Who is responsible for people still seeing no hope in their own country? Yesterday we travelled by train from Tirana to Shkodër. The number of passengers was so large that the conductors had difficulty moving around to check tickets. We were struck by the fact that the vast majority of these travellers were young. At Vora station, hundreds more got on the train. We learned during the journey, in conversations with them, that they were returning from an attempt to leave the country through Durrës. They told us that most of them had gone to Durrës the day before; many others had travelled that night by taxi and other vehicles, paying considerable sums of money. Hundreds more had set out at dawn that day from Shkodër. They said that in Shkodër, law-enforcement agents had not allowed buses to run to Tirana during the day before yesterday. The morning train from Shkodër to Tirana had also departed before its scheduled time. Despite the measures taken by the police, they pointed out that they had managed to get as far as Durrës. The security forces, who began stopping us at Sukth station, had surrounded the port, making it impossible for us to get through. Some of us were also beaten. People in Durrës were surprised when we told them that we had come to leave the country, since word was openly circulating in Shkodër that a ferry would arrive in Durrës on the 26th to take refugees. As the conversations continued, they said they were driven to take such initiatives because they saw no prospects ahead. The President promised us a great deal, including on emigration, as he did on many other things, but so far he has done nothing. About these and other promises, they vented their anger at the President and the government. At Lezhë station, many of them got off to head for Shëngjin. That is it, briefly, from an endless whirl of conversations. Let everyone draw their own conclusions. But one thing is surprising thing is surprising

- It is unlikely that the broken television transmitters will be repaired, given that one such transmitter has not been working for 15 months in the village of Vicitol, President Berisha’s birthplace, in the district of Tropojë.

After returning the hunting law some time ago, expressing concern for the fate of wild animals, the President has now returned another law. The President has sent Parliament back the law establishing a commission to assess permits to practise law and amending the law on the legal profession in the Republic of Albania. This time, the return of the law is no longer connected with the fate of wild beasts, but with that of two gentle lambs, Kopliku and Baleta. The President disagrees with only two provisions of the aforementioned laws, specifically: the provision barring former police officers from practising law, and those who “worked in the diplomacy of the time of the Party of Labour and served its anti-communist policy,” (as the law puts it). Let us look briefly at these two provisions. First, as is explained in another article, the first provision was proposed for removal and vigorously defended by the Minister of Police and Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Bashkim Kopliku. Kopliku’s position aroused opposition among many deputies in his parliamentary group, some of whom demonstratively walked out of the session over this. The proposal by Kopliku was defeated in a vote. The second provision had also been proposed by DP deputy Vasil Gjika. Adding that provision to the law was a serious moral blow to Abdi Baleta, a former Labour Party ambassador to America. This punishment may be the blow that has made him, for the first time, act somewhat more cautiously. Thus, the DP parliament ignored two of his requests, those of Kopliku and Baleta. At the same time, it should be recalled that these two gentlemen had also openly been at odds with each other. In any case, the law was passed and sent to the President for promulgation. He is put in a difficult position. The situation is coming apart... His decision is an attempt to please both sides. Parliament removed without difficulty the provision that barred former police officers from practising law. The only person in the DP group who opposed removing the provision that barred diplomats from being lawyers was Azem Hajdari. He said that the people chosen as diplomats were the most characterless, ... ... without character ... among those who have been imprisoned ... One ... have been provocateurs and others. Enver Hoxha ... Which they made ... Baleta ... lawyers ... and school ... should be ... to ... Officially ... Piro Vito ... and ... Romania ... Piro ... Basha ... Kudi, preslikësh ... Gudi, preslikësh ... Kuve... It remains ...

Over the next two years, Parliament will discuss and approve a series of draft laws, such as those concerning religious communities and organizations; commercial credit; amendments to the law on the sanctioning and protection of private property and free education; commercial registration and the formalities to be observed by commercial companies; state pastures; the replacement of Natasha Lako as a deputy, following her resignation; a request for an interpellation of the Council of Ministers; amendments to the law on foreign [currency]; a request for a question session; and the extension of the deadline for ... of certain groups, etc.

GRAMOZ RUÇI For more than two months, the People’s Assembly has had two temporary committees in place: the first on the country’s water problems and the second on the fate of the European community’s assets in Albania. So far, these committees have given no answers. I request that the committees’ reports be included in the parliament’s two-week program. ETEM RUKA First, I wish to express concern about the hundred-percent increase in fuel prices. This is accompanied by price increases in many areas. Drivers are concerned that the fuel is being mixed with kerosene. Second, the bill on opening the files is being delayed, and its submission to parliament is being postponed without reason. We request that it be presented as soon as possible. PAVDELI MAJKO First, I request that the law on exemption from military service for the genera-

