Automatic gunfire hits the homes of the village of Letaj in Has ON PAGE 4

Former SP chairman Balla and director Bogdani gobble up millions ON PAGE 5

Social Insurance now also has a say in licenses for private businesses ON PAGE 5

The gang that killed 3 police officers and 4 civilians in Posh Një is wiped out. Special forces from Tirana come to the aid of the local police ON PAGE 3 The bandits had shot at witnesses who saw the robbery and then at the police roadblock. Four wounded, including an 8-month-old child ON PAGE 4

Italian Parliamentary Committee on the Schengen Agreement disappointed by the Tirana government “It is not an ‘anti-gomon’ law in the true sense ”

Bloody clash in the Çole neighborhood of Vlorë. Police open fire on the wanted man The victim is a former member of the Vlorë gang boss’s gang and Gjinushi’s lead escort during the most recent election campaign Bloody clash in the Çole neighborhood of Vlorë. Police open fire on the wanted man Zani’s right-hand man killed The victim is a former member of the Vlorë gang boss’s gang and Gjinushi’s lead escort during the most recent election campaign One of the best-known members of Zani Çaushi’s gang was killed yesterday in Vlorë, following a clash with police forces. Renato Sadiku, rumored to be the right-hand man of the Vlorë gang boss, was killed after volleys of gunfire were unleashed against him by law enforcement forces. The incident took place yesterday afternoon in the Çole neighborhood of the city, where, according to reports, a battle took place between police forces and a man who was wanted. The victim was then taken to the city hospital morgue by the police officers who took part in the operation. In addition to being one of the members of Zani Çaushi’s gang, Renato Sadiku was also known as Skënder Gjinushi’s escort during the most recent election campaign, in 1997. Sources from Vlorë said that after the incident the situation in the city was tense, perhaps also because of reports about the Berat massacre. A citizen told “RD” that the streets of Vlorë were deserted, while contradictory reports about the battle in the Çole neighborhood were circulating. The armed clash in Vlorë took place at almost the same time as the stages of the terrible massacre were unfolding in Berat, where 10 people lost their lives, including three police officers.

Italian MPs discuss issues of public order and insecurity in Albania with Berisha Fabio Evangjelisti: “In Albania we found a very complex problem of public order; we will inform the Italian government about this” ON PAGE 3

“It is not an ‘anti-gomon’ law in the true sense of the word, and for this reason we have felt somewhat deceived by this law and by the people who presented it to us” in the true sense of the word, and for this reason we have felt somewhat deceived by this law and by the people who presented it to us” ON PAGE 3

Forty deputies of the Italian opposition sign the petition for the release of political prisoners in Albania. Interview with the Chairman of the PD Parliamentary Group, Genc Pollo, about the visit to Italy Pollo: “The Pole of Freedom states that Kosovo’s status should be determined in accordance with the will of the people of Kosovo” ON PAGE 2

Today, 175 days since the murder of the December Leader Every day that passes since the murder of Azem Hajdari, the symbol of democracy and pluralism, proves the involvement of Fatos Nano’s government and his wealthy associates in the crime that shook the entire Albanian world. The former-communist governments, which are free and have not been brought to justice, and the criminals who took the December Leader’s life show Albanians that they have been and remain on the side of the killers, who have names and identities but are untouched by the law. Democracy and all Albanians who loved and honored Azem Hajdari cannot tolerate this fact under any circumstances. The government must either arrest and disarm the criminals and bring them before justice, or publicly declare that it itself carried out the murder of Azem Hajdari.

The Chairman of the National Alliance speaks about Kosovo, Italian economic interests in Serbia, and the statement by the Albanian Interior Minister “It would be good if I could say that the Albanian Interior Minister’s statement, at best, was a funny joke, while the bad side of it is that stupidity knows no bounds” ON PAGE 2

Cement workers in Vlorë begin an indefinite strike Under the agreement between the union and the government, wages were to be paid regularly and funding was to be provided to resume production, but the government officials’ cement smuggling has brought everything to a standstill ON PAGE 5

When criminals fight, the state plays referee Zani Çaushi’s gang got into a fierce fight in the prison premises on Wednesday afternoon ... ON PAGE 4

KORÇË - Unknown persons threw a hand grenade at the home of a judge of the Court of First Instance in the city of Korçë on Wednesday evening. Sources from the Korçë police report that, at around 20:00 on Wednesday, some people... ON PAGE 4

Representatives of drama companies from all over Albania gathered yesterday at the National Theatre Actors: “We must not give the authorities time to breathe, because otherwise they will take our breath away. We must demand this with protests in squares and boulevards, because people will support us”... ON PAGE 5

. The Minister of Public Order, Petro Koçi, considered it appropriate yesterday, on the occasion of the killing of seven completely innocent Albanian citizens, to praise his work at the head of the police department. With such naivety, shamelessness and hypocrisy, the chief Albanian police officer said that the number of crimes had fallen and public order had improved throughout the country. Yesterday, throughout the day, a group of three criminals killed three uniformed police officers as well as four other citizens, while it has still not been disclosed how many people were wounded. The police, acting with determination, managed to eliminate the criminal group, but at a great cost. This is good news, but it is very difficult for it to remain so after the crimes committed by these criminals. Their killing is not an indication that crime has fallen, but that crime is raising its head, becoming stronger and bolder, to the point of firing without hesitation even at officers in blue uniforms. When seven citizens are killed, there is no room for kind words about public order in Albania. This is a massacre, and the person responsible for it is precisely the Minister of Public Order, not the people, who, according to the minister, have become an incubator of criminals, giving birth to and raising criminal groups like these. This is the same people who were here three years ago, and seven years ago. Regimes and governments have changed, but the people are still the same. A gang can commit such a monstrous crime only after banditry in Albania has been encouraged day after day, only after gangs have been given a peaceful environment in which to operate, and finally after a government of gangs has been created within the state, as is the case today. Perhaps yesterday’s killers never had any connection with anyone in politics, but they have seen and heard other bandits, just as bloodthirsty as themselves, mention ministers’ names in conversations and flaunt their alliances with government officials; they have seen current ministers among the Kalashnikovs in March ’97. This is no small matter. It is precisely a laboratory, a cell of crime—a laboratory that so thoroughly distorted the Minister of the Interior that he shifted the blame onto his colleagues, the people who are being killed. The logic of the Minister of the Interior is the logic of today’s state. Their lack of compassion for people who have nowhere under heaven to find warmth, their desire for power and their personal attacks at the people’s expense have brought together the gunmen and all their accomplices. The Minister of the Interior does not even see yesterday’s massacre—a case worthy of a police inquiry in The Hague, let alone of the person who heads the state police. The three criminals were killed yesterday. But who will stop the hundreds of others who kill and are not caught, who kill and disappear, who kill and are protected by their criminal colleagues within the police, in their determination to extinguish every glimmer of hope and life in this country? What will Perto Koci do about them, or what has he done so far about such a community? Or is he waiting for the people to be recruited to reduce the number of criminals too—a theory not even found in such an advanced form in states that enjoy prosperity? The Berat massacre is one of the most tragic events to have occurred in Albania. In response to such an event, the Ministry of Public Order must review all of its work. It must turn its attention to where crime is produced, rather than accuse the people of harboring criminals. Crime can only thrive where crime is allowed to exist. When the opposite of crime is missing, it strikes. When the Ministry of Public Order should be the opposite of crime, it is absent throughout Berat: in the police, among officials, among the police officers on duty, among the hostages and in the exhausted family.