Who got rich from the Otranto shipwreck? Tomorrow in “RD” you will read: Who were the “angels” of the University of Vlora hunger strike and what was their mission? Tomorrow in “RD” you will read: Who were the “angels” of the University of Vlora hunger strike and what was their mission? Zani Çausi and Arben Malaj, the men who loaded the “Katri i Radës” ship. Where did the money stolen from the unfortunate people who were travelling toward death go? What were the first testimonies in Italy? Where was Gramoz Ruçi’s base of operations? SPECIAL REPORT ON PAGE 5

The government closes schools. Bashkimi për Demokraci stands alongside the protesting trade unionists Today, all of Albania is on strike and protesting against misery and poverty Today the real Albanian opposition will once again be in the squares and at protests alongside the strikers and trade unionists, who will demand the departure of the government of misery and poverty. The Democratic Party and, generally, “Bashkimi për Demokraci” will stand alongside the anger in the streets of Albanians, who by now have no illusions whatsoever about any possible improvement under the administration of Fatos Nano. The opposition will join its voice with that of the hundreds of thousands of Albanians who will protest against prices soaring sky-high, against government smuggling, against the deception over returning the money, and against the lack of prospects for getting the country out of the crisis. Teachers throughout Albania, the government’s most despised people, who tomorrow will abandon the schools, will have with them in GOVERNMENT! YOU HAVE 50,000 JOBS

The PD must become a powerful catalyst for toppling Nano’s regime and restoring democracy Berisha calls on Albanians to take part in mass anti-government protests ON PAGE 2

The Socialists mocked Meidani’s decree on the elections

The PD deputy attacks the government’s strategy for agriculture . Farmers on the verge of bankruptcy. ON PAGE 3

The Socialists mocked Meidani’s decree on the elections the agreement with the OSCE expected

The judicial system is finally being placed under the thumb of the executive with the approval of the law on the Court of Cassation. Accompanied by a scandalous explanatory memorandum, a draft law from the Council of Ministers had appeared on the desks of MPs and was suddenly withdrawn following the first reactions that came immediately after its publication. Meanwhile, the Government’s battle over the Court of Cassation is its final battle to turn the judicial system into an appendage of the executive and of the ruling party’s political machinery. Within two weeks, as confirmed by the Speaker of Parliament, this battle will end with the blow against the Court of Cassation. The government’s efforts to subjugate the judicial system have been, on a permanent basis, its most energetic and successful efforts during these 10 months of Nano’s government. The government’s political ambitions to place the courts and justice under political control were expressed by former Minister of State Security Gramoz Ruçi, an SP MP, who, in a statement immediately after the Government was formed and Meidani was appointed President, asked the latter “to convene the HJC and clean up the courts.” The State Security Chief’s instruction was put into practice by violating the High Council of Justice, changing the balance in favor of politics and bringing onto the HJC Fatos Nano’s defenders in his trials for ordinary crimes. Changes to the laws on the High Council of Justice, the Organization of Justice, the Constitutional Court, and, most recently, the draft law on the Court of Cassation have been accompanied by changes to the heads of judicial institutions at every level, causing turmoil and panic among judges. In parallel with the violations of judicial institutions, government officials from Skënder Gjinushi to Edi Rama, including Neritan Ceka and Gramoz Ruçi, have repeatedly threatened judges in gang-like language, terrorizing them psychologically and even physically, as happened to Constitutional Court President Rustem Gjata, who was dragged along by the police. The project of Thimio Kondi, with its so-called testing of judges, is also part of these efforts to destroy the judicial system once and for all. It refers to an article that has been criticized by the international community and vehemently opposed by Albanian jurists. This entire battle against the judicial system has not had, and cannot have, the independence of the judiciary as its aim. Judicial independence cannot be ensured by appointing a swindler and forger to head the Tirana Court, about whom Mr. Meidani has a personal telegram from a resident of the capital concerning his two-year [unclear] so that he could appoint him head of the Court of First Instance. The independence of the courts cannot be ensured by appointing a senior Socialist official to head the Constitutional Court, someone who in 1998 hanged a dissident and handed down hundreds of years of political imprisonment to various citizens. The independence of the courts cannot be ensured when the Council of Ministers takes it upon itself to dictate how the Court of Cassation should work and does not deign to ask its judges for their opinion, but instead summons them scandalously, accusing them collectively of corruption and lack of professionalism. The independence of the courts cannot be ensured by passing laws opposed by judges, specialized bodies within the justice system, and international organizations. All these actions are attempts to destroy the judicial system—and that is what has been achieved. The courts are not gaining independence; on the contrary, their subordination to politics and the Prime Minister’s vendetta, after he was convicted of corruption at all three levels of the courts, have turned them into courts like those before the 1990s. The battle begun over the Court of Cassation, which will end within these two weeks, brings to an end all the efforts begun in 1992 to establish an independent justice system in Albania. Shemsi PEPOSHI

The SP determined to ensure the theft of votes The Socialist Party continues to take control of all the mechanisms that would enable it to carry out its schemes for stealing votes in the local by-elections. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Local Government Bashkim Fino has appointed two or three Enverist secretaries to the Central Election Commission, arbitrarily dismissing the secretary who had worked at the commission since the parliamentary elections of May 26. Sources close to the commission said yesterday that Fino’s act is illegal and that he, as a representative of the government, has no right to make appointments or appoint secretaries without first being asked to do so by the CEC. Meanwhile, President Meidani did not have the courage yesterday to announce on television the appointment by decree of opposition representatives as members of the Central Election Commission. Last week, the President had declared that he would not accept DP representatives on the CEC, calling on other parties to nominate members from their own ranks. After intervention by international institutions, Meidani was forced to change the decree, meeting the demands of the DP and its allies. This is precisely why Meidani is ashamed to announce the decree on TV, having “licked what he spat out.” A.SH

100 days since the imprisonment of the former Minister of the Interior The former Minister of the Interior in the Government of National Reconciliation, Ali Kazazi, continues to be held in prison on laughable charges. He was detained on February 14, 1998, at the Milot Bridge, following the police ambush laid for the December Movement leader, Azem Hajdari, in an apparent attempt by the current state to incriminate the opposition. On February 17, an indefinite detention order was issued against him. Kazazi comes from a family with a well-known anti-communist tradition and is a member of the DP National Council.

HTYLE [partial] OKRACISE [partial]