On this day, the leadership of the steering committee of the Socialist Party in the Korçë district met and analyzed the party’s relations with intellectuals from an organizational and substantive perspective, as well as the alternative it puts forward. Intellectuals, it was emphasized in the material presented by Kostaq Duka, chairman of the Socialist Party in the Korçë district, have set out on their own path. They are united by the common goal of seeking and implementing the ideas upheld by the foundations and program of the Socialist Party in order to realize its progressive outlook, while also affirming the intellectual truths of our regions. The inclusion of intellectuals from other fields in the Socialist Party defined the outlook in terms of the intellectual forces in various fields. This is of great importance, which ... [partly illegible] ... which is targeting capable intellectuals by leaving them without work and discriminating against them through the promotion to posts of those who are incapable. At the meeting, many examples from the Korçë district were cited, illustrating this now open and camouflaged phenomenon. (A recent example is the so-called competition for municipal secretaries, in which, among candidates with higher education and those with secondary education, the latter were declared the “winners”—understandably, representatives of the DP.) The purge, it was said, has grown more extensive. It is targeting not only Socialist Party members and intellectuals who openly declare their convictions, but also those who do not express them publicly, yet have a “red” family background. What should we, as a party, do in response to this climate, dep... [damaged text]

- It is hard to believe the broken television repeaters will be repaired, when one has been out of order for 15 months in the village of Viçidol, birthplace of President Berisha, in the Tropojë district. - Mr. Bucpapa is waiting for the FNM to repair the television repeaters! As we have been informed, there are nearly 200 broken television repeaters nationwide. The director general of RTV mentioned at least this figure in parliament. There are thousands of citizens in Albania who cannot watch RTSH broadcasts. In this way, they have been denied the right to receive information and to learn about the “excellent successes being achieved by the DP under the Party’s leadership.” The repeater in the village of Viçidol in the Tropojë district, birthplace of the president, has not been repaired for 15 months. President Berisha, well informed about this concern of his fellow villagers, gave a firm instruction that the broken repeater be repaired. Nevertheless, until two or three days ago, the repeater was still out of order. It goes without saying that if the Viçidol repeater is not repaired, despite the president’s own instruction, the repeaters in other villages are unlikely to be repaired, since neither the president nor any prominent figure has given an instruction concerning them. Still, let us wait. The IMF has given Mr. Bucpapa its word that it will soon bring around 200 new repeaters to Albania.

Twice in past years, Mr. President, you warmed the hearts of the veterans of Vlora when you properly recognized the National Liberation War and its participants—those who made countless sacrifices and did not spare their lives in the struggle to liberate the Homeland from the Italo-German fascist occupiers, placing Albania in the Anti-Fascist coalition led by the USA, the USSR and England. But the descendants of the fascists and the so-called Balli Kombëtar members, collaborators with the foreign occupiers who had seized the country, do not give up confronting us with revenge—not the grandeur of the living, but contempt for those who fought for freedom. This is also reflected in the desecration of heroes’ symbols and graves, and in the irresponsible disregard for the great events and collaborators of the National Liberation War. Today, they are exhumed ... [damaged text] (Continued on page 3) Proposals by Socialist MPs — student dormitories which ... students enrolled in the year ... 1992, as well as those who ... enroll in 1993 and ... Second, around 30 ... the children’s home ... compassion in the dormitory ... pedagogical. The situation ... is quite serious ... they live with the ... of this ... I request that the M... of ... and emigration ... social ... speak as soon as possible ... this problem.

- The trial panel ruled: - Nexhmije Hoxha is sentenced to 9 years’ imprisonment for misappropriation of state property. - Kino Buxheli is sentenced to 4 years’ imprisonment for abuse of office. The curtain has come down on yet another trial. It is not the last one. Other trials will take place this year, which could well be called the year of trials. Nexhmije Hoxha is declared guilty of misappropriating state property. She is sentenced to 9 years’ imprisonment. In theory, she will get out of prison at the age of 82, at the beginning of the next century. Despite what she cited in her defense as mitigating circumstances, the fact that she was the only participant in Kërçovë ... Pezë in 194? ... was only 20 years old, ... medical assistance ... did not reduce the sentence of nine years’ imprisonment ... Nevertheless ... Together ... was sentenced ... However, she ... state property ... [text cut off/damaged]

[Illustration, caricature] M. ZENI ’93

PROTEST To the President of the Republic To the Albanian Helsinki Committee The criminal act against Fatbardha Dega’s six-week-old baby has outraged and deeply affected us as mothers and as citizens. In a country where it is claimed that true democracy is being built, such events are dark stains that seriously tarnish democracy’s image. We expected you, Mr. President, the Albanian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, and other state or social mechanisms concerned with human rights to respond to this barbaric act. The silence is even more outrageous than the act itself, because silence is a prelude to other future attitudes of indifference toward criminal injustice. Socialist Women’s Forum Tiranë