Albania’s squares resound with calls of “FREEDOM, DEMOCRACY” Down with the dictatorship! Free our comrades! We want Fatos Nano THE HENCHMEN OF THE DICTATORSHIP CONTINUE THEIR SHAMELESS TELEVISION MANIPULATIONS, VIOLATING EVERY LAW AND MORAL PRINCIPLE NATIONAL LIBRARY TIRANA. Today too, protest rallies will be organized in many districts of the country against the Democratic Party’s policies, against the violation of human rights, against police violence and repression, thus demonstrating the determination not to be deterred by the arrests and raids, the terror that the government is using against the opposition in general and the leaders of opposition parties. At these rallies, he added, the Socialist Party is showing that it is one of the largest political forces in Albania, with a clear political vision and a democratic, constructive culture. After the rally, Dr. Mago Lakrori also held a meeting in the meeting hall of the district SP Steering Committee with members of the district SP Steering Committee, where they discussed the new political situation, the SP’s position regarding this situation, and the real possibilities the SP envisages for emerging from the grave political situation and the deep economic crisis that has engulfed the country, something that can be achieved only through new political solutions.

PETITION FOR THE RELEASE OF FATOS NANO AND ALL THOSE WHO HAVE PROTESTED AGAINST VIOLATIONS OF FREEDOMS AND HUMAN RIGHTS The Parliamentary Group of the Socialist Party, the General Steering Committee of the Socialist Party, and its district steering committees: - Considering the political prosecutions of ... [text continues outside the frame] to be a serious and deadly threat to the implementation of the principles of democracy in Albania Pursuant to Article 37 of Law 7692, dated 31.3.1993, “Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms,” they demand: 1. The lifting of the arrest order against the chairman of the SSPA and member of the People’s Assembly, Fatos Nano; 2. The immediate release of all persons arrested on July 30, 1993, for ... [text continues outside the frame]

On Monday at 10:00, at the sports field in the town of Librazhd, the Socialist Party organized a protest rally against violations of human rights in general, and in defense of democracy against the Ballist-fascist revanchism of today’s rulers. People of different ages and professions took part in the rally, including residents of the town and surrounding villages, and members and supporters of the Socialist Party. The first to speak at the rally was the chairman of the district SP, Fatos Zhari, who addressed the Socialist Party’s demands for the rule of law and the struggle for ... [text continues outside the frame] ... The town resident Hasan Piperi then spoke from the platform. He said quite naturally: “I and many others voted for democracy, but I would never, ever give my vote to people like Kakaluka, who shamelessly declare in parliament that they are proud to be Ballists and fascists.” The rally was greeted by Dr. Mago Lakrori, a member of the PSSH presidium and a deputy in the People’s Assembly. In his speech, among other things, he pointed out that at these protest rallies SP members and supporters are speaking out against violations of human rights, against violence ... [text continues outside the frame] and through new political solutions. SHERIF HOXHA

Amid the cheers of those present for the Socialist Party and its chairman Fatos Nano, and the repeated chants “We want bread, we want work”—a chant expressing the painful reality present everywhere in Dibër—as well as the calls “Free Fatos Nano,” “Down with the fascists,” “Down with the dictatorship,” “We want immediate elections,” and so on, the rally was opened by Syrja Stafa, secretary of the district Socialist Party. In his speech, Xhelil Cibaku ... [text continues outside the frame] which is also the message of the people of Tirana and of the people of Dibër, who were among the 70,000 at the SP rally in the capital, denounced everyday corruption, whose scale has spread so widely and penetrated everywhere, and the privatization boards that are making officials and leaders of the inner circle owners, denying the people the toil, sweat, and blood shed to create this wealth. “They came to this rally,” said Baf-tjar Rusi, chairman of the Socialist Party of the Dibër district, “to protest against the fascism that has taken root in our country, against the blue dictatorship, against the unprecedented repressive measures and police actions taken against socialists, measures that culminated in the arrest of comrade Fatos Nano, an unparalleled act of violence and violation of the law. Many Ballists from Dibër’s remote areas—Lura, Reçi, Dardha, Selishta, Kalaja e Dodës—and other people who, with the little land they have and the current lack of bread, are at the critical limits of survival, could not come to this rally,” he continued. They were prevented by the well-dressed members of the Democratic Party, those who have traveled around Europe and the world on the people’s sweat and who have placed obstacles in the way of democratic developments in the country. The regime established under the democratic name has its days numbered. The people of Dibër are demanding new solutions. Can the government’s withdrawal and a change in its course put the country on the path of true democracy? In his words of greeting, deputy Lush Përpali stressed that we long to gather and celebrate something beautiful, an inauguration of a new work and people getting jobs and bread. In the face of our hopes for easing economic hardship and our desire to shoulder the burden for this country, the police violence of the new rulers has begun, violence that reached its peak with these arrests. Fatos Nano, and many other socialists in Tirana and in other Albanian cities, are facing violence that is openly paving the way for further arrests and new reprisals typical of fascism. Deputies Halit Ballaj and Mehmet Tola also took part in the gathering of Dibër’s workers. ABDURRAHIM ASHIKU

