testimonies with two Socialist MPs, Perikli Teta responded to voters about passports. Gimoz Ruçi, who spoke on behalf of the PS group and threatened [wording unclear in source], accused directors at the Ministry of the Interior of corruption and of selling passports for as much as 30,000 new lekë. Ruçi said there had been a great deal of fuss over passports during PS rule and also presented the relevant figures. The accusations of corruption and abuse involving passports for travel abroad are directed squarely at the Ministry of the Interior, particularly Teta and Neritan Ceka, who do not belong to Ruçi’s party. The fact that Ruçi accuses Teta on behalf of the PS suggests prior preparation for candidate Teta to be removed from office at a time when Nano allegedly considers them irresponsible even for a routine matter. L.M.

Bano: The Rescue Committee carried out the March decision The Democratic Party deputy for the district of Lushnjë, Ilir Bano, denounced yesterday the murder of former SHIK chief Bashkim Shkurti as a political assassination. In a statement made public in parliament, the PD deputy denounced Shkurti’s murder as an act of revenge and the execution of a decision by communist-mafia gangs and committees, because during the months of the rebellion the victim had refused criminal orders to blow up the Rogozhina Bridge as a symbol of the partition of Albania—something that was also the ultimate aim of the civil war provoked by the left. Referring to the facts and circumstances surrounding the murder of the senior SHIK official, Bano denounced the political establishment’s indifference toward apprehending and investigating its perpetrators, as well as the celebration [source wording unclear] by senior police and SHIK officials in Divjakë, with bursts of automatic gunfire and machine-gun fire and explosions. Bano condemned the government’s indifference in response to a plea from a woman from Lushnjë to send helicopters to transport the gravely wounded Shkurti. The murder of teacher and colonel Bashkim Shkurti calls on all decent and patriotic people to stop the hand of the murderers of political crime, the PD deputy said. Bano accused law-enforcement chiefs who, despite the flourishing of crime in the city, continue to maintain their income streams from smuggling, passport sales and the trafficking of people by speedboat.