TODAY AT THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT “The General” seeks to overturn the 20-year prison sentence for the 1998 murder NEHAT KULLA ON TRIAL, HE TOO IS SEEKING ACQUITTAL The strongman from Tirana’s outskirts does not admit that he killed Halim Gjuzin, the driver of former Interior Minister Halit Shamata, on 23 August 1998. The story of his arrest in 2005 and his links to crime News Nehat Kulla, a well-known figure in Albania’s criminal world in the 1990s and later, will today ask the Constitutional Court for acquittal, seeking to overturn the 20-year prison sentence handed down by Albanian justice for the murder of Halim Gjuzin, the driver of former Interior Minister Halit Shamata, on 23 July 1998. TIRANA Elton Qyno Nehat Kulla, also known in Tirana by the nickname “The General,” will appear today before the Constitutional Court, where he will seek to overturn the 20-year prison sentence handed down by Albanian justice for the charge of murdering the driver of former Interior Minister Halit Shamata. Kulla was accused of having killed the citizen... continued on page 8

EXCLUSIVE ITALIAN SCIENTIST Pages 13-20 Umberto Veronesi: A life of fighting breast cancer “Here is what can be done for Albanian women too” BY ALBA MALLTEZI

Comment BY ENTON ABILEKAJ The losses of the socialists and Berisha’s victories The Socialist Party was called the loser of the immunity battle. After yesterday’s vote, Edi Rama is the one who stepped back once again. For several weeks the socialists have been trying to explain that the rejection of the vote on 6 August was not a rejection of limiting immunity and that the constitutional changes they proposed did not have as their main aim approval by the Democratic Party, but the offering of an alternative that the opposition is obliged to present. This explanation was harshly debated; political discourse, which daily highlights the victories and defeats of the stronger and the weaker, can be called a justification for stepping back. Because this is not the first time the socialists have stepped back. In the history of the last 3 years, the socialists stepped back from the parliamentary boycott without the ballot boxes from the 2009 election being opened, they stepped back from the hunger strike without any of the 10 demands being met, they stepped back from the protest package with the dead and wounded on their shoulders, they stepped back from not recognizing the elections in Tirana without any reason, they stepped back from Rama’s package in May of this year, turning conditions into suggestions. Yesterday was the latest withdrawal and the loss... continued on page 7

PS IN DURRES The policeman’s killer, a PD supporter The opposition’s account about Ilir Xhakja. Yesterday’s Berisha-Topi-Spahiu accusations TIRANA Jakin Marena Ilir Xhakja is known throughout his area, which includes the commune of Katundi i Ri, as an activist and supporter of the PD and the right... Pages 2-3

THE DEPUTY’S DIARY Pages 10-11 Alexander Langer: Getting to know Berisha and Gramoz Pashko in December 1990

Stalls on the boulevard, 40,000 lek for 3 days Page 9

Berisha, another 180,000 USD to the lobbyist in the USA Page 7

A1 REPORT! the origin of the news...

DEBATES Page 4 PS: Investigation into advertisements for Klan, PD objects

1991 ...always one step ahead... Syrups for cocktails and liqueurs for bars and restaurants Tirana-Durrës Highway, km. 7, Kashar, Tirana Tel: 042 406 500; 042 406 501; Fax 042 406 502 e-mail: nera[nx][?]@neranxi.com; www.neranxi.com

MASTER’S DEGREES Page 22 Part-time quotas released. Points for the 74 Magistrature candidates

BLOG|ASTONISHMENT Page 6 THE SACRED PROPERTY BY OLTION SPIRO