While the People’s Assembly has given consent only to the initiation of criminal proceedings, the District Prosecutor, in violation of the “Constitutional Provisions,” has ordered his arrest. - Considering the state’s political prosecutions of the opposition, violations of freedoms and human rights, violations of freedom of expression and thought, violations of personal security and the dignity of the person, and violations of the right to work, strike, and enjoy trade-union freedoms to constitute principles of democracy in Albania; - Considering the arrest of Fatos Nano a political-police action and an unconstitutional act intended to extinguish all political activity of the opposition and install a new monist, totalitarian, neodictatorial state; - Considering the arrest of dozens of participants who called for Fatos Nano’s release on July 30, 1993, a brutal state political-police pressure on the right to assembly and protest; taking part in a rally against the violation of the opposition’s rights, against the violation of individual freedoms and rights, and for the release of Fatos Nano. This petition will be circulated for signatures throughout Albania and, once completed, will be sent to the competent state and judicial authorities of the country, as well as to international organizations, for their information. Parliamentary Group of the Socialist Party General Steering Committee of the PSSH Steering Committees of the SP in all districts of Albania Tirana, 2.08.1993 To the Constitutional Court. A deputy may not be searched, detained, arrested, or prosecuted without the consent of the People’s Assembly. It is clear from the content of the above-mentioned provision that the People’s Assembly must give its consent for each of the actions mentioned in that provision, namely the search, detention, arrest, and prosecution of a deputy. On the basis of the People’s Assembly and also on the basis of the request of the Prosecutor General, consent was given only to initiate criminal proceedings against deputy Fatos Nano; for the other actions, [the district prosecutor] ordered Fatos Nano’s arrest. If the Prosecutor’s Office considered, during the course of the investigation, that it should impose a security measure—arrest—on the deputy, it had a constitutional obligation to obtain the consent of the People’s Assembly. In the circumstances described above, on the basis of the Law on the Main Constitutional Provisions, we request that the Prosecutor’s decision to arrest deputy Fatos Nano be declared unconstitutional. Parliamentary Group of the Socialist Party Chairman NAMIK DOKLE By letter no. 1117, dated 26.7.1993, the Prosecutor General asked the People’s Assembly to give its consent to initiate criminal proceedings against Fatos Nano.

From the Democratic Party rally marking the 50th anniversary of the Mukje meeting The source lead is garbled: “Ballistët e gjetën si u suaja që nimin e tyre me pushtuesit fajin e PD-ja e përdor pushtetin për të lisitët që e kanë uzurpuar atë.” The Ballists found a way to ... [unclear in the source] their collaboration with the occupiers; the blame ... [unclear in the source] and the Democratic Party uses its power to ... [unclear in the source] the Ballists who have usurped it. A Democratic Party deputy declares that Kruja produced two ... [unclear in the source]. With this ... [unclear in the source] Skanderbeg. Taking the floor outside the list of speakers announced in the posted program for a ... [unclear in the source] scientific session organized by the People’s Assembly and the Institute of History on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Mukje meeting, Sadedin, among other things, called A. Kuplin a ... [unclear in the source]. ... [unclear in the source] also said that he was a national hero, alongside Skanderbeg. Among those standing ... [unclear in the source], Sadedin said, inspired by Mukje, Abaz Kupi would have occupied the foremost place, with the others at the end ... [unclear in the source]. When Sadedin was ... [unclear in the source] his uncle, someone in the hall shouted: “Long live the work of Abaz Kupi!” The chairman with the militants ... [unclear in the source]. The partisans had supposedly collaborated ... [unclear in the source]. They can write history as they want ... [unclear in the source]. It is no wonder that tomorrow he will remove ... [unclear in the source] altogether; he was met with applause from those present in the hall. According to Sadedin Balla, a Democratic Party deputy, had the Mukje agreement been implemented, Albania would not be what it is today, but a highly developed European state. It is true that Albania would not be as it is today. What remains to be clarified is whether Albania would exist or would not exist at all. I say this because, as history has shown, the Ballists allied themselves with the occupiers, became dukes ... [unclear in the source] betrayed by the defeated side in the Second World War; indeed, some of them fled together with the occupiers. (Continued on page 4)