The parliament’s agronomists pit the government against business ON PAGE 5

The Vlora gang on the verge of getting out of prison ON PAGE 4

The PKSH bar-restaurant in the capital will not be demolished ON PAGE 4

By Sali BERISHA We have gathered on Azem Hajdari’s birthday and the anniversary of his death, to honor his bright memory and that of his friend and fellow fighter Besim Çera, and I know that nothing can express the love, tenderness and pain we feel in this square, together with their friends, family members and fellow fighters, for Azem and Besim. But today, along with us, millions of Albanians in Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia and everywhere else are also here, bowing in deep respect before the deeds and memory of Azem Hajdari, who for us and for every Albanian who feels themselves to be one, is and remains great in life, great in death; a legend in life, a legend in death; a symbol in life, a symbol in death; a tribune in life, a tribune in death. For six months Azem has slept beside his brother Besim, in eternal sleep. But for us, he is the symbol of freedom, the legend of resistance, the tribune of Albanian nationalism. Azem left us and the generations to come the most beautiful thing in his pure and great soul—his great dream of a free Albania, his bright and noble dream, the dream of unwavering hope for a secure future for us, for his children, our children, and the entire Albanian nation. On his birthday and the anniversary of his death, every Albanian remembers Azem Hajdari’s day, 8 December 1990, when the unknown student Hajdari would emerge within a single day as the Goliath of the most oppressed, poorest, most miserable and most hopeless nation; with his fiery words as a weapon and the passion of his soul, he would take to the streets of Tirana and later the squares and streets of all Albania’s cities and villages. Like Goliath and David, like Gjergji and Baltozi, he would slay the dragon of fear that had devoured the courage and hope of millions of Albanians, and lead his people out of fear’s mire, out of fear’s captivity; he would restore their trampled honor and dignity, their courage, their faith in Albania, and the dignity and future they deserved. For eight years in politics, Azem Hajdari defied the merciless hail of bullets fired by his assassins, for the voice and melody of Freedom, national interests and ideals, and the pride of being Albanian. For six months Azem has not been among us. But now he no longer belongs only to our party; he belongs to every Albanian who shares with us Azem’s ideals of freedom and national ideals, Azem’s dream of hope and the future we deserve. Six months after he was shot by the clans of the state’s political mafia, standing before all of us and united with you, we want to ask: Where is Albania today? What are we doing with your dream? Those who organized your shooting stained with blood even your companions in freedom; they hanged Ademi, Skënderi and Ismeti, wounded many others, imprisoned Ekremín and dozens of your fellow fighters for freedom, and continue to pay your assassins. That is why today, more than ever, your spirit calls us to unite—not to take revenge, but to ensure justice through the law, to save Albania with new elections from those who killed you, and to free this country, to restore hope to Albania, to their sacred place of clan rule. We will never forgive the blood you shed. Today, those who killed you have turned Albania into a protectorate of their crime; through violence and crime they kill, plunder and rob every day, turning it into a haven of misery, a hospital of immense suffering for millions of Albanians. Therefore, from this square, we pledge that with new elections we will save this country from the clutches of criminal clans. We will ease the pain of misery and put Albania back on the road to prosperity. Those who poured merciless volleys upon you have turned Albania into an island of despair, from which hundreds and thousands of young people leave every day—Albanians whose hopes have been shattered, who can no longer see that we will unite today more than ever to restore, through the free vote, what Albanians lack: hope; hope for all Albanians who want to look toward their future, who want it to be earned on merit; hope to make real the most beautiful dream of Azem and of all Albanian youth.

Democrats march along “Dëshmorët e Kombit” Boulevard to gather in front of the PD headquarters. On 22 March, once again in “Skënderbej” Square. Free elections to restore hope The six-month anniversary of Azem Hajdari’s murder is commemorated in grand style. The rallies of ’91 return. Tens of thousands of Democrats in “Skënderbej” Square Yesterday, in “Skënderbej” Square Photo: F. BILANI ON PAGE 3

Berisha and the leadership of the PD visit the Hajdari and Çera families “If we cannot convince these people that they are Albanians, then we will not be able to convince them of anything else” ON PAGE 3 The commemorative events marking the six-month anniversary of the murder of December leader Azem Hajdari conclude We will soon make Azem’s dream a reality ON PAGE 2

Serious accusations by the mother of the policeman killed in Berat “I don’t need the pretty words of a prime minister who has people around him who protect criminals—the people who killed my son and make other mothers suffer the same loss,” said Bukurie Belliu, the policeman’s mother ON PAGE 3

Berisha welcomes the American Congress’s decision to send troops to Kosovo Berisha welcomes the decision of the American Congress to send troops to Kosovo A historic act of Albanian-American friendship PD Chairman Berisha welcomes last night’s decision by the American Congress to send troops to Kosovo as a positive development, a historic act of friendship that unites the Albanian nation with the American nation. The conflict and crisis in Kosovo are the greatest human catastrophe and the deepest crisis in the history of the continent, posing a major danger to the entire region. But all this makes the presence and role of US leadership indispensable and irreplaceable in resolving this crisis and ending the human catastrophe in Kosovo. Albanians will be grateful to the US administration and American lawmakers who, with their vote last night, acted in the interests of peace and stability in Kosovo and the Balkan Peninsula.

A government that came to power through violence does not renounce violence ON PAGE 2

Today, 183 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 successor in the crime that shook the entire Albanian world. The governments of the former communists, who are free and have not brought the criminals who took the December Leader’s life to justice, show Albanians that they have been and remain on the side of the killers, who have escaped justice but are not touched by those in power. Democrats and all Albanians who loved and honored Azem Hajdari cannot tolerate this under any circumstances. The government must either arrest the criminals and bring them to justice, or publicly declare that it itself committed the murder of Azem Hajdari.

Thousands of citizens from Dibër protested, demanding that the killers of Azem Hajdari and Besim Çera be found Yesterday at 11:00, thousands of Democrats and PD supporters gathered in front of the PD Dibër headquarters to protest the silence of the left-wing coalition government over the arrest and punishment of the killers of Azem Hajdari and Besim Çera. The rally opens... ON PAGE 2

The Investors’ Union sends an open letter to the government Minister Angjeli signed the Agreement on the Amendment of the Income Tax Law with only one business organization, disregarding and ignoring the voice... ON PAGE 5

Million-level salaries are promised to bring scientists back to their homeland, but the crisis in the country holds them back The nation’s “brains” have not left their minds behind; they will not return to Albania because there is political conflict against them, because neither their lives, nor their work, nor their property is guaranteed, because more... ON PAGE 5

Yesterday, in “Skënderbej” Square

Photo: F. BILANI ON PAGE 3